RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

for commerciai profit (as in advertising) ." But there is an important difference between the press and electronic media . While the press firstly developed as a critical instance of the public and only later, with the disappearing public, its critical function was marginalized , radio developed from its very beginning in the opposite đirection . Of course , this is not mainly a consequence of a completely different technology but rather a consequence of completely different social conditions at the time when radio became practically operational as a mass medium, i.e. in the sense of the press in the 1920s in developed western societies . Because of the great economic depression in the world , private capital was not really interesteđ in investments in the (new) media . Everywhere, the strategy of recovering ill national economies was closely connected with the role and activities of the state . Thus , it cannot be surprising that also radio was put under the control of the state , although the opposite ideas also existed . Apart from this 'negative side', radio seemed to be an excellent means of 'public advertising',i ,e , for promoting activities of the state both nationally and internationall/ . From the Soviet Russia to the United Kingdom and several non-European countries , external radio broadcasting became an important activity supporting international policies of states . In fact, short-wave broadcasting with its advantage of great range has been introduced alreađy in 1924 in the United States , and three уеагз later in Europe in the Netherlands , followeđ by France in 1931, United Kingdom in 1932-, Germany in 1933 and ltaly in 1935. In the mid-thirties , a number of states started to broadcast external programs in several (up to twenty) foreign languages . The rise of fascism and nacism in ltaly, Germany , Japan and some other countries further supporteđ the centralization of rađio programming and control, and strengthened its role of an important tool for warfare without a direct military action . This was a significant feature of rađio development not only in the periods before and during the Second World War but also, and perhaps even more, in the period of the cold war f ollowing the Seconđ World War . Even today , over 80 countries daily broadcasts thousands of hours of international programmmg to all regions of the world . 5. It seemed that introduction of a new broadcasting medium television - in the late fifties would end the ега of radio , at least m the most developeđ countries . With television, a new utopia arose, namely that television ought to achieve what rađio failed to succeed : democratization of the communication sphere . Enzensberger ( 1974: 105) believes that the new

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