NEW CHALLENGES FOR EUROPEAN MULTIMEDIA POLICY - A GERMAN PERSPECTIVE

In order to ensure a certain quality of communicative achievements on behalf of the development of individuals and societies, media regulati on will still be indispensable in the age of multimedia. The main ques tion is not how to justify regulation but rather how to design it adeq uately. It will be a challenge to hold on to normative premises of pol itical liberalism, of societal emancipation and of protection against manipulation as well as to stimulate the potential of differing values , information and ideas in Europe. The most promising form is regulati on,which concentrates on regulating structures which help improve the effectiveness of access at different levels and to different uses (esp ecially fairness of communication, distribution and reception).