Abstract: | The volume has been divided into two parts. The first, theoretical part concerns the issues
connected with the worldwide models of media systems, as well as the role of the public media,
the methods of defining their mission, and the aims and tools of media politics. Further inquiry
concerns the media landscape of Spain, in addition to the main legal determinants which regulate
the media in the country. Moreover, the author conducts a review of the most important
legislation included in the autonomous constitutions that concerns the possibility of establishing
means of mass communication by autonomous communities.
The second part constitutes an attempt at systematizing the strategies undertaken by autonomous
governments to encourage growth of local public broadcasters with a regional reach.
The author distinguishes four different attitudes towards the role of the public media as well
as towards defining the public mission and the level of engagement in the process of broadcaster
management by the political powers in the region, delineated on the basis of legal and
institutional analysis of media legislation. It is possible, therefore, to distinguish four vectors of
regional government activities which correspond to the various types of public media present
in the autonomous regions of Spain: a basic type with the function of regional media, a mixed
type with the inclusion of the private sector, a transitional type aimed at reforming the model
of public radio and television management, and an advanced type, in which the regulations and
institutions involved allow for a larger media autonomy. |