ABSTRACT
Policy is government, organisational or individual statements of action or objectives that set rational goals to be implemented or achieved by directing decisions and procedures that are made by (media) companies, workers or consumers. Regulations have almost always been introduced as a way of achieving a policy goal. Policies are those deliberate plans of action that set out what is to be achieved in directing or influencing decisions that are made by media companies. Regulation concerns legal or self-imposed controls or restrictions on media organisations, involving their ownership, production processes and output, as a means to achieve a policy goal. The aim of regulation and policy analysis is to understand both how any form of regulatory control works and what it aims to achieve. The degree to which governments manage to control the practices of media organisations or the content and consumption of media texts, and to what extent policy objectives are reached, are central debates about media regulation.
