Regulating the Radio Pirates: Rethinking the Control of Offshore Broadcasting Stations Through a Maritime Perspective

Kimberley Peters

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Offshore broadcasting pirates, transmitting radio shows from international waters back into the borders of nation-states, have been largely examined from a media-communications perspective. Drawing on pirate stations broadcasting into Britain I argue that new insights into the regulation of this phenomenon can be formed if it is considered not only as a media-communications venture, but likewise a maritime one. Following the Marine &c. Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967, Section 42 of the Broadcasting Act 1990, and the surveillance missions which ensued, I contend that these were not only aerial strategies designed to deal with an aerial problem (that of broadcasting), but also sea-based strategies, designed to deal with a maritime problem (that of broadcasting from ships and forts at sea). I thus propose re-thinking the ways in which successive British administrations regulated the radio pirates, paving the way for an alternative understanding of this phenomenon in media history.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)337-353
Number of pages17
JournalMedia History
Volume19
Issue number3
Early online date18 Jul 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

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