Page 161 - Comparing Media Systems THREE MODELS OF MEDIA AND POLITICS

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The North/Central European or Democratic

Corporatist Model

WhatwecalltheDemocraticCorporatistModeldevelopedNorthernand
Central Europe – in Scandinavia, the low countries, Germany, Austria
and Switzerland. Like the Mediterranean countries, those we discuss in
this chapter are geographically proximate, and like each of our three
groups of countries they have a history of frequent and intense social
contacts, in this case often marked by strife. In terms of language they
are diverse, though they include three countries with large German-
speaking populations, and Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish are
closely related to German, which, along with English in a later period,
has served as lingua franca in the region.
The exchange of experiences and the mutual influence of cultural
and political models has been particularly strong within certain groups
of countries – among Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, among the
Scandinavian countries, and between Belgium and the Netherlands; 1
but a strongly intertwined historical evolution has affected the com-
munication system across the whole region. The interaction of these
countries has often been conflictual in character. But conflict too is a
social relationship, and has often meant exportation or mutual influ-
ence of cultural models. As we shall see, the “colossal war of religious
propaganda” (Anderson 1983) that was started by Luther’s challenge to
the Church played a particularly important role in creating a common
culture and a common public sphere in Northern and Central Europe: it
shaped not only religious beliefs but political structures and media prac-
tices, including the fact that, across the region, the emerging print media

1
The Scandinavian democracies still share many political decisions: beyond being part
of the European Union (except Norway), in 1952 a Nordic Council was established
whose goal was that of integrating policies in these countries.

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