Consistency and Change in Finnish Broadcasting Policy
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CONSISTENCY AND CHANGE IN FINNISH BROADCASTING POLICY Consistency and Change in Finnish Broadcasting Policy The Implementation of Digital Television and Lessons from the Canadian Experience Johanna Jääsaari ÅBO 2007 ÅBO AKADEMIS FÖRLAG – ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY PRESS CIP Cataloguing in Publication Jääsaari, Johanna Consistency and change in Finnish broadcasting policy : the implementation of digital television and lessons from the Canadian experience / Johanna Jääsaari. - Åbo : Åbo Akademi University Press, 2007. Diss.: Åbo Akademi University. ISBN 978-951-765-356-5 ISBN 978-951-765-356-5 ISBN 978-951-765-357-2 (digital) Hakapaino Oy Helsingfors 2007 Consistency and Change in Finnish Broadcasting Policy The Implementation of Digital Television and Lessons from the Canadian Experience Johanna Jääsaari Akademisk avhandling som med tillstånd av Ekonomisk statsvetenskapliga fakulteten vid Åbo Akademi framläggs till offentlig granskning i Axelia II, Auditorium Ringbom, Biskopsgatan 8, Åbo, fredagen den 8 juni 2007 kl. 12 ÅBO 2007 ÅBO AKADEMIS FÖRLAG – ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY PRESS CONTENTS List of Figures and Tables List of Abbreviations and Acronyms Acknowledgements 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Changing Context of Broadcasting ..........................................................1 1.2 Aims, Research Questions and Structure of the Study.....................................3 1.3 Finnish Broadcasting Policy 1995-2001 as a Focus of Study: The Eclipse of a Successful Experiment? ....................................................................5 2 THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: THE SYMMETRY THEORY AND ITS CHALLENGES......................................................... 9 2.1 The Symmetry Theory....................................................................................9 2.2 Symmetry over Time: Broadcasting and the Nation State .............................12 2.3 Symmetry across Systems: Broadcasting and Political Culture .....................14 2.4 Converging Systems of Broadcasting as a Challenge to the Symmetry Theory ...............................................................................................................17 2.5 The Process of Marketization and its Dimensions.........................................20 3 STUDY APPROACH: NEW INSTITUTIONALISM .......................... 23 3.1 Institutions in Political Science and Media and Communications Research ............................................................................................................23 3.2 New vs. ‘Old’ Institutionalism ..................................................................... 24 3.3 The Three Pillars of Institutionalization ....................................................... 26 3.4 The Pillars of Institutionalization and the Symmetry Theory........................ 29 The Regulative Pillar of Symmetry........................................................... 31 The Normative Pillar of Symmetry........................................................... 34 The Cognitive Pillar of Symmetry ............................................................ 36 3.5 The Three New Institutionalisms and Guidelines for Research Design and Methodology............................................................................................... 39 Organizational Institutionalism: Disaggregating Dimensions of Change ..................................................................................................... 41 Historical Institutionalism: Comparing Concrete Temporal Processes of Continuity and Change ......................................................... 45 4 CASE STUDY I: THE INTRODUCTION OF DIGITAL TELEVISION IN FINLAND 1995-2001 AS A POLICY PROCESS .......49 4.1 Introduction: Structure and Sources of Case Study I..................................... 49 Time Frame: Manifest and Latent Events.................................................. 50 Sources..................................................................................................... 51 4.2 Background: The Formation of the Pillars of Finnish Broadcasting.............. 55 The History of Finnish Broadcasting ........................................................ 55 The Regulative Pillar: Arms Length Structural Discipline......................... 62 The Normative Pillar: Paternalism and National Unity.............................. 64 The Cognitive Pillar: Pragmatic Cooperation and Cultural Protectionism ........................................................................................... 69 Institutional Symmetry 1920-1995: Political Tendencies Shape Broadcasting Policy.................................................................................. 71 4.3 The Introduction of Digital Television as a National Project 1995-2001....... 73 Digital Television and the ‘Coming of the Information Society’ ............... 73 Paving Way for Digital Television through Competition: The Mykkänen report ...................................................................................... 75 Decision in Principle – A Rapid Time-table for Analog Licences ............. 77 Drafting of New Broadcasting Legislation and the Competition Authority Statement Episode .................................................................... 80 The Application Process for Digital Broadcasting Licences ...................... 82 New Broadcasting Legislation Passed....................................................... 85 Approving Digital Operating Licences...................................................... 87 Compromising the National Project: The Preparation of the Communications Market Act and the Backman Working Group............... 88 Digital Launch: “An Anticlimactic Start” for Digital Broadcasting in Finland......................................................................................................91 4.4 Transformation and Continuity in the Institutional Pillars.............................94 Continuity and Transformation in the Regulative Pillar .............................95 Transformation and Continuity in the Normative Pillar .............................98 Cognitive Transformation and Continuity ...............................................104 4.5 Summary and Conclusion of Case I............................................................111 5 CASE STUDY II: BROADCASTING POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND RESPONSES TO TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE IN FINLAND AND CANADA................................................................... 121 5.1 Introduction: Structure of Case Study II......................................................121 5.2 Case Design ...............................................................................................122 The Comparative Approach: For and Against..........................................122 Case Setting ............................................................................................123 Case Selection.........................................................................................125 5. 3 Canadian and Finnish Broadcasting Systems in Comparison......................130 Differences: The Organization of Broadcasting .......................................130 Similarities: Geopolitical and Linguistic Considerations..........................134 Sources of the Binary Comparison ..........................................................136 5.4 Background: The History of Canadian Broadcasting in Brief 1920s- 1990s ...............................................................................................................138 5.5 The Institutional Pillars of Canadian and Finnish National Broadcasting in Comparison..................................................................................................144 The Regulative Dimension......................................................................144 The Normative Dimension ......................................................................146 The Cognitive Dimension........................................................................150 5.6 Transformations of Canadian and Finnish Broadcasting Policy in the Late 1990s in Contrast......................................................................................152 Transitions in the Regulative Dimension.................................................155 Transitions in the Normative Dimension .................................................156 Transitions in the Cognitive Dimension...................................................161 5.7 Summary and Conclusions of Case II .........................................................163 6 CONCLUSIONS............................................................................ 171 6.1 Summary of the Research Aims..................................................................171 6.2 Summary of Empirical Findings ................................................................ 172 Continuity and Change in Finnish Broadcasting 1995-2001.................... 172 The Canadian Case and Points of Policy Convergence............................ 175 6.3 Theoretical and Methodological Considerations......................................... 178 Marketization and the Symmetry Theory................................................ 178 Limitations of the New Institutionalist Approach.................................... 185 6.4 Finnish Broadcasting Policy at the Crossroads: Lessons from the Canadian Experience ......................................................................................