International Journal of Communications Law & Policy

OFCOM, INFORMATION-CONVERGENCE AND THE NEVER ENDING DRIZZLE OF ELECTRIC RAIN
By Stuart Weinstein

Download the Paper in PDF Format: IJCLP Web-Doc 5-8-2004

Abstract

This article examines the role that the new broadcasting and telecommunications regulator, OFCOM, will play in the information age by reviewing actual provisions of the Communications Act 2003 (effective 17 July 2003), various public pronouncements made thus far by OFCOM executives and weighing these against criticisms levelled by some that OFCOM has been too ‘high-handed’ in its handling of certain matters to date. In particular, this article will argue that in order for OFCOM to be successful in its function it will require a keen appreciation for the changing concept of information and how it is affected by the various media through which it emanates. While OFCOM may be seen as primarily a governmental entity charged with the mundane task of implementing of sound public policy in the electronic communications area, OFCOM has significant potential to impact society through attention to the content transmitted to the general public over differing information networks. Essential to having any critical impact over content as it moves through infrastructure, OFCOM will have to understand the physical nature of information flow in digital networks. Equipped with this knowledge, OFCOM will soon come to realise that the regulation of electronic communications infrastructure will be more determinative of the content carried thereon than vice versa. In short, the new digital millennium has brought us full circle back to the trailblazing work of Marshall McLuan in the 1960s who coined the adage “the medium is the message”.

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