What We Talk about When We Talk about “The Market”: Conceptual Contestation in Contemporary Media Policy Research

Abstract

How would media policy discourse benefit from more precise use of the ambiguous term “the market”? The term's economic and metaphorical constructions are often conflated, say the authors. For example, the metaphor can be used ideologically to obscure private political and economic interests. While there is no single uncontroversial definition of the term, greater clarity about the difference between its empirical and normative uses, according to the authors, will produce a more fruitful debate on both in the realm of media policy.