EU media policy and/as cultural policy: economic and cultural tensions in MEDIA 2007

This article is an examination of the cultural and economic tensions that arise in the formulation and implementation of media policy in the European Union. Through an analysis of the MEDIA 2007 program, the authors investigate how the priorities of cultural policy and media policy interact and conflict. EU policy goals from the mid-2000s onwards have emphasized attention to the economic potential of the creative and cultural industries, which complicates the cultural potential of audiovisual media. MEDIA 2007 in particular demonstrates these tensions, as the design of this policy mechanism emphasized audiovisual media's potential for European economic growth as a precondition for achieving cultural objectives.