Andrea Grisold

Does One Deregulation Fit All? The Austrian Broadcasting Sector after the European "Liberalization" Effort

n the 1950s, Kenneth Galbraith talked about “public squalor.” Although he did not apply this concept specifically to the mass media, it is precisely this tendency that can be identified in the contemporary European broadcasting sector. Because public service broadcasting channels have scant financial resources, they are compelled to compete with private media conglomerates by adopting a commercial stance similar to private TV corporations. Galbraith identified oligopoly, the extensive use of advertising, and the artificial differentiation of products as the main reasons for “public squalor.” The concept (or, to be more precise, the assumption) of consumer sovereignty does not allow any doubts to be raised concerning the cultural merits of the system or the socially desirable levels of consumption (Galbraith 1974, 70ff). On the contrary, Galbraith argues that “producer sovereignty,” in oligopolistic markets with no regulation, sets the standards for the amount of advertising necessary to create product demand for high levels of consumption. Without completely accepting this critique, one has to acknowledge that it is not solely the consumers’ choice that determines economic outcomes. More important, the forms of “public squalor” have increased with the rise of neoliberalism, leaving such matters to “the market and its positive forces” and reducing public regulation to the greatest extent possible.

Reflexionen über die Funktionalität des Unerklärlichen: Beziehungen am Ende des 20ten Jahrhunderts

Eine jener Postkarten, die es in alternativen Buchhandlungen zu Beginn der 90er Jahre zu kaufen gab. Ich habe einige davon erstanden.