Page 61 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

50 COMMUNICATION AND CITIZENSHIP

broadcasting organizations are required to commission a proportion of
programmes from independent companies. Although the directive set no
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date, this policy has already been adopted in some countries. Market
entry could be further facilitated, it has been argued, by establishing the
broadcasting equivalent of the Swedish Press Subsidies Board, which
would assist the funding of under-resourced groups, with viable
projects, to compete in the radio or TV sectors.
A policy of market equalization is also being considered in a
European context. The ability of national agencies to shape the ecology
of broadcasting systems so that they are a democratic expression of the
societies they serve is threatened, it is maintained, by economies of
scale in the global TV market. US programmes are sold for foreign
transmission at a fraction of their original cost, and at a price that is
much lower than the cost of making original programmes in Europe.
The threat posed by cheap US syndication to national broadcast systems
has been blocked hitherto by official and unofficial quotas limiting the
import of American programmes. But this protectionism is being
breached by the emergence of satellite TV enterprises which transmit
quota-breaking US programmes across national borders. This has
prompted the call for satellite TV to be brought within the ambit of a
regulated market economy through the auspices of the Council of
Europe and European Commission. So far, both bodies have proposed
an undefined limitation on non-European imported programmes to be
policed by national agencies at the point of up-link to satellite TV
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delivery systems. This lack of definition ensures, however, that it will
have no practical effect.
The fourth approach arises from the current debate in Poland about
how broadcasting should be reorganized, with similar discussions
occurring elsewhere within social democratic parties. It takes the form
of a proposal for a regulated mixed economy, composed of public, civic
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and market sectors. One version of this proposal entails having a
major, publicly owned sector committed to public-service goals,
including the provision of mixed, quality programmes and politically
balanced reporting. The market sector would be subject to minimum
controls, and would be established through the sale of franchises to
commercial companies which would also pay an annual spectrum fee.
This would help fund, in turn, a civic sector whose role would be to
extend the ideological range and cultural diversity of the system. The
civic sector would have assigned frequencies and an Enterprise Board
which would help fund new and innovatory forms of ownership and
control, including employee ownership, subscribers with voting rights,