Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Media economists say the government is supposed to intervene into a market only when market failures exist (Picard, 1989; Hoskin, McFayden & Finn, 2004; Albarran, 2010). These failures identified by Hoskin, McFayden and Finn (2004) are the existence of externalities, the insufficiency of public goods, and the abuse of monopoly power. Imagine the news as a product, symptoms that indicate market failures have emerged such as the penetration of fake news through social platforms which is very costly for the public to fend off (an external cost), the introduction of data analytics and advanced news production skills that need more diffusion among the press (an external benefit), the lack of independent, high-qualified news (a public good), and the vigorous consolidation of news distributors (the abuse of monopoly power). The whole news industry is struggling, leading to the insecurity of information sources and the loss of diversity views for the public. It is time to consider public policies to save the news industry. Based on Freedman’s (2008) media policy tool framework, this research project plans to analyze press-related legal documents of several countries, including the United States and Vietnam, in order to figure out which countries made it easy for the press to self-financialize, which countries directly subsidized the press, which countries do nothing, and which countries harmed the business side of the press. The countries chosen are countries that the researcher has experienced with their press-related legal documents.