<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This article describes the historical development of media policy in Greenland, and the shifts in the underlying normative and causal ideas that legitimise media policy. I argue that media policy reflects changes in Greenland's political system. Specifically, under colonial rule, Greenlandic media was state run and media was seen as an instrument to educate the population. Gradually, with the introduction of home rule, a paradigm shift took place, whereby media was seen as a vital instrument to strengthen Greenlandic language and identity. At the same time, normative ideas of media independence appeared which called for institutionalisation of the arm's length principle. Due to the influence and institutional spill-over from Denmark, I argue, Greenlandic media policy fit rather well into the “Nordic media model” although media policy in Greenland is mostly formulated without long-term or broad political agreements.</p>
</abstract>

This article describes the historical development of media policy in Greenland, and the shifts in the underlying normative and causal ideas that legitimise media policy. I argue that media policy reflects changes in Greenland's political system. Specifically, under colonial rule, Greenlandic media was state run and media was seen as an instrument to educate the population. Gradually, with the introduction of home rule, a paradigm shift took place, whereby media was seen as a vital instrument to strengthen Greenlandic language and identity. At the same time, normative ideas of media independence appeared which called for institutionalisation of the arm's length principle. Due to the influence and institutional spill-over from Denmark, I argue, Greenlandic media policy fit rather well into the “Nordic media model” although media policy in Greenland is mostly formulated without long-term or broad political agreements.

Media policy in Greenland

Department of Social Sciences, Economics and Journalism

University of Greenland & Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Media policy in Greenland"}

This article describes the historical development of media policy in Greenland, and the shifts in the underlying normative and causal ideas that legitimise...

1861–1980	A/G was supported by the Danish state; no rules or laws regulated this practice.
1980–1985	A/G supported by the Home Rule Government; no rules or laws regulated this.
1986–2010	Direct support was replaced by reduced postage rates for print media.
2010–2012	Interim support for the “transformation of the media”.
2013	The parliament calls the support in the finance bill permanent.
2014	Media support detained.
2015	First government statute on media support, providing project support to print and web media (Greenland Self-Government, 2015).
2016	New government statute providing project support to print and web media along with operational support to print media (Greenland Self-Government, 2016). Later, this scheme became codified in legislation (Parliament, 2016b).
2019	Last-minute change to the Finance Bill for 2020 halved media support.

Media policy in Greenland

Data publikacji: 26 mar 2021

Zakres stron: 36 - 52

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2021-0016

Słowa kluczowe
Greenland, media policy, policy paradigms, Nordic media welfare state, media history

© 2021 Signe Ravn-Højgaard, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Timeline of subsidies to national print media, 1861–2019

Media policy in Greenland

Data publikacji: 26 mar 2021

Zakres stron: 36 - 52

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2021-0016

Słowa kluczoweGreenland, media policy, policy paradigms, Nordic media welfare state, media history

© 2021 Signe Ravn-Højgaard, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Timeline of subsidies to national print media, 1861–2019

Słowa kluczowe
Greenland, media policy, policy paradigms, Nordic media welfare state, media history