This thesis examines the nature and impact of a set of policies formulated during the 1980s upon the labour process of television production. It locates both the nature of the reforms and the details of their impact within a broader account of the BBC which had become the special target for the government of Margaret Thatcher during the 1980s. The study reports upon the emergence and development of a particular set of work practices associated with television production within the BBC. Working within a set of ideas called 'public service broadcasting,' the workforce had relied upon a unique set of operating procedures that had survived well into the 1980s. This so-called "privileged" organisation, reliant upon a license fee for its income, became the object of intense interest when an expanding media industry was looking for additional opportunities for growth including the advertising industry. For those seeking to restructure this powerful organisation, often considered to represent many of the core values of British society, such as free speech and a liberal tradition resulting in high quality creative programmes, the challenge was to depict an organisation that was in need of modernisation. The form that modernisation took, under a government claiming to want to reduce the scale of the state, was an adoption of neo-liberalism. Instead of a heavy bureaucratic state machine, open Inarkets would allocate resources in television in the fonn of consumer choice. Policies would be devised to replace centralised bureaucracy with devolved budgets Inonitored by accurate financial information systems. This it was clailned would place the BBC within a dynamic market place where a burgeoning independent sector would supply a fresh source of creative talent and drive down costs. Such claims made for the legislation and a number of management policies which sought to reinforce these statutory reforms within the Corporation, appear not to be supported by the findings where there is strong evidence of the growth of temporary non-standard employment in place of secure full-time jobs. This has resulted in lowered commitment and motivation in the workforce. The new procedures for the production process of television Inanufacturing resulted in unforeseen inefficiencies which held the potential to increase costs. Alongside these problems, the role of the producer had been redefined to the point where informal social and political skills were required and supplemented the core creative skills which had traditionally defined this role. The introduction of market-driven reforms has redefined the nature of the television labour process. From the results of this research, it appears that a series of contradictions and unanticipated outcomes makes many of the original claims for these policies appear hollow. If this public sector broadcaster as an agency of the central state is to survive and flourish, it will have to create a role for its producers which allows for sustaining trust, open and honest cOlnmunications and creativity. The teams with which they work will need security, training and careers for sustaining motivation and ambition.

This thesis is a case study analysis of the role of the media in communications policy development in Kenya. The aim of the research was to investigate whether the press in particular could play a role in policy-making as policy stakeholders, moving beyond the traditional role of the media in policy as agenda setting agents. This was done through a case study analysis of two policy-making processes, namely the process of developing the National ICT Policy and the process which resulted in the Kenya Communications Amendment Act. While traditional studies of the media’s role in policy have examined the manner in which media coverage has influenced policy-makers and the public, this thesis aims to investigate whether the media can play a more direct role in policy processes as stakeholders in policy discussions and debates. The media’s role in communications policy in Kenya was examined within the context of globalization and the potential of multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) to create an enabling environment for the participation of diverse stakeholders, including the media, in the policy-making process. The findings have shed light on the political, social and economic context within which policy is made in Kenya and within which the press in Kenya operate and the obstacles that this has posed to their participation in policy-making processes. What has emerged from this thesis is that although there is some engagement by policy stakeholders other than the government, it is of a superficial nature and fails to ensure real diversity and participation by a range of different stakeholders from different sectors. Furthermore, the press failed to take advantage of avenues for debate and discussion to engage in policy discussions, and instead in the case of the KCAA used their agenda setting power to influence the policy negatively. Through biased, subjective and misleading reporting, the press were able to influence policy-makers to the point where the passed Act (KCAA) was returned to parliament for further amendments.

This thesis is an original examination of the structural characteristics that render an administrative agency, entrusted with the regulation of the telecommunications sector, ‘efficient’ or ‘better’ in the sense of the quality of its processes and decisions it makes or, in other words, what constitutes ‘good governance’. The author analyses the principles of good governance, since those principles affect the functioning of the regulator, the market and the regulatees’ rights, and discusses criteria which may be employed to measure each of the principles and hence good governance itself. Among those principles, regulatory independence and accountability are recognised as the cornerstones upon which ‘good regulation’ can be built. Firstly because accountability may be considered as a key principle of good governance, since, apart from its importance on its own, it is either strongly related to some of the pre-referred principles of good governance, such as transparency, or it is the tool to achieve the observance of other principles such as proportionality, consistency and predictability, effectiveness and due process. Secondly, independence is the cornerstone upon which stability, credibility, legal certainty, due process in the sense of the use of certain fair procedures such as participation, consultation and openness, economic efficiency, and transparency could be built. Without an independent regulator the possibilities for the development of the above notions are limited. The two principles of good governance are further analysed in the thesis and their importance is demonstrated through the examination of a case study, the Greek national regulatory authority responsible for the regulation of the telecommunications sector. Through this case study it is demonstrated that the respect of a regulatee’s rights, the observance of the other principles of good governance and the good regulation of the market, mostly depend on the degree of independence and accountability of a regulatory body. The author argues that shortfalls of regulatory independence and accountability undermine regulatory performance and eventually good regulation. In this regard, the functioning of a regulatory body could be significantly improved, if reforms at European level are implemented, through the establishment of a single, pan-European regulatory authority and through more detailed regulatory measures at an EU level, and/ more regulations that do not require transposition. In short, the aim of this thesis is to illustrate the critical role that regulatory independence and accountability play in achieving good governance in the telecommunications sector and indeed in other regulated sectors - such as energy and postal sectors, where a regulator is called to be efficient - as well as to discern policy lessons and to recommend legal measures designed to ensure more efficient regulators. Such lessons are seen as having particular relevance for new Member States of the European Union, such as Romania and Bulgaria, as well as for prospective accession states that may have broader applicability in new Member States and acceding countries. All these core issues are examined as up to December 2007.

Over the last two decades public service broadcasting (PSB) around the world has faced increasing pressures from accelerating commercialisation and the fragmentation of the broadcasting landscape. This has led a number of media commentators in the system's traditional heartlands to ask whether the idea has now outlived its usefulness. Against the grain of this international trend, Taiwan has moved in the opposite direction, democratising its state-owned television system and introducing a form of public broadcasting for the first time. Against the grain of growing enthusiasm for a privatised solution supporters presented PSB as a necessary counter to the perceived deficiencies of the existing system, in serving a society moving from authoritarian to competitive party rule. This study sets out to explore how the expansion of PSB in Taiwan has been socially defined and constructed, and by whom. The various constructions in play were mapped through in-depth interviews with a range of claim-makers involved in the process. A systematic content analysis of the mainstream Taiwanese press was then conducted to explore the ways contending positions and issues were presented in the public domain and to identify the key voices given a public platform. This analysis demonstrated that the opinions and concerns of the general public were largely missing from a debate dominated by political and academic elites. Against the grain of their own claims to be representing the public key actors constructed public debate as a series of monologues, advancing their own sectional and paternalistic interpretations of the public interest. These findings point to the supremely ironic conclusion that a process ostensibly dedicated to reconstructing broadcasting as key element in a new, democratic, public sphere, excluded the public from active participation and relegated them to the role of spectators.