Jeanette joined CMCI in September 2016 from the University of Westminster where she was Professor of Media and Communications, and Co-Director of Research at the Westminster School of Media, Arts and Design (2006-16).

A graduate in European Studies (German and Russian), she completed her PhD in 1990 at the University of Bath on the topic of public service broadcasting in West Germany.

She previously worked as an analyst for the communications and media research company, CIT Research (1988-90), and as Research Manager at the international television distributor, HIT Entertainment (Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine) (1990-93), before rejoining academia in 1993. She subsequently held the positions of Senior Lecturer, Principal Lecturer and then Professor of Television Studies at De Montfort University (2000-2006), and Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Bedfordshire (1993-2000).

She is a member of the Euromedia Research Group and sits on the editorial boards of Convergence, Media International Australia and the Media Industries Journal.

Research Interests and PhD Supervision

Jeanette is a leading researcher in the field of media industry studies and media policy studies. Her current research is focused on:

• The political economy of children’s media
• International Distribution of Screen Media
• Public Service Broadcasting/Public Service Media
• Production Studies (formats, children’s, drama)
• Media Industries (policy, global media)
• Screen encounters with British film and Television content

She welcomes applications for PhD topics related to any of her research interests. For more details, please see her full research profile.

Her research has been funded by the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust and the AHRC as follows:

• 2022-2025 AHRC Principal Investigator on "Screen Encounters with Britain: What do young Europeans make of Britain and its Digital Screen Culture" £452,623
• 2017-2018- AHRC Principal Investigator, 'Collaborative Development of Children's Screen Content in an Era of Forced Migration Flows: Facilitating Arab-European Dialogue
' AH/R001421/1 (£100,451) 
• 2013-2016- AHRC Co-Investigator, 'Orientations in the Development of Pan-Arab Television for Children' AH/1000674/1 (£424,031).
• 2012-2012- AHRC Co-Investigator, 'Community-powered transformations' - Digital Transformations AHRC Digital Transformations Research Development Grant -2012 - AH/JO1303X/1 (£29,835)
• 2008-2009- AHRC Research Leave 'The Changing Production Ecology of Pre-school Television in Britain' (AG/G003572/1) (£27,553).
• 2007-2008- AHRC Co-Investigator 'Audience & producer engagement with immersive worlds (Case study: CBBC World)' (AH/F006756/1) (£74,243).
• 2006-2008- AHRC Research Grant. Principal Investigator, 'The Production Ecology of Pre-School Television in Britain'. (119149) (£127,935).
• 2002-2003- AHRB Research Leave 'Selling Television: British Television in the Global Marketplace' (£12,035).
• 2001-2002- Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship, 'Selling British TV' (£14,733).
• 2001- British Academy Grant for 'Selling British Television: Cultural Industries Policy and International Television Ecologies' (£2,300).
• 1986-1987- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship.

Teaching

Perspectives and insights from a range of research traditions - including political economy, policy studies and critical media industries research, inform Jeanette’s teaching. Her teaching is also informed by her experience of working in international distribution (globalization, transnational media, ownership and control).

Over the course of her career she has led and taught on modules closely related to her research interests including Media and Society, Media Around the Globe, and a range of television studies modules covering topics such as genre, texts, history, institutions, production, distribution, marketing, formats, European television and transformations in television arising from changes in consumption and technology.

She is module leader for Children, Media Industries and Culture 7AAICC52.

Expertise and Public Engagement

Jeanette Steemers is happy to talk to the media on any aspect relating to children’s television/media, the international distribution and sale of television programming, and public service broadcasting/media.

Jeanette is a Member of the Voice of the Listener and Viewer, a consumer organisation that campaigns for public service broadcasting. As a former VLV Trustee she sat on the VLV Board as an expert on children’s television. She is a member of and advises the Children’s Media Foundation on policy issues and was a Board Member until 2022. She has advised Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield, the BFI (as former Chair of the Producers' Committee for the Young Audience Content Fund) and sat on the Disney Junior Academic Advisory Board in the US between 2012 and 2015.

She has given evidence in Parliament to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee as a representative of Meccsa, and also to the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications on the topics of public service broadcasting and children’s television.

Selected Publications

• Esser, A., Hilborn, M., & Steemers, J. (2024). Screen Encounters with Britain - Interim Report Netherlands: What do young Europeans make of Britain and its digital screen culture? King's College London. https://doi.org/10.18742/pub01-177
• Esser, A., Hilborn, M., & Steemers, J. (2023). Screen Encounters with Britain - Interim Report Denmark: What do young Europeans make of Britain and its digital screen culture?​. King's College London. https://doi.org/10.18742/pub01-118
• Esser, A., Hilborn, M., & Steemers, J. (2023). Screen Encounters with Britain - Interim Report Germany: What do young Europeans make of Britain and its digital screen culture?​. King's College London. https://doi.org/10.18742/pub01-139 
• Bengesser, C., Esser, A., & Steemers, J. (2022). Researching transnational audiences in the streaming era: Designing, piloting and refining a mixed methods approach . Participations: International Journal of Audience Research, 19(1). https://www.participations.org/19-01-02-bengesser.pdf
• D'Arma, A., Raats, T., & Steemers, J. (2021). Public service media in the age of SVoDs: A comparative study of PSM strategic responses in Flanders, Italy and the UK. Media Culture & Society, 43(4), 682-700. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443720972909