Page 203 - Critical Political Economy of the Media

182 Critical investigations in political economy

media ownership increasingly private, multimedia and transnational, with
firms market oriented and subject to ‘light touch’ regulation and oversight
shifts from ‘command and control’ regulation towards industry self-regulation
and co-regulation
shifts from public to supranational and private governance.

Under the influence of neoliberalism, governance as well as production of culture
is shifting to non-state institutions, notably global corporations and private
foundations, as states cut back on investment (Yúdice 2003). The latest phase of
communications policy has involved an enhanced role for international institu-
tions in media governance, creating a ‘complex ecology of inter-dependent
structures’ (Raboy 2002: 6). Global institutions include various United Nations
bodies (UNESCO, ITU) and more recently established, commercially focused
bodies such as the WTO and WIPO. There are multilateral exclusive ‘clubs’
such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
2
and the Group of Eight (G8) and G20 groupings of powerful nation-states. The
European Union and Council of Europe form ‘regional multistate groupings’,as
does the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US,
Canada and Mexico. An important difference, however, is that the European
Union is a politically integrated institution of global governance, with the European
Parliament providing a level of democratic deliberation absent in the WTO and
weaker in NAFTA (Chakravartty and Sarikakis 2006: 87).
The WTO, along with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund,
has been one of the principal instruments of neoliberal policy. The WTO is
charged with administering a multilateral trading system that involves 159
countries (March 2013). It was established in 1995 as the successor to the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was created in 1947 with a
mandate to reduce tariffs, trade barriers and preferences between member
countries (initially 23, representing around 80 per cent of world trade). The
WTO differs from GATT in being a permanent institution with greater powers
to ensure compliance with WTO agreements, which are binding on all members,
and in handling trade disputes.
The place of media within the WTO regime is a matter of some complexity
and ongoing dispute (Hardy 2008). WTO trade issues now include trade in services,
trade in ideas (intellectual property rights) and liberalisation of telecommunica-
tions. Among the WTO-administered agreements, the TRIPS Agreement
(Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights) and, to a lesser extent, the ITA
(Information Technology Agreement) have implications for the audiovisual
sector. However, there have been strenuous efforts by some member countries,
and the EU trade delegation, to keep their audiovisual trading out of the WTO
rules. By contrast, WTO agreements covering books and magazines already
prevent member governments from introducing measures that would tend to
favour national products over imports, on the grounds that such measures distort
competition.