European Culture and the Media

The book European Culture and the Media reflects and analyses developments in European media currently undergoing fundamental changes, following not just decades of globalization, but also an ever deeper cultural and political integration and expansion of Europe as a political vision and project. The themes in the book, and the research on which it is based, are the result of a large interdisciplinary project launched in January 2000 by the European Science Foundation called Changing Media - Changing Europe. The project involves over sixty researchers from eighteen European countries, and involves both the humanities and social sciences. The aim is to develop comparative studies and understanding of the dynamics of European media culture, focusing on trends in the last decade, but with a broader historical perspective as an important context. Even though much energy has been devoted to developing policies on a European level for the audiovisual sector, in particular European television and film, and, as the above mentioned example illustrates, new media and information technology, research on European media cultures must keep in focus a whole range of both old and new media. The convergence of media in Europe, as elsewhere in the world, doesn’t mean that older media disappear, but rather that they find a place in a new digital media culture: e-books and electronic newspapers and journals are added to the traditional print forms, web-TV stations try to find a niche but also major TVstations develop Internet-strategies and profiles. The development of media cultures in Europe is a dynamic process embracing old and new media and oftencontradictory social and cultural processes.

Keywords: Europe, culture, media