Media Regulations in the Digital Era: The Changing Trends and Challenges
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Abstract
The broadcast industry often finds itself caught between maintaining professional standards and adhering to government-imposed regulations. With the ongoing transformation in traditional broadcasting, it has become necessary to review existing regulatory frameworks implemented by statutory agencies and professional bodies. This paper reports on the state of broadcast media regulation and highlights the challenges of enforcement in the face of media convergence. It adopts both self-regulatory and statutory models as its analytical framework. Findings indicate that the digitisation of broadcasting has broadened media operations, resulting in increasing breaches of regulatory guidelines. A notable example is campus radio stations, which are authorised to serve their respective institutions and host communities but often operate beyond these limits. The paper concludes that regulating broadcast media in the digital age presents significant difficulties and recommends a review of existing regulatory approaches to reflect contemporary realities.
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