Media Policy in Hybrid Media Systems

Media systems in our time can be described with Chadwick (The hybrid media system. Politics and power. Oxford University Press, 2013) as hybrid, as characterized by a coexistence of “old” and “new” media. The same applies to media policy. Digitalization and technical convergence mean that traditional distinctions are becoming problematic. Along the dissolving borders, fields of tension arise which not only lead to changed framework conditions under which communication statements arise but which at the same time make reforms of media and communication policy necessary. This article discusses three selected areas of tension and their implications for media policy: the differentiation of provider types and their respective rights and obligations, the guarantee of media pluralism, and the regulatory treatment of convergence by integrated regulatory models or regulatory authorities.