Media Accountability Today & Tomorrow
Updating the Concept in Theory & Practice

By Torbjorn von Krogh, ed.
November 2008
Nordicom / Gotenborg University
Distributed By Coronet Books
ISBN: 9789189471580
158 pages, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2"
$82.50 paper original

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Tony Blair demands it, Reuters wants it, the Spokane Spokesman-Review practices some of it and scholars try to define it - media accountability.

The need for media accountability was formulated more than 100 years ago and made manifest with codes of ethics and "bureaus of accuracy". The Hutchins Commission used the concept in 1947 as a way to avoid government prescription of media content. The practice of media accountability has since been fueled by market expansion, looser regulation of public service and a technological facilitation of media/public interaction.

In March 2007 these issues were discussed in a two-day international conference at the School of Communication and Design, University of Kalmar, Sweden. Scholars gave overviews of Media Accountability Systems (MAS), media journalism, media blogs and the effects of market-driven journalism on media accountability. Practicitioners presented cases dealing with victims of the media in the United Kingdom, news ombudsmen and media critique in Scandanavia, and transparency in Spokane, Washington, USA.

To the presentations from Kalmar the conference-initiator Torbjorn von Krogh has added a background chapter on the origins and rise of media accountability and some thoughts on its future. He also offers a new working definition of media accountability, building on the work of European and North American scholars.

Sociology

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