ABSTRACT
It is a commonplace to assert that public communication lies at the heart of the democratic process; that citizens require equal access also to sources of information and equal opportunities to participate in the debates from which political decisions rightly flow. This chapter argues that it follows that changes in media structure and media policy, whether these stem from economic developments or from public intervention, are properly political questions of as much importance as the question of whether or not to introduce proportional representation, of relations between local and national government, of subsidies to political parties. It focuses upon broadcasting and upon the public service model of broadcasting as an embodiment of the principles of the public sphere. Such a focus is a conscious corrective to the more normal focus in debates about the media and politics upon the press, and upon a free press model derived from the history of print communication.
