Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) held “2009 KISDI International Seminar: Media Industry in Global Competition,” the first in a series on February 9.

As the emerging trend of digital convergence blurs the borders between media, 2009 KISDI International Seminar seeks to introduce major nations’ cases of proactively coping with the rapidly changing media environment as well as to identify national importance of the media industry.

The Seminar began with welcome remarks by Dr. Tongwook Park, executive director of Research Coordination Office, KISDI, followed by the presentation titled “Japan’s Media Industry: Deregulation and the Impacts of Digitalization” by Professor Sakae Ishikawa from Sophia University, Japan.
 
Professor Ishikawa introduced Japan’s media industry and related policies, going into detail on the ongoing deregulation in Japan’s media market – its background and implication. In particular, he underscored, the deregulation of the media market is a global trend, taking Japan’s newspaper-broadcast cross ownership as an example. Along with the trend of deregulation, he highlighted the increasingly important role of public broadcasting in the public sphere.

In the discussion session, experts from the academia including Professor Jae-wan Moon and Professor Dong-kyu Seong attended as discussants, having an in-depth discussion about the suggestions Japanese case proposes on Korea’s media industry.