Models of mass media regulation: comparative analysis

Abstract

This article examines the foreign models of regulation of the media industry aimed at protection of children from information that may harm their health and development. The author reviews the widespread approaches towards classification of the systems of mass media regulation, and the genesis of the corresponding scientific representations. Having compared the key provisions of these approaches, the author determines the universal factors and parameters of the systems of mass media regulation in foreign countries. Addressing the issues of children’s protection from harmful content and taking measures aimed at restriction of distribution of information, the article considers media regulation system as a social practice and vector of information policy. The conclusion is made on the key role of the traditional value orientations, perceptions of risks in relation to health and development of children, mechanisms and technologies for protecting children from harmful information. Pronounced trends in regulation of mass media for the protection of children include the increase in national differentiation despite the globalization of media communication processes, which the author associates with the diversity of the main sources of dynamics of sociocultural national spaces. The growing commercialization of media industry indicates the need for integrating the capacities of state and civil mechanisms of control over the distribution of media products in the face of the threat of monopolization of media industry.