ABSTRACT
Legislation was introduced in France in 1960 concerning the modernisation and orientation of agricultural practices, to encourage and stimulate new production methods and increase the competitiveness of French products in the Common Market. Early initiatives immediately after the Second World War in France were developed to bring together at a local level groups of independent agricultural small-holders, under the guidance of animateurs and technicians, to discuss and introduce more modern methods of exploitation. The very fact that Tele-Promotion Rurale's (TPR) broadcasts dealt with the problems of poorer agriculturalists, and used agriculturalists as their principal actors was of great importance in this respect, for it represented a significant counterbalance to the predominantly urban and more ‘sophisticated’ norms and values inherent to the majority of Television (TV) programming. At the beginning of TPR’s activities, no clear ideas were held concerning the most appropriate ways of preparing the television and other audio-visual materials.
