RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

napidly and successfully . Then, initlatlves were undertaken to achieve some đegree of control over the stations , for example , by providing financial and professional support. Only after investigation had Indicated that local stations - in the short run - could not be expected to be commercially fruitful did this interest wane . An example of what White calls "competitive imitation" is the rise in cable newspapers in the Netherlands . This medium , which in the very beginning was only developed by local stations and cable net companies for transmission of written messages to viewers , was essentially Чакеп over' by commercial interests which believed that the medlum could be profitable . Another mechanism which appears in this stage of development Is cooptation . Regarding the local stations studied , it was evident that the volunteers operateđ under constant frustration due to the absence of sufficient funds and other resources necessary to produce quality programming. This was often the basis for flirtations with pirate stations which often were better equipped and financed . Currently the national federation OLON is considering participating in an arrangement with a commercial pirate station in order to create a network of stations in the Netherlands which is to provide identical programming complete with ađvertising . The most significant problem for movements Involveđ in participatory communication, according to White, is "knowing how to grow slowly and solidly" (White, 1984:24). In the Dutch stations investigated it was exactly this aspect whlch led to major internal conflicts . Only in those locations where there was a degree of autonomy and slow implementation of policy measure was it possible to avoid these conflicts . STAGE 4 : TRANSCULTURATION - FORMATION OF A SVNTHETIC , MASS CULTURE The fourth anđ last phase sketched by White is not, as yet, applicable to local radio and television stations in the Netherlands . White descrlbes this stage as the point where ”all organizatlon of popular participation has been repressed or incorporated as simply one more division of a multinational corpdration" (White, 1984:25). Although not yet on the orđer In the Netherlands, there are nevertheless signs that local stations are becoming more and more incorporated in the total media structure , and they are relegated to fulfillmg an unimportant role in the margin of commumcation activity . Indications of this are mclusion in the new media law , the restrictions imposed by the government on station ae.tivitv , ihe

118