The Montreal Media Policy Group (MMPG), in cooperation with Media@McGill, is very pleased to announce a discussion with Dr. Philip M. Napoli, Director of the Donald McGannon Communication Research Center, Fordham University. This event will take place on 18 April 2007 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Thomson House, McGill University.
Here is how Professor Napoli describes the subject matter for his talk, The Politics of Research and the Politics of Data in U.S. Communications Policymaking:
The dynamics of the U.S. communications policymaking process -- particularly as they relate to the role of research in the process -- have been the subject of increasing scrutiny in recent months. A number of concurrent events, including the release of media ownership studies that apparently were suppressed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); questions about the integrity of the process by which the FCC selects outside researchers; denials of access to the data underlying studies submitted to, and conducted by, the FCC; and growing evidence of flagrantly flawed data being used to guide policymaking, have raised a host of questions regarding the apparent increased politicization of the research process, and whether changes need to be made in the norms of data access and research transparency within this area of policymaking. This presentation will address these issues, drawing upon recent research as well as recent personal experiences as an academic researcher engaged with policymakers, advocacy organizations, industry associations, and non-profits seeking to strengthen the linkages between communications research and communications policymaking.
Professor Napoli's research interests centre around areas of media economics and include media policy, audience research and media regulation. He is the author of Foundations of Communications Policy: Principles and Process in the Regulation of Electronic Media (Hampton Press, 2001) and Audience Economics: Media Institutions and the Audience Marketplace (Columbia University Press, 2003).