Decisions in Cases of Uncertainty in the Protection of Minors in the Media

The effects of violence in the media on the behaviour of minors are subject to many investigations in the social sciences and in psychology. These regularly come to the conclusion that violence in the media cannot be determined as the sole trigger for corresponding ways of behaving among minors, e.g. increasing potential for violence. On the basis of this causal dilemma and of the insight from research into regulation as to how important knowledge is for legislative governance processes, the legislature finds itself faced increasingly with the question of how far regulation can and must react to uncertainty in this area.

The PhD-project takes up this enquiry and sets out concretely the leeway for assessment and prognosis the various actors have in the face of uncertainty by dint of decisions, verifiable legally only to a certain extent, at the levels of the legislature, of the responsible authorities and of the institutions of voluntary self-regulation. Particularly in the case of newer forms of delegated leeway for decisions, such as the scope of the institutions of voluntary self-regulation in the area of the protection of minors from harmful media, questions arise on the autonomous latitude and the possibilities for monitoring by the State – not least through pending lawsuits.

Work on this aims to analyse more closely the criteria, selection, boundaries, preconditions and characteristics of the individual categories among the areas of leeway, for instance, normative-factual, those related to parties involved or assessments interpreting real situations – and their integration with each other. Alongside this, investigations will be carried out into the extent to which, with uncertain decisions, the uncertainty can, nevertheless, be used to the advantage of the decision making process, for instance through mechanisms for delegation and for establishing procedures and promoting flexibility.

The project is planned to be concluded in 2011.