Tony Bennett, Differing diversities - Council of Europe

Differing diversitiesservice various minorities and maintain programme diversity. In the UnitedKingdom, for instance, Channel 4, launched in 1982, has a statutory obligation tooffer programmes that are different from Channel 3 (ITV) and to serve a diverserange of interests and groups. There is also a Welsh language version ofChannel 4. In Germany, many of the state broadcasting regulations specify diversityof programming as a requirement and provision for minorities. In some cases,advisory councils of viewers have to be consulted in order to achieve access andbalance. 1European media policy has also been dominated by an economic rather than a culturallogic, despite early ambitions to try to forge some kind of shared “Europeancultural identity”. The primary aim had been to extend the principle of the singlemarket and harmonisation to the media and cultural field, with a secondary aim ofstrengthening European cultural production in order to reduce dependence on theUnited States. The keystone of the media policy of the European Union is the 1989Television Directive (revised 1996), which has two main objectives relevant to thepresent issue. One is to promote the cross-border flow of television within Europe,by harmonising the basic rules affecting content and advertising. The second is tostimulate European television and film production by setting a minimum “quota”of European broadcast content and a target figure for independent productions. 2Along the same lines, the European Union has had a policy of financial support foraudiovisual production under programmes called MEDIA92 and MEDIAII, whichespecially seek to encourage European co-production, partly for cultural diversificationbut also to increase market opportunities for production internationally aswell as within European media markets.The broader issues of media pluralism have been discussed within the context ofEuropean policy especially in the 1992 Green Paper on media pluralism andconcentration, but little has been done except to set out issues and achieveconsultation. 3Several other relevant matters have figured in a minor way in European policy discourse,without policy results, but with some significance in their consequences.One relates to support for minority languages that are under threat. Another to thepossibility of developing a European code of ethics for journalism. There has alsobeen some central support for the principle of public service broadcasting. 4Despite its relative decline, public broadcasting may still be the best instrument for__________1. See Hoffmann-Riem, 1996; Becker, 1998.2. In theory this policy should help to widen the media experience of European citizens and reduce thedominance of American media imports. The long term aim is to increase the diversity of cultural experienceand the opportunities for cultural employment.3. See Pauwels, 1998. Agreement has not been reached either on what is desirable or feasible, althoughit is doubtful if much can be done in practice beyond limiting the acquisition activity of some very largemedia companies. There is some inconsistency between the goal of having globally competitive mediafirms and the central values of cultural pluralism.4. Especially by way of the protocol to the 1998 Amsterdam Treaty which legitimates some legal protection,privileges and subsidy on grounds of the wider public interest.76