Literacy of digital television policies: A case-study analysis of audiences’ knowledge and ‘willingness-to-know’ in Flanders, Belgium

Abstract

This article explores what media users know about media policy, what they expect to know and if they care. We adopted a case-study approach, researching this question for the region of Flanders based on a combination of both quantitative and qualitative data. We focused on knowledge of digital television and compared these findings with knowledge on emerging Internet policies. One objective was to assess whether there is a difference between people’s knowledge of the former, older and the latter, newer and emerging policy domain. While the article focuses on the case of Flanders, its theoretical basis, as well as conclusions, are relevant beyond this specific context. They show that knowledge of media policies is low. Nevertheless, it seems that ‘willingness-to-know’ about policies is higher for issues such as privacy and data than for, more traditional media policy areas related to digital television.