RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

- to provide a medium for presenting to non-English speaKing nesidents of Austnalia , entertainment, news and other inf onmation in their own languages . - assist those from other cultures to maintain those cultures - proviđe information on the rights and obligations of residents in Australia - encourage the learning of English avoid political partisanship . 1 5 ) SBS programs are produced by program co-ordinators assisted by broadcasters , both of whom are volunteers paid on a casual basis . It also operates a news service , staffed by professional journalists which provide daily news bulletins and background information to broadcasters who may or may_not want to use this material. LiKe everything else in Australia at the moment, the SBS.is under scrutiny , mainly for its financia! status but also because of problems touching upon the foundations of SBS : No Australian government would dare апутоге to disband the principle of ethnic broadcasting although strong arguments can be raised in favour of dismantling of what is not necessarily the most helpful means to unite a nation . But guestions are being asked at present as to whether ethnic broadcasting does indeed help "settlement" or "language learning neeđs" and for how much longer such a service should function with the heip of mostly amateurs . (Of the $3O mio annual budget , only a minimum goes to radio . ) The guestion is also asked whether such a networK should not really reach all people living in Australia rather than only a select few living in the biggest cities . Three mođels for a new SBS have been proposed but no decisions have as yet been made ; 1 . A f ully Commonwealth operated service similar to the ABC . This raises financial issues . (All taxpayers would have to рау for a service which is used by only a few) . For political reasons this solution coulđ mean a limitation of community mput and presumably would take little note of local needs . 2 . A service operated by public broadcastmg stations . This solution would depend to a great extent on voluntary work . Some ethmc groups could be too small to provide an ongomg service . Problems of coordinatmg programming with other users would mevitably ensue . (Ethnic groups аге very finickv when it comes to programming times . ) 3. A Commonwealth operateđ station m capltal cities and public broadcasting stations in the country . The coorđmation could create problems and the financing would be fairly cumbersome .

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