The regulation of media and communications in the UK has recently been subject to reform resulting in the creation of the Office of Communications (Ofcom). This statutory body, established by an Act of Parliament, is a new, sector-wide regulator, protecting the interests of what has been termed the ‘citizen-consumer’. This article charts the discursive shifts that occurred during the passage of the Communications Act through Parliament and in the initial stages of its implementation to understand how and why the term ‘citizen-consumer’ came to lie at the heart of the new regulator’s mission. By critically analysing the various alignments of ‘citizen’ and ‘consumer’ interests within the debates, the underlying struggles over the formulation of power, responsibility and duties for the new regulator and for other stakeholders – industry, government and public – are identified. The article concludes that the legacy of these debates is that regulatory provisions designed to further the ‘citizen interest’ contain significant and unresolved dilemmas.
Ang, I. ( 1990) Desperately Seeking the Audience. London: Routledge .
2.
Beck, U. and E. Beck-Gernsheim (2002) Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and its Social and Political Consequences. London: Sage .
3.
Billig, M. , S. Condor , D. Edwards , M. Gane , D. Middleton , and A.R. Radley (1988) Ideological Dilemmas: A Social Psychology of Everyday Thinking. London: Sage .
4.
Black, J. (2002) `Critical Reflections on Regulation', Discussion Paper. London: LSE Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation .
5.
Born, G. (2004) Uncertain Vision: Birt, Dyke and the Reinvention of the BBC. London: Secker and Warburg .
6.
Bush, B. (2005) Speech to the symposium, `Media Policy-making and Power', 23 Sept., Goldsmiths College, University of London.
7.
Campbell, C. (2004) ` The Citizen-Consumer: Is this Term an Oxymoron? ', paper given at the seminar `Consumers as Citizens' , HM Treasury, London, 22 April.
8.
Carter, S. (2003a) Speech to the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention, 19 Sept. URL (consulted July 2005): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/speeches/2003/09/carter_20030919
9.
Carter, S. (2003b) Speech to the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers Annual Lunch, 1 July. URL (consulted December 2005 ): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/speeches/2003/07/carter_20030701
10.
Carter, S. (2003c) `The Communications Act — Myths and Realities' , speech, 9 September. URL (consulted July 2005): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/speeches/2003/10/carter_20031009
11.
Carter, S. (2004a) Speech to the Voice of the Listener and Viewer Spring Conference. URL (consulted December 2005): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/speeches/2004/04/carter_voice_20040429
12.
Carter, S. (2004b) Speech to the Oxford IPPR Media Conference , 13 January. URL (consulted September 2005): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/speeches/2004/01/carter_20040113
13.
Chapman, J. , P. Miller and P. Skidmore (2003) The Long View: How Regulators and Companies Can Both Win. London: Demos .
14.
Christensen, T. and R. Laegreid (2000) `New Public Management: Puzzles of Democracy and the Influence of Citizens', paper given at the World Congress of theInternational Political Science Association, Quebec .
15.
Clarke, J. , N. Smith and E. Vidler (2005) `Consumerism and the Reform of Public Services: Inequalities and Instabilities', in M. Powell , L. Bauld and K. Clarke (eds) Social Policy Review17. Bristol: The Policy Press .
16.
Collins, R. and C. Murroni (1996) New Media, New Policies: Media and Communications Strategies for the Future . Cambridge : Polity.
17.
Corner, J. (2004) ` Freedom, Rights and Regulations ', Media, Culture & Society26(6): 893—9 .
18.
Currie, D. (2003) Speech to the English National Forum Seminar, 7 July. URL (consulted December 2005): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/speeches/2003/07/currie_20030707
19.
Currie, D. (2005) Speech to the ISPA Parliamentary Advisory Forum , 26 January. URL (consulted December 2005): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/speeches/2005/01/ispa
20.
DTI/DCMS (Department of Trade and Industry/Department of Culture, Media and Sport) (1998) Regulating Communications: Approaching Convergence in the Information Age. London : Department of Trade and Industry. URL (consulted July 2005): http://www.dti.gov.uk/converg/
21.
DTI/DCMS (Department of Trade and Industry/Department of Culture, Media and Sport) (2000) A New Future for Communications: The Communications White Paper, 12 December. URL (consulted June 2005): http://www.communicationswhitepaper.gov.uk/
22.
DTI/DCMS (Department of Trade and Industry/Department of Culture, Media and Sport) (2002a) The Draft Communications Bill, May. URL (consulted June 2005): http://www.archive2.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm55/5508-i/5508.pdf
23.
DTI/DCMS (Department of Trade and Industry/Department of Culture, Media and Sport) (2002b) `Note on the Meaning of “Customer”, “Consumer” and “Citizen”, to the Joint Select Committee, Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport', June. URL (consulted July 2005 ): http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/jt200102/jtselect/jtcom/169/2070808.htm
24.
Foster, R. (2005) `Competition and the Public Interest: A More Transparent Approach', paper for the OECD/Ofcom Roundtable on Communications Convergence URL (consulted June 2005): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/speeches/2005/06/comp_public_interest
25.
Foucault, M. (1977) Language, Counter-memory, Practice, trans. D.F. Bouchard and S. Simon. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press .
26.
Freedman, D. (2005) How Level Is the Playing Field? An Analysis of the UK Media Policy-making Process (a report on research into media policy-making in the UK funded by theEconomic and Social Research Council ). Swindon: ESRC .
27.
Giddens, A. (1998) The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy . Cambridge: Polity .
28.
Grade, M. (2005) `Building Global Value', speech to the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, London, 9 February. URL (consulted July 2005): http://www.bbc.co.uk/print/pressoffice/speeches/stories/grade_cba.shtml
29.
Goodwin, I. and S. Spittle (2002) ` The European Union and the Information Society: Discourse, Power and Policy ', New Media & Society4(2): 225—49 .
30.
Goodwin, P. (1998) Television Under the Tories: Broadcasting Policy1979—1997. London: BritishFilmInstitute .
31.
Hall, C. , C. Hood and C. Scott (2000) Telecommunications Regulation: Culture, Chaos and Interdependence Inside the Regulatory Process. London: Routledge .
32.
Harrison, S. (1999) ` Propaganda, Persuasion and Symmetry: Local and Central Government Perspectives on Communicating with the Citizen ', British Journal of Management10(1): 53—62 .
33.
Harvey, S. (2006) ` Ofcom's First Year and Neo-liberalism's Blind Spot: Attacking the Culture of Production ', Screen47(1): 91—105 .
34.
Hay, J. ( 2002) `The Communications Bill and the Citizen'. URL (consulted December 2005): http://www.vlv.org.uk/combill291202issues.html
35.
Hesmondhalgh, D. (2005) ` Media and Cultural Policy as Public Policy: The Case of the British Labour Government ', International Journal of Cultural Policy11(1): 95—115 .
36.
House of Commons (2002) Research Paper 02/6, 26 November. URL (consulted July 2005): http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2002/rp02-067.pdf
37.
Keum, H. , N. Devanathan , S. Deshpande , M.R. Nelson and D.V. Shah (2004) ` The Citizen-Consumer: Media Effects at the Intersection of Consumer and Civic Culture ', Political Communication21(3): 369—91 .
38.
Lewis, J. , S. Inthorn and K. Wahl-Jorgensen (2005) Citizens or Consumers? What the Media Tell Us About Political Participation. Maidenhead , Berks: Open University Press .
39.
Livingstone, S. (2004) ` The Challenge of Changing Audiences: Or, What Is the Audience Researcher to Do in the Internet Age? ', European Journal of Communication19(1): 75—86 .
40.
Livingstone, S. (ed.) (2005) Audiences and Publics: When Cultural Engagement Matters for the Public Sphere . Bristol: Intellect Press .
41.
Livingstone, S. , E.J. van Couvering and N. Thumim (in press) `Converging Traditions of Research on Media and Information Literacies: Disciplinary and Methodological Issues', in D.J. Leu , J. Coiro , M. Knobel and C. Lankshear (eds) Handbook of Research on New Literacies. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates .
42.
Lodge, M. (2002) ` Book Review: The Government of Risk: Understanding Risk Regulation Regimes ', West European Politics25: 237—8 .
43.
Lunt, P. , S. Livingstone and T. Kelay (2005) `Risk and Regulation in Financial Services and Communications.' URL (consulted March 2007): http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/1-06/06-1-32-e.pdf
44.
Lunt, P. , S. Livingstone , T. Kelay and L. Miller (2006) ` Approaches to Risk and Consumer Policy in Financial Service Regulation in the UK ', Forum Qualitative Social Research7(1): Art. 32. URL (consulted March 2007): http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/a5b6c7/06-1-32-e.htm
45.
Murdock, G. (2005) `Public Broadcasting and Democratic Culture: Consumers, Citizens, and Communards', pp. 174—98 in J. Wasko (ed.) A Companion to Television. Malden, MA: Blackwell .
46.
NCC (National Consumer Council) (2002) Draft Communications Bill: Submission to the Department for Media, Communication and Sport, and the Department of Trade and Industry. URL (consulted January 2006): http://www.ncc.org.uk/communications/comms_bill_draft.pdf
47.
Needham, C. (2003) Citizen-Consumers: New Labour's Marketplace Democracy . London: Catalyst Forum .
48.
Neuman, W.R. (1991) The Future of the Mass Audience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
49.
Ofcom (2004) Review of Public Service Television Broadcasting (PSB) — Phase 1. URL (consulted January 2005): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/psb/
Puttnam, D. (2005) Speech to the symposium, `Media Policy Making and Power', 23 September, Goldsmiths College, University of London .
53.
Purvis, T. and A. Hunt (1999) ` Identity versus Citizenship: Transformations in the Discourses and Practices of Citizenship ', Social and Legal Studies8(4): 457—82 .
54.
Redding, D. (2005) `Our.info', in J. Lloyd and J. Seaton (eds) What Can Be Done? Making the Media and Politics Better, special issue, Political Quarterly. Oxford: Blackwell .
55.
Report of the Joint Committee on the Draft Communications Bill (25 July 2002), House of Commons and House of Lords. London : The Stationary Office .
56.
Richards, E. (2003) Speech to the Royal Television Society Dinner, 4 December. URL (consulted September 2005): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/speeches/2003/12/richards_20031204
57.
Richards, E. (2004) Speech to Westminster Media Forum on the Ofcom Review of Public ServiceBroadcasting, 25 April. URL (consulted July 2005): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/speeches/2004/05/richards_20040525
58.
Rose, N. (1999) Governing the Soul: The Shaping of the Private Self. London: Free Association Books .
59.
Ryan, N. (2001) ` Reconstructing Citizens as Consumers: Implications for New Modes of Governance ', Australian Journal of Public Administration60(3): 104—9 .
60.
Scammell, M. (2000) ` The Internet and Civic Engagement: The Age of the Citizen-consumer ', Political Communication17(4): 351—6 .
61.
Scott, C. (2001) Analysing Regulatory Space: Fragmented Resources and Institutional Design. London: Sweet and Maxwell .
62.
Smythe, D.W. (1984) ` New Directions for Critical Communications Research ', Media, Culture & Society6: 205—17 .
63.
Syvertsen, T. (2004) ` Citizens, Audiences, Customers and Players: A Conceptual Discussion of the Relationship between Broadcasters and their Publics ', European Journal of Cultural Studies7(3): 565—80 .
64.
Trentmann, F. (2006) `Knowing Consumers — Histories, Identities, Practices: An Introduction', pp. 1—27 in F. Trentmann (ed.) The Making of the Consumer: Knowledge, Power and Identity in the Modern World. Oxford: Berg .
65.
Turner, G. (2001) ` Television and Cultural Studies: Unfinished Business ', International Journal of Cultural Studies4: 371—84 .
66.
Webster, J.G. (2005) ` Beneath the Veneer of Fragmentation: Television Audience Polarization in a Multichannel World ', Journal of Communication55(2): 366—82 .
