Analysis of regulatory systems of broadcasting and telecommunications: A comparative study focusing on Korea and the United States

• This study compares the historical formation of regulatory systems in Korea and the U.S.
• A variety of metaphors for telecommunications and broadcasting have been used in both Korea and the U.S.
• The regulatory systems of each country were established differently in the different social/historical contexts.

This study compares the historical formation of regulatory systems for broadcasting and telecommunications between Korea and the United States. In particular, we analyze various metaphors about telecommunications and broadcasting and which metaphors and discourses have been adopted in the social context. We further examine how such metaphors and discourses contributed to different regulatory philosophies and regulatory systems in Korea and the United States with a focus on comparative historical analysis. Analysis shows that regulatory philosophy and the framework of telecommunications and broadcasting were constructed in different historical contexts in both countries. The perception that communication technologies are public resources was pervasive in the U.S., but in Korea, the function of broadcasting was recognized as a means of government control or dissemination of propaganda implemented under Japanese colonial authorities and the rule of the U.S. military government. How these different social/historical contexts led to different regulatory philosophies and systems in the U.S. and Korea is discussed.