RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue
it that there will be diversity in local broadcasting , that will require a certain amount of regulatory involvement and possibly a degree of government (national, state and/or local) financial subsidization . If a community is too smail to support more than one or two stations . should апу station licenseđ there be expected to be open to community participation , at least some of the time? If a given constituency within the local, regional or national society has been unable through a combination of poverty , neglect etc. to reach the larger society with its messages , should that larger society help to рау for a radio (or TV) voice for that constituency? Anđ if one answers 'уез' to those guestions , is there the potential danger that such an approach would lead to 'ghettoizing ,' where society as a whole can afford the luxury of thinking well of itself for supporting an Aboriginal, Native American , Spanish language or some other form of 'minority' station , and yet where it's easy for that society to ignore the station . If other stations also choose to ignore minority Concerns on the grounds that 'they have their own station , anđ if listeners don't push other stations to take note of those concerns , might we end up with a series of locat stations where the converted talk only to the converted? The [ninority stations themselves have an obligation here , as well; if their programming is full of in-gropp references and expressions of hostility towarđ the larger society , the stations probably will end up 'ghettoizing' themselves . Roland Warren's observation that a "good" community probably should include some measure of conflict (and, one would assume , the means to ехргезз it) begs the guestion of whether some forms of local radio might allow and even encourage the parties in conflict to talk past one another . There also is the other side of the 'ghettoizing' coin . Should nations be wary of permitting forms of local broadcasting that encourage listeners to alienate themselves from the mainstream culture to the point where national unity itself becomes straineđ? If a station in Brittany, or Corsica were to encourage Breton or Corse nationalism to the point where physical violence erupts (as it has on occasion in both areas) , what should France as a nation do about it? Or if a gay or black -oriented station should urge non-cooperation with the activities and authorities of the mainstream culture , should those authorities have the right to abridge that expression? In many nations , local broadcastmg is m a periođ of evolution. That penod may last a very long time; there may be suddeni occurrences to disrupt what has been a relatively stable communications environment for decades , so that it would be difficult to predict just when and m what form local
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