ABSTRACT
There is a central contradiction at the heart of media policymaking in contemporary Western economies. The huge increase in the scale and value of the mass media as part of a booming service sector, along with the decline of manufacturing industries, has forced governments to take this sector very seriously and to develop policy to maximize the media’s economic potential. However, media producers have traditionally been very hostile to direct government intervention. The newspaper, television, music, and film industries tend to respond badly to official diktat, asserting the need for political independence and creative autonomy and fiercely resisting any identification as ‘‘government media.’’ In the UK, the idea that there is a free press, public service broadcasting, and a cultural underground is used to account for the diversity and innovation of its media industries. State-run media, on the other hand, are generally associated with bureaucracy, cultural conservatism, and political caution. How can any government, therefore, champion its country’s media industries in the hope of economic rewards without compromising the independence and flair of its cultural producers?
