{"title":"Editorial","authors":"T. Flew, Rosalie Gillett, R. Cole","doi":"10.1386/jdmp_00059_2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00059_2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40702,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Media & Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41843040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Advanced Introduction to Platform Economics, Robin Mansell and W. Edward Steinmueller (2020)","authors":"T. Flew","doi":"10.1386/jdmp_00064_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00064_5","url":null,"abstract":"Review of: Advanced Introduction to Platform Economics, Robin Mansell and W. Edward Steinmueller (2020)Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 176 pp.,ISBN 978-1-78990-062-0, p/bk, £15.95","PeriodicalId":40702,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Media & Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48628698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The globalization of TikTok: Strategies, governance and geopolitics","authors":"Lianrui Jia, Fan Liang","doi":"10.1386/jdmp_00062_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00062_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the rise of TikTok in three aspects: globalization strategies, data and content policies, and geopolitical implications. Instead of focusing on app features and uses within the platform proper, we situate and critically analyse TikTok as a platform business in\u0000 a global media policy and governance context. We first unpack TikTok’s platformization process, tracing how TikTok gradually diversifies its business models and platform affordances to serve multisided markets. To understand TikTok’s platform governance, we systematically analyse\u0000 and compare its data and content policies for different regions. Crucial to its global expansion, we then look at TikTok’s lobbying efforts to maintain government relations and corporate responses after facing multiple regulatory probing by various national governments. TikTok’s\u0000 case epitomizes problems and challenges faced by a slew of globalizing Chinese digital platforms in increasingly contested geopolitics that cut across the chasms and fault lines between the rise of China and India as emergent powers in the US-dominated global platform ecosystem.","PeriodicalId":40702,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Media & Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47495989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The changing context of age-based classification and policy research in the age of subscription-video-on-demand","authors":"R. Cole","doi":"10.1386/jdmp_00063_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00063_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article draws on a history of media classification in Australia to consider how this field is developing. The focus is on age-based classification of commercially and professionally produced content, specifically made available through streaming and subscription-video-on-demand\u0000 (SVOD) platforms. As platform company Netflix steps into the terrain of regulation, this environment is changing quite dramatically. The Netflix tool emerges in a governmental space characterized by new and emerging transnational governance and monitoring Boards, ghost work and moral panics\u0000 in the form of online firestorms. Questions developed in the time of legacy media that consider human and machine, and industry and government as working separately, are confronted by new practices and points of inquiry with impacts broader than Australian media consumption.","PeriodicalId":40702,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Media & Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41628854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Examining the Australian Digital Platforms Inquiry and theorizing ‘accidental policy’","authors":"R. Picard, Sora Park","doi":"10.1386/jdmp_00066_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00066_1","url":null,"abstract":"‘Accidental policy’ is a term often used to disparage unplanned or under-deliberated policy, but it can also be used as a concept to define and theorize policy development and its effects more broadly. This article does the latter by applying the accidental policy lens to\u0000 the case of the Australian Digital Platforms Inquiry ‐ the first of its kind worldwide ‐ and then uses elements from the development and effects of the inquiry to theorize the concept for application in other policy studies. This article examines the factors ‐ including\u0000 existing media, communications, technology developments and policies and political manoeuvring ‐ that led Australia to confront large multinational platforms and become a world leader in digital platforms policy. Rather than the continuation of a long-term, consistent policy regime,\u0000 the inquiry resulted from political expediency and behind-the-scenes parliamentary deal making. This article provides an analysis of a situation in which a deliberative policy process did not occur but a significant policy impetus was still developed. This study adds to the understanding of\u0000 accidental policy making in which a rapid response to external pressures, as well as more complex factors including political negotiation and deal making, is at play.","PeriodicalId":40702,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Media & Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45163360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trusting and valuing news in a pandemic: Attitudes to online news media content during COVID-19 and policy implications","authors":"T. Flew","doi":"10.1386/JDMP_00045_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/JDMP_00045_1","url":null,"abstract":"While the global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to significant growth in news consumption, this did not translate into either greater trust or an improved financial situation for news providers. At a time when disinformation has become a key concern with regards to public health messaging, this mistrust of mainstream news media has potentially disastrous consequences for public communication in a time of urgent public health concerns. The article explores five issues for the study of news and trust, including the impact of digital platforms, the accountability revolution, the crisis of news media business models, the power-shift within media to platforms in the time of COVID-19, and the turn to subscription-based media. The latter raises critical issues around the value of news, and the future relationship between subscriptions, advertising revenue and public funding in the future of news publication and distribution.","PeriodicalId":40702,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Media & Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49375504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Municipal digital infrastructure and the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study of Calgary, Canada","authors":"G. Taylor, Katelyn Anderson, D. Cramer","doi":"10.1386/JDMP_00052_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/JDMP_00052_1","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented demands upon digital infrastructure as large portions of the population work, socialize and attend school online. National regulators worldwide have been struggling to maintain service for all citizens as the essential place of internet access in contemporary life becomes paramount. This article narrows the policy focus from the national to the municipal level. Using the case study of Calgary, Canada, the authors outline a unique and successful private–public partnership where local internet service providers have been able to adapt to the changing demands of the COVID era, supported by forward-thinking municipal policy. The authors draw upon local data sources, municipal reports and interviews with key public and private sector officials to explore how municipalities can best position themselves to provide resilient and sustainable digital service in the face of this global pandemic.","PeriodicalId":40702,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Media & Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48416336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Global streamers: Placing the transnational at the heart of TV culture","authors":"J. Chalaby","doi":"10.1386/jdmp_00083_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00083_1","url":null,"abstract":"As media globalization has progressed, transnational media have evolved, and this article contends that a new generation has emerged. The first that developed in the latter part of the twentieth century consists of cross-border TV networks and formats. The second is the rise of streaming platforms. During the first generation, the transnational remained a professional practice out of viewers’ reach. With the arrival of the second generation, the transnational has become an everyday mode of media consumption and interaction. Online entertainment services have altered the status of the transnational within TV culture, and what was once at the margins now sits at the core. This article theorizes the notion of the transnational before examining the first and second generations of cross-border media. Considering the advent of streaming, it divides the market into three spaces: subscription video on demand (SVoD), advertising video on demand (AVoD) and video sharing. This article demonstrates how transnational consumption makes SVoD platforms more cosmopolitan than cross-border TV networks. Turning to video-sharing platforms – YouTube in particular – it argues that in the history of TV culture this constitutes a shift in status of the transnational by turning a professional practice into a popular one performed by millions. Based on interviews, this article shows how international access lowers the threshold of economic viability for content creators, while users get involved in cross-border conversations through memetic videos and comments. It is no longer place but technology that determines the fate of stories and ideas, and internet delivery has loosened the ties between TV culture and national culture more than ever.","PeriodicalId":40702,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Media & Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66724465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Media policy analysis and diplomatic interactions during COVID-19 between China and the United States in a comparative perspective","authors":"Fangzhu Lu, Biao Li","doi":"10.1386/JDMP_00058_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/JDMP_00058_1","url":null,"abstract":"This is a comparative study of official diplomatic speeches regarding COVID-19, released by spokespersons for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and documents from the United States Department of State China Archive. It explores how these speeches and documents reflect the US–China relations and the conduct of policies surrounding digital media in the two countries. We focus on the period from the start of the Wuhan lockdown, 20 January 2020, to the city’s reopening on 8 April, and use several forms of content analysis to analyse the documents: Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modelling, sentiment network analysis and word clouds. We argue that the diplomatic relationship and political ideologies adopted by different political and media systems can have a major impact upon media policy implementation and guidance.","PeriodicalId":40702,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Media & Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66724862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Streaming platforms’ contribution to capitalization of local audio-visual producers in Mexico and Canada","authors":"Argelia Erandi Muñoz Larroa","doi":"10.1386/jdmp_00069_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00069_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the contribution of streaming platforms in providing financial investment – in the form of co-productions, commissions and acquisitions of audio-visual content – as well as capital returns to local audio-visual producers. It will focus on the North American region, particularly on Mexico and Canada, as gravitating around stronger US audio-visual companies. Studies of traditional audio-visual windows in the countries studied have pointed out the undercapitalization of independent content producers due to financial structures and capital return models that are disadvantageous to them. This article questions: what is streaming’s contribution, as a new commercialization window, to the capitalization of local independent producers? The research conducted a qualitative study of interviews with film producers and distributors as well as an industrial analysis based on previous studies, media and business reports. The research has found that streaming tends to provide: (1) equal or slightly less returns than what the DVD window used to offer; and (2) equal or more generous figures than those delivered by TV and cinema exhibition windows. Furthermore, streaming has promoted a burgeoning production activity – adding to the production from traditional players (film and TV). These are benefits that should not be overlooked. However, streaming has not altered independent producers’ disadvantageous position: (1) revenue shares are still relatively small; (2) licences represent small percentages of what content costs to make; (3) commissioning and co-production budgets are fairly close to production costs; and (4) the boom of platforms’ original production is actually a battle among large corporations to control intellectual property (IP). All the above keep hindering the financial capacity of local independent producers.","PeriodicalId":40702,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Digital Media & Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66724417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}