RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

not only conducted regarđing media , but also regarđing many other institutions and the distribution power therein , The initial factor contributing to the đevelopment of local stations in the Netherlands was the spontaneous use made of cable nets to produce community television programming in điverse communities in the early 19705. Politically engaged residents felt the infrastructure could be used for creating public discussion around community relevant issues . The local rađio and television stations maKing use of this infrastructure were to be controlled by the residents themselves - in the jargon of the times: of , by and for the residents . Discussion as to why this principle was important and how it was to be worked out dominateđ activity during the national experiment with community rađio and television in the miđ-19705, and seemed at times even more important than realization of programming . This was particularly the case after the national experiment with community rađio and television when permits for transmission of programming were issued only reluctantly by the Ministry of Culture . Initiatives for local stations in the early 1980s differed remarkably from those of the pioneers active a decade earlier . Initiators of the six local stations studied in this research project generally had some professional relationship with media as journalists , public information officers , employees of cable systems, and staff of audio-visual production centers , They were not, in other words , persons who lacked access to the traditional međia. In contrast to the situation in the 19705, local action groups or interest groups were selđom among the initiators of the six stations stuđied . Individuals played a more prominent role , as in Gouda , where a representative of the cable сотрапу and a volunteer active in the hospital closed circuit radio station . In Helmond it was also a staff member of the cable сотрапу and a government public information officer who launched the station. In the other four stations studieđ situated in the cities of Groningen, Tilburg , Heppel and Weert - initiatives has been taken by individuals active in local politics . GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Reflection on station objectives , which played such a prominent role with station initiators during the 19705, was much less a concern of station initiators a decađe later. Priority , rather , was given to pragmatic issueđ related to station operation . Three types of objectives can be distmgulshed among the station initiatives studied in this research project:

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