RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

historical placement of a specific economic system in its broader social and cultural contexts . The absence of a linear relationship between media ехрозиге , amount of information available, implementation of new inf ormation and communication technologies , anđ new f orms of management, rationality , access to the media , participation , democratization , and the recognition of a reverse relationship between the development of technical means of communication anđ their social conseguences , suggest an increasingly important problematic. It would be necessary to analyze the conditions and consepuences of an existing gap between the constantly increasing production of information and the reality of individual and social use of information . The specificities of national communication systems and the emergence of media policies also suggest a genuine need to bridge an increasing number of 'national (case) studies' often with limited theoretical or empirical value , and to develop the fielđ of international, comparative, cross-cultural međia policy research . Such and orientation is particularly needeđ in contemporary studies of new communication technologies (e.g. satellite broadcasting, cable networks, computers and communication) and of new developments among 'traditional' media (e.g. community radio) . Comparative , cross-cultural research is a practical necessity with the disappearance of single 'national communication systems' and their merger into a broader international context . Неге it is not only a guestion of whether (and how) 'independence' should be def ined amidst social, economic and political complexities of the contemporary world . Moreover , international communication cannot be validly considered as a phenomenon per зе , without taking into account the specific social, economic anđ cultural contexts of countries included in the processes of internationalization (or even 'transnationalization') of communication processes . Above all, a major concern within a critical approach to communication anđ media studies shoulđ be the inđividual. Аз a counterpart to the prevailing media -centered research tradition , there must be a continuing effort to f ocus on the specific social conditions and interests of individuals . To paraphrase Brecht , it should be one of the main concerns of critical scholars to transform the media from means of dissemmation to means of communication . One of the major guestions is how to enable individuals to become active in the sphere of public communication . It is particularly at this point, that communication science is inseparably connected with the rise of concrete commumcation policies .