RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

as a medium for communication . This f ollows logicall/ from the UNESCO doctrine of the people's right to communicate ; "In the past, the role of communication in human society was seen essentially as to inform and influence people . It is now being proposed that communication should be understood as a process of social interaction through a balanced exchange of information and experience . . .This shift in perception implies the predominance of dlalogue over monologue . The aim Is to achieve a system of horizontal communication based upon an equitable distribution of resources and facilities enabling all persons to send as well as to receive messages" (cited in o'Sullivan-Ryan and Kaplun, 1980, p. 3). Even with sufficient access for members of the community , there is also a political problem of dividing up the fmlte airtime and facilities of the station , While programmers at the 1986 AMARC Conference could suggest that, in a sense , there is only one community for the station , and that it is defined as all people who are excluded from mainstream media (Whitehorne , 1986 ) , they said little about how to đifferentiate between the different communities that exist within this larger out group. Radio Centre-Ville im Montreal, for example , broadcasts programs produced by groups in seven languages , some of whom have no other broadcast source for their language . 7) Programmers are divided into teams based on language, the teams do not work together a lot, and there is a lot of divisiveness within the station (Delchambre , Varos, Kounta , Anagllk , and Gina , 1986). This problem Inheres to political factors within the station operates . If the "Community", writ large , consists of everyone excluded from the media mainstream , then it will most likely consist of those people who are excluded by the political mainstream as well. Such people and groups come to the station because they see it as the only legitimate outlet for what they have to say. inevitably, there will be disputes over the length and placement of airtime and the allocation of resources . These disputes will then be exacerbated by their feelmg of relative powerlessness in the world outside the station and, too often, the puarreling f actions wlll turn on each other . Тће position of many people at this time is that the concern which brought each of them to the statlon , e.g. , racism , sexlsm, classism , etc. , is more legitimate than the concerns that brought others to the station . They feel relatively powerless to fight with forces outside the station , so they

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