by Alain Modoux
Population of most cities and towns in the industrialised countries includes a growing number of inhabitants foreign to the local cultural patterns such as languages, religious practices, food habits, education systems, gender relationships and political institutions. In a country like Switzerland, some fifty years ago, these differences were mainly the result of the Swiss citizens' migration between rural and urban areas, between cantons and neighbouring countries such as Italy, whose languages and religious beliefs were certainly different from those locally applied, but they were generally accepted as part of the Swiss multicultural heritage. Nowadays, immigrants are coming from more and more distant regions, whose cultural patterns have very often nothing in common with the local ones, making integration a most difficult process.
In this context, local radios and television channels, more than any other media, have a crucial role to play in order to make easier the newcomers' integration into the local community and facilitate their acceptance by the natives. Whatever could be their legal status as public or private entities, local radio and television channels have a public broadcasting service mission to fulfil: they have to inform and comment on the various aspects of the daily life of its people and reflect the range of their opinions, concern and aspirations. They also mirror the cultural diversity of all its inhabitants, natives and immigrants, thus contributing to help the communities to know each other better, to learn about their respective traditions and customs, to explain to the newcomers the functioning of the political institutions and their civic responsibilities. In so doing local radio and television represent a unique tool to foster an harmonious multicultural coexistence between the various communities.
They are the expression of the political, social, and cultural pluralism
of the local community.
Presenter:
Alain Modoux
Former Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Communication and Information,
recognized worldwide for his unwavering commitment to freedom of expression.
In particular, he is the initiator of the UNESCO proposal which led to the decision
by the General Assembly of the United Nations to proclaim May 3 " World
Press Freedom Day ".
In June 2001, Alain retired from UNESCO and opened an office in Geneva, Switzerland,
as communication consultant. His main activities involve the preparation of
the " World Summit on the Information Society " and being an adviser
to UNESCO and the Swiss Federal Administration.
Alain is also associated, as a senior partner, with INTERMEDIA-Consultants,
Bern, a private company specialized in the development of communication, which
carries out various programmes in developing countries on behalf of the Swiss
Agency for Development and Cooperation, the World Bank and the International
Organization of the French-speaking countries.