Public TV for the silent majority

Two new TV stations stand to be admitted to the quaint public broadcasting system in The Netherlands, where anyone who gathers 50,000 signatures is entitled to a part of the public airwaves.

Many European countries have asked the question to what extent their public broadcaster truly represents and serves the public. Quite often, it is the politicians who determine what a public broadcaster can or cannot do. Not so in the Netherlands where every five years the public broadcasting system is opened up to any organisation that succeeds in gathering 50,000 signatures.

The last such deadline was this Wednesday, and two newcomers succeeded in getting a foot in the door: Powned and Wakker Nederland (Alert Netherlands). The first is an initiative by the shock website GeenStijl (NoStyle), the second by the country's largest newspaper, De Telegraaf. Both are part of the same company, Telegraaf Media Group. They now have to prove that they represent a current in Dutch society and that they can distinguish themselves from what the existing broadcasters. If they pass the test they will be given a licence next year.

It is hard to think of a religion, group or subculture that does not have its own broadcaster in the Netherlands: the elderly, animal rights activists, culture lovers, Buddhists, humanists, progressives and Muslims are already being served. Now it is the turn of the "silent majority", as Telegraaf editor-in-chief Sjuul Paradijs refers to his followers. Both Powned and Wakker Nederland say they want to add "a less leftish voice" to the airwaves.

Civilised nudity

"None of the existing three public channels have a decent news programme with a clear conservative or neo-liberal voice," Paradijs wrote in his own newspaper. GeenStijl says it wants to make programmes for people who feel left out by the existing public broadcasters and - true to their style - adds that "we wouldn't mind a piece of the cake", referring to the 655 million euros of taxpayer's money that the public broadcasters get to spend each year. Powned also promises to bring "a fair and balanced" news programme, "drama without a message" and to promote "civilised nudity" on public television.

Diversity, representativeness and openness are values that most public broadcasters in Europe have to strive for by law. But nowhere has this concept been taken to such extremes as in The Netherlands.

"Every public broadcaster is a reflection of the political traditions in that country, and in the Netherlands the political tradition is pillarisation," says Nico van Eijk, a professor of media studies in Amsterdam. "This is why we have chosen a system that allows parties to independently join the public broadcasting system. It is unique."

Pillarisation or denominational segregation was long the driving force behind politics and society in the Netherlands. It meant that the main religions or ideologies all had their own social institutions, unions, newspapers, hospitals, schools and ... public broadcasters.

Target audiences

From the 1960s on, pillarisation started loosening its grip on Dutch society in many areas, and with the arrival of commercial TV in 1989 came a switch to target audiences rather than ideological or religious programming. Gradually, new target audiences that defied the ideological or religious pigeonholes tarted pushing their way into the system: BNN, a youth station; MAX, for the over-50 crowd, or LLink, the green channel. New religions also claimed their stake: the traditionally protestant Netherlands now has Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish broadcasters.

The public broadcaster is a typical European phenomenon - the media translation of the social market economy. Or rather, "a West-European phenomenon", says Karol Jakubowicz, a former member of the board of the Polish public broadcaster. "In post-communist Eastern Europe people still don't trust the public broadcaster. There is no concept of a public interest," he says.

But even in Western Europe every country has a different approach. The UK has a strict separation between the government and the BBC. A new charter has been adopted and mechanisms put in place to ensure that the BBC reflects what viewers want from a public broadcaster.

In most European countries, however, the public broadcaster is meant to be a reflection of the political landscape. In Germany, representatives of the regions, political parties, unions and employers, churches and other social groups are on the board of the public broadcaster. In Belgium and France, religious or political groups can claim airtime on existing public channels - mostly at a time when no one is watching.

Only the Dutch system distributes the available airtime according to how many members a broadcasting organisation can claim, and allows in any newcomers as long as they can prove they add a legitimate voice to the public debate.

In the Netherlands too there is distrust of the public broadcaster - mostly by people who say it is too left-wing. The two newcomers hope to change that starting next year - with 100 hours of TV time and 450 hours of radio time a year each.