Structural Media Pluralism| Media Pluralism between Market Mechanisms and Control: The German Divide

Abstract

This article starts from the assumption that patterns of media concentration and measures of regulating media pluralism are not the results of random media policy adjustments, but are rooted in trajectories of public sphere conceptions and shaped by a set of varying actor interests. In Germany, regulation of media plurality differs greatly between the print media and the broadcast sector. The print media market is shaped by commercial ownership and largely deregulated, except for special measures of fusion control. The broadcast sector is shaped by a dual system of public and commercial broadcasters that are regulated by non-governmental public institutions. This article focuses on two current developments regarding the regulation of pluralism in German media: The post-communist legacy of a concentrated print media market in former East Germany and the paradigmatic change in defining pluralism in the broadcast sector.