Beyond Interests, Ideas, and Technology: An Institutional Approach to Communication and Information Policy

Abstract

This article examines the theoretical assumptions generally used in communication and information policy studies, and suggests that more attention to the institutional determinants of public policies is needed. The first part discusses three alternative theoretical approaches: the interest-group approach, the ideological approach, and the technology-centered approach. The second part outlines the conceptual tools of the new institutionalism approach and discusses its application for the study of regime change in telecoms and media. The third part presents an abbreviated example of such application to the case of U.S. spectrum policies and the licensing of digital broadcasting. The conclusion suggests new directions for research aimed at broadening the set of social actors participating in the global governance of new technologies.

Keywords:

• digital TV
• new institutionalism
• new technology governance
• political economy theory
• U.S. spectrum policy

Notes

1. In particular, this ignores the seminal work of Harold Innis, Dallas Smythe, Herbert Schiller, and several others.

2. According to the most recent data produced by the FCC Media Bureau (September 2003).

3. In fact, FCC Chairman Reed Hundt proved to be one of the more staunch critics of the digital TV licensing plan (see Hundt, 2000).

4. In return, local incumbents agreed to the formation of an ad hoc Presidential committee to advise the government on the public interest obligations to be imposed on digital broadcasters. After fifteen months of deliberations, the committee produced a rather toothless report that is yet to translate into any substantive rules (Taylor & Ornstein, 2002).

5. For a discussion see McCubbins and Schwartz (1984).