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 is not currently accepting doctoral applications.

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)
• 2021-2024 Co-Investigator, Research Council of Norway on 'Global Natives? Serving young audiences on global media platforms' (£60,357)
• 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 on a range of topics including children's media and industries, genre, texts, history, institutions, production, distribution, marketing, formats, European television and transformations in screen media arising from changes in consumption and technology.

Expertise and public engagement

Jeanette 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 bmedia.

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 the 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.

On funded projects she has partnered with the All3Media, BBC, BBC Studios, the British Council, British Film Institute, Pact (2022-2025; and the Public Media Alliance, BBC Media Action, the Danish Film Institute, CPH: Dox, the International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI) at Bayerischer Rundfunk) (2017-2018).

Selected publications

• A. D'Arma, A., Esser, A., & Steemers, J. (2026). Screen Encounters with Britain in the Age of Transnational Streaming. (Routledge Focus on Digital Media and Culture). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003687757
• Esser, A., & Steemers, J. (2026). Global platforms, new media generations and Anglo-American hegemony: An exploration of young audience viewing and language preferences in four European countries. Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies, 21(1), 16-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251360130
• D'Arma, A., Esser, A., Hilborn, M., & Steemers, J. (2026). Public service media and entertainment: The challenge of engaging younger audiences . In A. Balčytienė, P. Bajomi-Lázár, & H. Sousa (Eds.), Digital media shadowing democracy: : Technology, communication, and power (pp. 127-148). Nordicom. https://doi.org/10.48335/9789189864290
• Esser, A., Steemers, J., & D'Arma, A. (2025). Screen encounters with Britain. What do young Europeans make of Britain and its digital screen culture? FINAL REPORT. King's College London. https://doi.org/10.18742/pub01-204
• Bengesser, C., Hilborn, M., & Steemers, J. (2025). Comparative VOD catalogue research: Circulation, presence and prominence of British content in Europe. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 31(5), 1511-1531. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241268057
• 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