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< Back Media policymaking and multistakeholder involvement: Matching audience, stakeholder and government expectations for public service media in Flanders Van den Bulck, H. & Raats, T. (2023). Media policymaking and multistakeholder involvement: Matching audience, stakeholder and government expectations for public service media in Flanders. European Journal of Communication , 38 (2), 132-147. https://doi.org/10.1177/02673231221112199 This contribution analyzes government, opposition, public service media, media stakeholders and audience views regarding the role and remit of public service media in the run-up to and their impact on the renewal of the 2021–2025 management contract between public broadcaster VRT and the Flemish Government. Results show that, despite a shifting media ecosystem and academics and government pushing for fundamental reform, audiences and most stakeholders’ views stick to a centralised, broad and multiplatform public media institution. Moreover, they expect public service media to solve ever more media and societal issues (e.g. fake news) within a shrinking budget. The case illustrates how mature, evidence-based multistakeholderism pushes public service media to meet an increasingly challenging set of expectations, hampers both public service media and government to build a well-balanced, long-term vision of public service media's role and, instead, pushes them to pursue their own agenda. Lastly, an evidence-based process also suffers from issues of validity of the data. Stakeholders, Platforms, Public Service Media Previous Read the article Next

< Back We're in this together: a multi-stakeholder approach for news recommenders Smets, A., Hendrickx, J., & Ballon, P. (2022). We're in this together: a multi-stakeholder approach for news recommenders. Digital Journalism , 10 (10), 1813-1831. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.2024079 News recommenders are attracting widespread interest in scholarly work. The current research paradigm, however, holds a narrow (mostly user-centered) perspective on the recommendation task. This makes it difficult to understand that their design is in fact the result of a negotiation process among multiple actors involved, such as editors, business executives, technologists and users. To remedy this, a multi-stakeholder recommendation paradigm has been suggested among recommender systems scholars. This work sets out to explore to what extent this paradigm is applicable to the particular context of news recommenders. We conducted 11 interviews with professionals from three leading media companies in Flanders (Belgium) and find that the development of news recommenders is indeed characterized by a negotiation process among multiple stakeholders. However, our results show that the initial multi-stakeholder framework is not adequately accommodating some of our findings, such as the existence of preconditions, the role of product owners, and the indirect involvement of particular stakeholders. Based on our analysis, we suggest an elaborated framework for multi-stakeholder news recommenders that can contribute to scholarship by providing a multi-sided perspective towards the understanding of news recommenders. Recommender Systems, Newsmedia, Stakeholders Previous Read the article Next

< Back Streaming Affordances for small media markets Living Lab 2023-2027 Delayed viewing, major ad giants like Google and Facebook, and the rise of American streaming platforms have significantly increased the pressure on local providers. In response, Flemish broadcasters and distribution entities have launched their own streaming services in recent years. Some offer free services, with or without ads (such as VRT MAX, VTM GO, and GoPlay), while others operate on subscription models (like Streamz). The local platforms often adopt the successful features of major streaming services. It is crucial for local providers to differentiate themselves with a wealth of local content, giving them a competitive edge over foreign platforms. However, a key challenge in our market is the limited scale, which necessitates strategic choices in purchasing, production, distribution, and marketing. At the heart of these changes is a shift in our viewing habits. To give Flemish streaming services the best chance in this highly competitive market, it is essential to understand how Flemish consumers watch video content, identify key viewing patterns, know what viewers expect from streaming services, and gauge the effectiveness of brand or content positioning strategies. Our living lab, ‘Streaming Affordances for Small Media Markets,’ seeks to address this through five key deliverables: a (1) SOTA analysis, (2) diary study, (3) viewing survey, (4) a living lab, and (5) experiments. 1. SOTA analysis The SOTA analysis compiles data from recent studies and reports, aiming to provide a clear view of trends impacting our audiovisual sector. It covers international, European, and Flemish media usage, alongside 10 trends in the global streaming market that are likely to influence Flanders. 10 trends in de internationale streamingmarkt .pdf Download PDF • 2.21MB The policy brief (in Dutch) 2. Diary study This deliverable explores the motivations that guide Flemish viewers in their selection of VoD services and content. It draws on a large-scale multifaceted audience study with VoD consumers in Flanders and consists of an exploratory survey (N=77), a diary study (N=62) and semi-structured face-to-face interviews (N=60). Motivaties voor VoD-consumptie in Vlaanderen .pdf Download PDF • 1.26MB 3. Viewing survey Building on the diary study, the SMIT viewing survey (N=2000) serves as larger-scale quantitative research. It explores viewers’ attitudes toward linear TV, their familiarity with and use of VoD services, associations with specific platforms, device preferences, and the dynamic between cinema and streaming. Voorkeuren in VoD-consumptie in Vlaanderen. Resultaten kwantitatieve bevraging. .pdf Download PDF • 1.26MB The policy brief on the diary study and the viewing survey (in Dutch) Future research The living lab and related experiments will take place in 2025-2026. Researchers on this project Jeroen Peeters Senior Researcher Manager Annelien Smets Research Professor Noëmie Forest Researcher Tim Raats Associate Professor Wendy Van den Broeck Associate professor Consortium partners VLAIO.png VLAIO.png 1/1 Tags Platforms, Public Service Broadcasting, Streaming Previous Next

< Back Platforms and Exposure Diversity: Towards a Framework to Assess Policies to Promote Exposure Diversity Ranaivoson, H. R., & Domazetovikj, N. (2023). Platforms and Exposure Diversity: Towards a Framework to Assess Policies to Promote Exposure Diversity. Media and Communication , 11 (2), 379-391. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i2.6401 The fragmentation of consumption and algorithms’ increasing impact on how content is recommended and displayed makes it even more important to analyse and promote exposure diversity, i.e., the extent to which audiences are exposed to, discover, and engage with diverse content. Although there is a growing literature addressing how to define media diversity in the context of the challenges posed by platformisation, this article translates the normative dimensions into a framework for operationalising exposure diversity into a tangible policy goal, taking into account datafication and its consequences in terms of increasing data requirements towards platforms. The main objective of this study is to analyse initiatives to assess exposure diversity in the platform era and to discuss how such assessment could be improved, particu‐ larly for policy initiatives. This involves addressing several challenges of existing approaches for the assessment of exposure diversity related to defining an appropriate frame of reference, determining the degree of diversity required, dealing with data transparency issues, and promoting user autonomy. To achieve this, we propose a framework for analysing initiatives aimed at assessing and promoting exposure to media diversity. Our framework is composed of four key features: measures (type of initiative), metrics (quantifying exposure diversity), data collection methods, and data requirements. We apply this framework to a set of 13 initiatives and find that policy initiatives can benefit from adopting metrics based on distances and experimenting with data collection methods. Platforms Previous Read the article Next

< Back Challenges and requirements for implementing due prominence: aligning stakeholder interests in Flanders Van der Elst, P., Afilipoaie, A., & Raats, T. (2025). Challenges and requirements for implementing due prominence: aligning stakeholder interests in Flanders. Frontiers in Communication, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1569132 Since the introduction of Article 7a in the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), which enables Member States to impose measures that ensure prominence of general interest services on user interfaces, discussions within media policy on the need of these measures have increased markedly. In Member States such as Germany, France, Italy and Ireland, commitments were already imposed on players offering user interfaces to audiovisual—and in some cases also audio—media services and content of general interest. This article presents the findings of a study examining the desirability and feasibility of implementing due prominence measures in Flanders (Belgium). The research adopts a media policy analytical approach and examines the (i) positions of the different stakeholders on the desirability and feasibility of a revised prominence regime, (ii) the extent to which interests across different stakeholders can be aligned and (iii) the considerations governments need to take into account when developing due prominence measures in Member States. The research is based on a stakeholder consultation conducted with broadcasters, television distributors, streaming services and hardware manufacturers operating in the Flemish market. The research is complemented with interviews with representatives of different market actors. The study identifies considerable oppositional logics between broadcasters and hardware manufacturers and raises challenges in defining the scope of ‘general interest’, the addressees of prominence measures, contextual factors such as markets size and path-dependency in media policy, and the commensurability between different existing legal frameworks at the national and EU level. The authors argue for clearer, more explicit guidelines at the EU level regarding the interpretation of Article 7a. Stakeholders Previous Read the article Next

< Back Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms PSM-AP Public service media (PSM) organizations have to compete with global streaming services (e.g. Netflix and YouTube), for audiences, revenue and talent. They have had to develop new on-demand services and online content that can only be delivered through the online systems owned by global platforms such as Google, Apple and Amazon. The PSM-AP project asks how PSM organisations, and the regulators and policymakers that legislate for and enforce their remits, are adapting to this new platform age, and how their responses might be altering the social and cultural values of PSM and its ability to operate in the public interest. It focuses on television, which remains at the heart of PSM. It asks how the new environment within which PSM organisations are operating might affect the values that underpin the production and distribution of TV programmes by PSM organizations, and the policy debates and regulatory structures that shape the remits and structures within which PSM organizations operate. The project will compare data gathered within and across six countries and 12 PSM organizations: Belgium (RTBF, VRT), Canada (CBC), Denmark (DR, TV 2), Italy (RAI), Poland (TVP), UK (BBC, Channel 4, S4C, ITV, Channel 5). Researchers on this project Catalina Iordache Guest Professor Tim Raats Associate Professor Consortium partners Aarhus University University of Leeds University of Warsaw Aarhus University 1/5 Tags Platforms, Media Policy Previous Next

< Back 10 trends in streaming market 1 Mar 2024 Report of the Living Lab project Discover the first deliverable of the Streaming Affordances for Small Media Markets living Lab project, in which the research team outlines 10 key trends in the international streaming market that have an impact on developments in the Flemish market (the report is in Dutch). The 10 trends highlight a diversification of genre and payment modules, and a quest of streamers for revenue and profit rather than market dominance and number of subscribers. Trendrapport voor 'proeftuin Streaming Affordances for Small Media Markets .pdf Download PDF • 3.74MB Previous Next

< Back Not One News Recommender To Fit Them All: How Different Recommender Strategies Serve Various User Segments Vandenbroucke, H., Maes, U., Michiels, L., & Smets, A. (2025). Not One News Recommender To Fit Them All: How Different Recommender Strategies Serve Various User Segments. In 19th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems Proceedings . ACM. Many news recommender systems (NRS) adopt a one-recommender-for-all approach, overlooking that users engage with news in fundamentally different ways. In this work, we identify user clusters based on various engagement metrics that go beyond clicks by employing cluster analysis on two real-world datasets: EB-NeRD and Adressa. Next to that, we evaluate the performance of common rec-ommender strategies: popularity, collaborative filtering (EASE and ItemKNN), and a content-based model across these user clusters, which exhibit varying reading behaviors and information needs. Our findings show that different recommender strategies are effective to varying degrees depending on the user cluster. This study contributes to NRS research by providing a grounded clustering of users derived from real-world datasets and emphasizes the importance of user-centered evaluations for understanding how NRS strategies serve audiences with varying levels of news engagement. Recommender Systems Previous Read the article Next

< Back What is Serendipity? An Interview Study to Conceptualize Experienced Serendipity in Recommender Systems Binst, B. , Michiels, L. & Smets, A. , 2025, (Accepted/In press).What is Serendipity? An Interview Study to Conceptualize Experienced Serendipity in Recommender Systems. Proceedings of the 33rd ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization Serendipity has been associated with numerous benefits in the context of recommender systems, e.g., increased user satisfaction and consumption of long-tail items. Despite this, serendipity in the context of recommender systems has thus far remained conceptually ambiguous. This conceptual ambiguity has led to inconsistent operationalizations between studies, making it difficult to compare and synthesize findings. In this paper, we conceptualize the user’s experience of serendipity. To this effect, we interviewed 17 participants and analyzed the data following the grounded theory paradigm. Based on these interviews, we conceptualize experienced serendipity as a user experience in which a user unintentionally encounters content that feels fortuitous, refreshing, and enriching. We find that all three components—fortuitous, refreshing and enriching—are necessary and together are sufficient to classify a user’s experience as serendipitous. However, these components can be satisfied through a variety of conditions. Our conceptualization unifies previous definitions of serendipity within a single framework, resolving inconsistencies by identifying distinct flavors of serendipity. It highlights underexposed flavors, offering new insights into how users experience serendipity in the context of recommender systems. By clarifying the components and conditions of experienced serendipity in recommender systems, this work can guide the design of recommender systems that stimulate experienced serendipity in their users, and lays the groundwork for developing a standardized operationalization of experienced serendipity in its many flavors, enabling more consistent and comparable evaluations. Recommender Systems Previous Read the article Next

< Back Join ALGEPI's workshop on Epistemic Welfare! 21 Mar 2024 What are the conditions under which the use of algorithms can contribute to, or threaten, epistemic welfare? “Epistemic Welfare“ stands as a cornerstone concept for understanding how individuals and groups interact with knowledge in today’s digital society. How do we define it? What is the conceptual and methodological framework for the concept? ALGEPI is organising its first annual workshop on the 12th of April 2024 from 10:00h to 13:00h CET to discuss what are the conditions under which the use of algorithms can contribute to, or threaten, epistemic welfare and how can we translate this into actionable parameters or metrics. Join us in the discussion! 🕙 Time: 10:00h to 13:00h CET. 🗓️ Date: 12th of April 2024 📍 Venue: Collegium Veteranorum (109-20) – Sint-Michielsstraat 2-4 , 3000 Leuven ( 02.10 – MGR. O. ROMEROZAAL ). Are you planning to attend? Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis so please let us know by sending us an email ! Registrations will close on the 5th April 2024. In the meantime, if you would like to learn more, have a look at our concept note dissecting the concept of epistemic welfare ! ➡︎ Read the full programme here . Previous Next

< Back Exploring Ethical and Regulatory Challenges of AI Integration in European Union Newsrooms Lefèvre, B., Errando, A., Afilipoaie, A., Ranaivoson, H., & Wiart, L. (2025). Exploring ethical and regulatory challenges of AI integration in European Union newsrooms. Media Studies , 16 (31), 31-55. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significantly reshaped the news media landscape in the fast-evolving digital ecosystem. While recent legislative measures and industry self-regulation initiatives have emerged to address AI’s implications, the ethical challenges associated with its adoption in European Union (EU) newsrooms and the ways news media organisations navigate regulatory frameworks and internal initiatives remain underexplored. This study aims to bridge this gap by examining the conditions under which AI tools are integrated into media organisations from both organisational and regulatory perspectives. Drawing on an analysis of 30 key documents and 41 in-depth interviews with media professionals and regulatory experts across three EU markets, the study uncovers key findings: a limited discourse on AI use in media organisations, significant disparities in AI implementation practices, and an absence of clear, actionable regulatory guidelines for addressing considerations in AI-driven news content. Platforms Previous Read the article Next

< Back Lien Michiels Postdoctoral Researcher lien.michiels@vub.be Lien Michiels is a Postdoctoral Researcher at imec-SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Adrem Data Lab in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Antwerp. Her research focuses on diversity, discovery and filter bubbles in recommender systems. Previously, she combined her PhD research with her work as a Machine Learning Engineer at Froomle , who provide their recommendation platform as a service to media companies around the globe. She obtained a master's degree in Mathematical Engineering at the KULeuven in 2017. Visit my research profile