‘channels’. In Britain for instance there are only five terrestrial
television channels, BBC Radio (these having only two news services
between them), a largely a-political commercial radio sector, a dozen
or so national daily newspapers and, effectively, one evening news-
paper per city. The previous government encouraged the growth of
more commercial radio channels and of cable and satellite TV, but the
effectiveness of these as major independent sources of news seems
fairly limited at present. In effect most citizens probably rely on, at
most, four major political news channels – BBC, ITN (Independent
Television News), their customary national daily and possibly a local
evening paper or free weekly. In principle, of course, anyone is free to
set up an alternative newspaper, or to tender for a TV franchise: in
practice this means anyone with several million pounds to lose.
In the United States, of course, a much greater number of tele-
vision and radio channels are available, with three major groupings of
television providers and also CNN providing news services by cable
and increasingly over air. Public service broadcasting is also available
in many parts of the country. As a result of economic and geo-
graphical factors, however, newspapers tend to be rather parochial
and uncompetitive outside of major metropolitan areas.
The digital revolution in communications technology may well be
set to profoundly modify this picture. Digital technology in television
and radio makes possible the broadcasting of many more programmes
simultaneously, and it democratises access to them by reducing pro-
duction and distribution costs as well as creating a rise in the demand
for material to broadcast of all sorts. This has encouraged, in Britain, a
rapid growth in the availability of digital terrestrial TV, including
additional news channels and the broadcasting of parliamentary
debates direct. By 2008, in the UK, and 2009 in the US, analogue TV
will be switched off and only digital will be available.
In contrast to the future potential of modern technology is the
prosaic reality of many countries today, particularly in the South.
Here the least satisfactory arrangement from a democratic point of
view obtains – the only effective mass communication channels are
the state radio and television channels
The more ‘channels’ available the less we need to worry about the
content and control of any one of them, since consumers can exercise
influence over them by selecting them or not. Arguably, with so few
effective major channels at present in most liberal democracies, the
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