Public service broadcasting and modern public life

The fundamentally democratic thrust of broadcasting laid in the new kind of access to virtually the whole spectrum of public life that radio, and television, made available to all. If broadcasting is defensible as a public service it can only be as a service to the public. By placing political, religious, civic, cultural events and entertainments in a common domain, public life was equalized in a way that had never before been possible. Broadcasting, then, brings public life into private life, and private life into public life, for pleasure and enjoyment as much as for information and education. The whole history of the relationship between broadcasting and the world of politics is one of manipulation and pressures exerted on broadcast news and discussion by politicians, parties and governments. To enjoy the services of broadcasting people need at the least a marginal surplus of disposable time and income.