Universität Zürich

IKMZ - Department of Communication and Media Research

Media Change & Innovation Division

Andreasstrasse 15
CH-8050 Zurich
Phone +41 (0)44 635 20 92
Fax +41 (0)44 634 49 34
Contact

Protection of minors from harmful content in Switzerland Evaluation of industry self-regulation


The Media Change & Innovation Division has started a research project that evaluates self-regulatory measures adopted by the industry in the domain of the protection of minors from harmful content. The project is carried out on behalf of the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) within the wider framework of the Swiss National Program Youth and Media.

The transformation of the communications sector has traditionally been accompanied by concerns regarding the protection of minors from harmful content. Central challenges encompass an adequate share of responsibilities between the involved actors and the implementation of effective measures to protect minors. Besides governmental regulation, parental control and media literacy also industry self-regulation is considered an important element of the governance architecture. But what kind of initiatives have been implemented by the industry in order to protect minors and how effective are these measures?

This project contributes to answering these questions by way of a comprehensive evaluation of self-regulatory initiatives in the media domain in Switzerland. The project will assess the structure of self-regulatory institutions and the measures implemented for the protection of minors. Moreover it will investigate the perception of industry self-regulation by parents and other involved stakeholders with surveys and interviews.
 
For this evaluation project the Media Change & Innovation Division draws on its extensive experience in research on media self-regulation. The recent project builds, among other things, on the 4-A-evaluation-approach, which was developed in a former research project on self- and co-regulation in international communications markets carried out on behalf of the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom).

Findings & Research Report

  • Download the final report here (in German).
  • An executive summary of the report is available here (in German).
  • Download the article for the journal of Social Security, CHSS (4/2015) here (in German) and here (in French).

 

Jugend-und-Medien Jugend-und-Medien