Media Diversity and the Politics of Criteria

Diversity and pluralism are foundational principles that seem to underlie much of the arguments in European communication and media policy. Consequently, the positive value associated with these concepts can be exploited in arguments for various and often-incompatible objectives. This paper discusses the uses and implications of different definitions and empirical objectifications of media diversity in media policy with a particular focus on how certain definitions and political rationalities become institutionalized and normalized in expert and policy discourses. It is argued in the article that the growing body of research on media diversity as a measurable concept implies a shift from the normative and political questions to more narrowly defined technocratic and market-driven definitions of media and culture, a move which itself is not without normative and political implications.