OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 11/14/2012, SPi
the foundations of a transformative field
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This review of communication research is followed by a focus on one of the most critical of the media in liberal democratic societies: the news. Eugenia Mitchelstein and Pablo Boczkowski (Chapter 18) are particularly concerned with stability and change in patterns of news production and consumption with the advent of online news. The directions they provide for future research are novel and challenging. Darren Lilleker and Thierry Vedel (Chapter 19) critically assess a number of positive claims surrounding the role of the Internet in campaigns and elections, and, in the process, examine high-profile campaigns in North America and Europe. While they are skeptical of claims about the Internet empowering citizens, they find the Internet becoming increasingly embedded within campaigns and elections, moving the study of the Internet into mainstream studies of politics—one illustration of the way in which Internet Studies is transforming other disciplines. Communication, the media, and campaigns are all linked to aspects of democratic governance and accountability; but in the final chapter in this section, Helen Margetts (Chapter 20) deals directly and broadly with the Internet and democracy, a topic that the Arab Springs have brought to the forefront of Internet Studies. Her chapter is particularly valuable in clarifying the many ways and levels in which there are links between the Internet and different models of democracy and the institutions that support them. Part V concludes this handbook by addressing policy and focusing on issues around governing and regulating the Internet. Early proponents of the Internet often argued that the Internet was ungovernable, but far from the proverbial “Wild West,” many laws and regulations apply to the Internet and its use around the world. Nevertheless, post Arab Springs, and England riots, even more efforts have been launched to control a technology that some politicians see to be enabling anarchy or autocracy, rather than democracy. Major policy issues are at stake in how policy-makers respond to these uncertainties, including freedom of expression, which Victoria Nash (Chapter 21) engages through a normative and empirical overview of debate and research. Proponents of new communications tools as technologies of freedom are finding increasing pressures to control and filter online communication across an increasing number of jurisdictions. This chapter suggests that a broader theoretical framework is needed to capture the full range of law and policies shaping expression online, and develop responses for policy and practice. Closely related to freedom of expression are efforts to stop illegal file sharing through the application of copyright and intellectual property rights in the online world. Matthew David (Chapter 22) reviews cultural, legal, technical, and economic approaches to enforcing copyright, concluding that rights holders need to rethink their business models in the digital age, such as by concentrating on live performances, rather than simply trying to shore up old business models by criminalizing copyright infringement. Another key set of policy issues concerns privacy and surveillance, which many regard as under threat from social networks and other new Internet developments, such as the mining of big data sets created through the use of Internet services and networks. Colin Bennett and Christopher Parsons (Chapter 23) review the multidisciplinary literature on the protection of personal information in the online world, which extends back