MINELRES: New publication: Study on regulation of minority languages in broadcasting

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Tarlach McGonagle <mcgonagle@jur.uva.nl>


          PCMLP			             IViR
   Oxford University	      	    Universiteit van Amsterdam
http://pcmlp.socleg.ox.ac.uk	       http://www.ivir.nl

_____________________________________________________________________

Oxford/Amsterdam, 8 October 2003


Announcement: New study on regulation of minority languages in
broadcasting


Minority-Language Related Broadcasting and Legislation in the OSCE, T.
McGonagle, B. Davis Noll & M. Price, Eds., Study commissioned by the
OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, carried out by the
Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP), Oxford University
and the Institute for Information Law (IViR) of the University of
Amsterdam, April 2003 (published: September 2003). 

The PCMLP and IViR recently completed a unique and comprehensive survey
of the regulation of minority language use in the broadcasting sectors
of each of the 55 Participating States of the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The study shows that the array of
legislative and regulatory regimes for language use in broadcasting is
as spectacularly heterogeneous as the OSCE itself. The study's main
conclusion is that language use in the broadcast media is: 1) typically
regulated; 2) rarely prohibited; and 3) often facilitated. By mapping
this diversity, the study hopes to invite greater scrutiny of individual
practices and general trends.

The study focuses in particular on mechanisms regulating language use,
revealing that these can entail the promotion of certain languages or
prohibitions or restrictions on others. It emerges as well that
different norms are frequently prescribed for public service and private
sector broadcasting. The study also examines a wide range of other
factors affecting diversity of language use in broadcasting, including: 

- official/State recognition of specific languages
- policy goals of safeguarding or promoting certain languages or of
strengthening language forms
- establishment, ownership and editorial control of broadcasting outlets
by linguistic minorities 
- access to broadcasting services (especially public service
broadcasting) at the national, regional and local levels 
- quotas and other provisions governing minority-language programming
- licensing provisions
- financing and tax regimes
- transfrontier considerations

The study comprises a wealth of information gathered by a vast network
of country experts. A detailed comparative overview presents the trends
identified in States throughout the OSCE region against the background
of existing international legal norms. Individual country reports
document and contextualise formal prescriptions and proscriptions of
language and other measures affecting the use of minority languages in
the audiovisual sector. It is hoped that the study will prove a valuable
research resource for everyone with an interest in the issues at stake
and that it will facilitate the task of identifying and promoting "best
practices" as regards any regulation of language use in the broadcasting
sector. 

The study is now available online at
http://www.ivir.nl/index-english.html and will shortly also be available
at http://pcmlp.socleg.ox.ac.uk. Copies of the study can be ordered from
the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (see
further: http://www.osce.org/hcnm/), or alternatively from the PCMLP or
IViR.