Summing Up the Public Interest: A Review of 'Media Diversity and Localism: Meaning and Metrics', Edited by Philip M. Napoli

Abstract

Philip Napoli's Media Diversity and Localism: Meaning and Metrics is a thoughtful and first of its kind compilation of some of the ongoing research and scholarship examining the concepts of localism and diversity underlying the Federal Communications Commission's public interest standard in broadcasting. The collection of essays addresses these fundamental goals from a variety of disciplines beyond the law, including political science, communications policy, sociology, and economics. These essays explore the values associated with these two goals, apply performance metrics to assess existing regulatory policies intended to preserve and promote these goals, and reflect on their meaning in the new media landscape and for current communications policy and decision-making. The volume provides a scholarly foundation for assessing some of the central questions in the ongoing media policy debates.

Keywords: media regulation, Federal Communications Cmmission, public interest