Manuel Puppis
Prof. Dr.
manuel.puppis@unifr.ch
+41 26 300 8425
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4139-251X
politique, réglementation et gouvernance des médias ; économie des médias ; organisations médiatiques et journalisme ; changement de médias et numérisation ; le système médiatique suisse et les systèmes médiatiques en comparaison internationale
Professeur·e ordinaire
Département des sciences de la communication et des médias
Bd de Pérolles 90
1700 Fribourg
Biographie
Manuel Puppis est professeur ordinaire en structures et gouvernance des médias au Département des sciences de la communication et des médias DCM de l’Université de Fribourg. Il est vice-président de la Commission fédérale des médias (COFEM) et du Comité d'experts sur le renforcement de la résilience des médias (MSI-RES).
Puppis est titulaire d’un doctorat en sciences de la communication et d’une licence en sciences de la communication, sciences politiques et histoire économique et sociale de l’Université de Zurich. Ses intérêts de recherche sont la politique, la régulation et la gouvernance des médias, les systèmes médiatiques dans une perspective comparative, la numérisation de l'espace public, les organisations médiatiques et le journalisme ainsi que l'économie des médias et l'économie politique critique.
Il a été chercheur visiteur à l'Institute for Information Law, Université d'Amsterdam (2023), au Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, Université de New York (2018), au Leibniz-Institut für Medienforschung | Hans-Bredow Institut à Hambourg (2023, 2012) et au Centre for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, Université de Pennsylvanie (2011). Pour le semestre d’automne 2012, il a été nommé chercheur résident invité à l’Annenberg School for Communication, Université de Pennsylvanie.
Recherche et publications
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Publications
153 publications
Medienpolitik: Grundlagen für Wissenschaft und Praxis
Puppis, Manuel (München: UVK, 2023), ISBN: 9783825243784 | LivrePreface
Van Den Bulck, H. and Puppis, M. and Donders, K. and Van Audenhove, L. (The Palgrave Handbook of Methods for Media Policy Research, 2019) | LivreIdentifikation von Good Practice im Jugendmedienschutz im internationalen Vergleich
Schulz, Wolfgang and Dreyer, Stephan and Dankert, Kevin and Puppis, Manuel and Künzler, Matthias and Wassmer, Christian (Bern: BSV, 2015) | LivreEinführung in die Medienpolitik
Puppis, Manuel (Konstanz: UVK, 2010), ISBN: 978-3-8252-2881-1 | LivreOrganisationen der Medienselbstregulierung. Europäische Presseräte im Vergleich
Puppis, Manuel (Köln: Halem, 2009), ISBN: 978-3-86962-001-5 | LivreEinführung in die Medienpolitik
Puppis, Manuel (Konstanz: UVK, 2007) | LivreRundfunkregulierung. Leitbilder, Modelle und Erfahrungen im internationalen Vergleich. Eine sozial- und rechtswissenschaftliche Analyse
Jarren, Otfried and Weber, Rolf H. and Donges, Patrick and Dörr, Bianka and Künzler, Matthias and Puppis, Manuel (Zürich: Seismo, 2002), ISBN: 978-3-908239-95-6 | Livre -
Projets de recherche
Understanding ALGorithmic gatekeepers to promote EPIstemic welfare (ALGEPI)
Statut: En coursDébut 01.05.2023 Fin 30.04.2027 Financement FNS Voir la fiche du projet Technological and economic developments have led to the availability of an overwhelming quantity of digital content. Therefore, it has become crucial, in particular for media content providers, to incorporate algorithmic gatekeepers, which filter, rank and recommend content. Are these algorithmic gatekeepers undermining media’s contribution to epistemic welfare? In ALGEPI, we start from the novel concept of epistemic welfare, defined as the individuals’ right to know and be exposed to trustworthy, independent and diverse information while respecting individual rights to their own data. By connecting legal, political, technological and sociocultural perspectives, we will develop a conceptual framework for epistemic welfare. This framework will allow us to understand the effects of algorithmic gatekeepers on epistemic welfare. The new interdisciplinary research program will build on multi-method empirical research applied to algorithmic gatekeepers. Thanks to the theoretical and empirical findings, we will be able to develop normative instruments to align algorithmic gatekeeping with epistemic welfare. Taking the novel concept of epistemic welfare as a starting point allows all project partners to embark on a joint, integrated exploration of the concept. This may lead to a paradigmatic shift in the conceptualization of the impact of algorithmic gatekeepers in media sectors, proposing to expand the notions of media pluralism and consumer welfare to epistemic welfare. Valorisation grant for SCOPES project "The prospect and development of public service media: Comparative study of PSB development in Western Balkans in light of EU integration"
Statut: TerminéDébut 01.11.2016 Fin 30.04.2017 Financement FNS Voir la fiche du projet The politicization of the state, the ongoing commercialization of the media sector combined with an economic crisis, financial instability, strong clientelistic ties, and the rapid proliferation of new media platforms and outlets have resulted in a failure to produce an environment conducive to independent public service broadcasting (PSB) in Western Balkan countries. As a result, their role, remit, and survival have been continuously put into question. The SCOPES project "The prospect and development of public service media: Comparative study of PSB development in Western Balkans in light of EU integration" aimed at discussing the position, role, functioning, and the future of public service broadcasters in seven countries in the region of the Western Balkans – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Albania and Montenegro – taking into account the above-mentioned challenges. The country studies and policy briefs, as project outputs, will fill the gap in existing literature on democratization and media developments in the Western Balkans and indicate specific patterns of development and possible options for improvement in order to support decision-making processes in the countries under scrutiny. However, the project was mainly focused on extensive field research in order to shed light on PSB transformation processes in the countries of the Western Balkans. Thus, the promotional activities related to the project are rather limited and the team considers it important to develop additional activities in order to promote the project results and to disseminate the findings and recommendations both locally and internationally. This valorization grant would allow to present and discuss the results at the most important international conference in Europe as well as to strengthen partnerships with local and international stakeholders. In the original project proposal it was neither envisaged that team members will be supported to participate in international events nor that policy briefs would be translated for advocacy activities in local contexts. Moreover, it is planned to publish an edited volume with a renowned Western publisher in order to advance the academic profile of the authors from the Western Balkans. Journalistic Role Performance around the Globe: Switzerland
Statut: TerminéDébut 01.11.2015 Fin 31.12.2018 Financement FNS Voir la fiche du projet The aim of our project is to explore the role performance of journalists. Journalists have ideals in form of role conceptions: They see themselves, for instance, either as neutral disseminators, investigators, analysts, promoters or entertainers. However, they are likely to make compromises in their everyday work due to personal, financial, political or other restrictions. As a consequence of these restrictions, role conceptions do not necessarily unfold in media content. Thus, in order to investigate role performance, we connect journalists’ output back to their role conceptions. Therefore a content analysis of newspapers will be performed, based on operationalization models recently developed in journalism studies, in order to reveal references to particular role conceptions in news content. At the same time a standardized online survey will be conducted among the authors of the analyzed articles in order to investigate their own conceptions of their professional role and of their level of autonomy. This combination of methods will allow comparisons between the role conceptions as seen by the journalists and the conceptions which are traceable in their articles, i.e. in their role performance. The project will concentrate on journalists and their work in Switzerland but is part of a bigger international project (see http://www.journalisticperformance.org). Researchers in 27 other countries around the globe are in the process of conducting equivalent analyses of their national print media, using the same codebook and questionnaire. Findings from the Swiss study will thus be discussed along with the results from the other participating countries in publications dealing with the international comparison of journalistic role performance. The special situation of Switzerland as a multilingual and multicultural country offers the opportunity for more in-depth analyses about common grounds and differences of journalistic role performance in different cultural entities within the same political system. Gender und Medien im Vorfeld der eidgenössischen Wahlen 2015
Statut: TerminéService public im internationalen Vergleich
Statut: TerminéMedien und Meinungsmacht
Statut: TerminéThe prospect and development of public service media: Comparative study of PSB development in Western Balkans in light of EU integration
Statut: TerminéDébut 01.07.2014 Fin 30.09.2016 Financement FNS Voir la fiche du projet The institutionalization of independent public service broadcasting (PSB) represents a fundamental element of the (Western) European model of media policy (van Cuilenburg and McQuail, 2003). As part of the democratization process, post-Communist societies, including the countries of the Western Balkans, were expected to transform their state-controlled broadcasters into public service broadcasters. While transformation theorists initially distinguished three models of transformation – paternalistic, democratic, and systemic – a fourth type – mimetic or imitative – has been introduced to describe the nature of transformation due to the different and specific socio-political circumstances in post-Communist countries (Splichal, 2001; Jakubowicz, 1990, 2007, 2008; Boyle, 1992, 1994). In other words: The countries in transition aimed at imitating what McQuail (2000: 208-9) called the “public service phase” of media policy in Western Europe which put a strong emphasis on independent and non-commercial public service broadcasting. Yet this ‘mimetic’ model was never based on naïve presumptions about the possibilities of policy transfer. The assumption was that “transplantation of the legal and institutional frameworks of PSB would have to be followed by a long period of development of the kind of political and journalistic culture required for PSB to be able to flourish” (Jakubowicz and Sükösd, 2008: 19). Yet some authors claim that what really happened in the countries of the former Yugoslavia cold be explained with the ‘atavistic’ orientation: partitocratic systems emerged in the post-Communist countries as result of transition with political and public life dominated – or indeed ‘colonized’ – by political parties (Hausner and Marody, 2000: 24). As a consequence, there emerged an opaque imitation of external models, as much of the media legislation adopted alongside the process of consolidation of these democracies reflects solutions borrowed from other countries (Zielonka and Mancini 2011). The process of transformation in Western Balkan countries has faced many obstacles and problems: A politicized state, the subordination of the media to government in pursuit of economic goals, the paternalism of the state and strong clientelistic ties resulted in a failure to produce an environment conducive to independent public service media. Usually, in these countries PSBs were created in order to formally satisfy the requirements of EU accession process and European integration (European Commission, Council of Europe). However, these broadcasters are largely unable to fulfill their mission. Political elites seek to retain as much discretionary power over transformed public media as possible. Due to the lack of independence and financial stability, their expected role is reduced and their existence and survival have been continuously questioned. Taking into account the external streams and pressures caused by technological development and digitalization, which require thorough changes in the way that PSB organizes and operates, current reforms of regulatory frameworks related to PSB make the future prospects for reconstruction and development of these institutions in the region of Western Balkans very uncertain. An additional problem for countries of the Western Balkans is a significant policy overload (Jakubowicz, 2007). Policy overload refers to the fact that these countries are expected to consume, accept, and implement the best of legal and policy traditions of the Western states – from 17th-century issues of freedom of speech all the way to the 21st century issues of the Information Society – in little more than two decades. “This cannot easily be done, either on a policy level, or – and primarily – on a practical level, when a country is expected to leap over several stages in the development of its media industry in order to meet mostly economic and telecommunications policy goals formulated. Equally difficult is the job of catching up on a decades of media market development” (Jakubowicz, 2007). At the same time, models that were presented as best-practice (PSB, regulatory bodies, press councils, etc.) at the beginning of the transition in the 1990s, are nowadays scrutinized and even questioned in developed countries. For instance, the role public service media should play online is heavily disputed and the success of press self-regulation is questionable, as the example of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) in the UK shows. The EU made its own contribution to the installment of public service broadcasting in the countries of former Yugoslavia, insisting on its introduction, assisting the process of drafting media legislation, offering various forms of expertise in the field of PSB reforms, and regularly monitoring the process of transformation of PSB. However, the EU’s own recent communication policy is mainly shaped by an economic and technological logic, marginalizing social, cultural or political goals. Thus, the EU approaches PSB from the point of view of competition policy and state aid regulation, “determined to prevent public funding from being used to distort competition within the private sector” (Jakubowicz, 2011). This controversial approach of the EU could create additional problems for PSBs in analyzed countries. Due to the fact that their operations are dependent on state funding – either direct (budget financing in Montenegro and in Serbia from 2014) or indirect through various forms of state aid – this competition policy approach could significantly weaken PSBs. However, it could also help in liberating public service media from unduly governmental influence. This project attempts to discuss the position, role, functioning, and the future of public service broadcasters in six countries in the region of Western Balkans – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Albania and Montenegro – taking into account the above-mentioned challenges, and especially the new paradigm promoted recently by the EU. It will yield a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the performance and impact of public service broadcasting in transitional societies of the Western Balkans. It aims at making a substantial step on the analysis of contextually dependent paths of media development and the role that EU is playing in these processes. Moreover, the project will add to existing research by focusing on a region traditionally neglected in comparative media research. The analysis of the current state and future development of PSBs will focus on the following areas – politics and PSB, EU accession and PSB regulation, markets and financial models for PSB, digitalization and technologic development, and providing public services in ethnically plural and divided societies. It is envisaged that the project lasts two years, with a total budget of 103.436 CHF. The main project partners are the Department of Mass Media and Communication Research of the University of Fribourg (hereinafter Swiss Partner), and Center for Social Research Analitika from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Arbeitsbedingungen und Berichterstattungsfreiheit in journalistischen Organisationen
Statut: TerminéIdentifikation von Good Practice im Jugendmedienschutz im internationalen Vergleich
Statut: TerminéRegulierungs-Monitoring Ergänzungsprojekt 2013
Statut: Terminé