Suchergebnisse

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), commercial broadcasters, educ'al stations, the educ'al system & the communications arts are all essential in broadcasting, but the rights & duties of the public should be foremost. Today, broadcasting serves only a minority of the active & none of the latent interests of the people & this situation will continue until 'a substantial portion of the public join the broadcasters & the FCC in defining public interest.' The public has given broadcasters a portion of the public domain asking them to protect & cultivate public interest while engaging in open market competition. The code of ethics evolved in daily competition without explicit public guidance is generally satisfactory though it has sometimes degenerated to the view that anything which interests a good portion of the public is salutory. The responsibility of broadcasters for creating & conditioning their audiences is the basis for recognition of the unwritten contract between broadcasters & audiences to exchange specific information, entertainment, etc, for time & attention. The public thus must participate in deciding broadcasting policy in order to assure its contractual rights & to establish the necessity for them. For the audience to participate a soc invention is required which should include (1) mandatory hearings on the renewal of broadcast licenses, & (2) invitation by a broadcaster to representative members of his audiences to discuss the services rendered. The latter would permit the audience participation in setting standards of program quality. The FCC should require higher standards of intelligence & public service from the licensee, compare promises to actual services rendered at the time of renewal, & increase its attempts to inform the public of its activities & its accessibility. By drawing the public more effectively into the area of broadcasting, the development & regulation of service in the public interest can be more readily assured. C. M. Coughenour.

Participation and administration have long had an uneasy coexistence. On one hand, public participation in decisions that affect citizens is consistent with citizenship and democracy; on the other hand, much of what government does is complex and requires some level of technical understanding to make decisions. In this article, we report on public administrators' perceptions of public participation and the ways that they understand the participation process. We find that public participation is managed by public administrators; they determine the extent of participation, shape the ways that the participation takes place, and decide whether or not participation is valuable for their work. In some cases, the process is rather democratic, whereas in others, it is not. We find that it is up to administrators to shape the spaces for participation and select the participants in a manner consistent with their understanding of the task to be accomplished. We explore this process in the context of Environmental Impact Analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act.

This review explores why public participation in constitution-making matters for cultivating responsible governance and for fine-tuning justice, focused on immensely rich African evidence within a broader comparative constitutional law context.

The present study examines seven current, ongoing cases of public participation across a broader spectrum of communities. In contrast to earlier notorious historical failures, such as those at Love Canal, Woburn, and Times Beach, the cases in this study explore experiences considered relatively successful by both the agencies and the communities. The study sought to better understand the determinants of successful public involvement in contaminated communities where: (1) site characterization, cleanup options, and economic redevelopment were issues of concern and conflict; (2) more than one federal agency was involved; (3) state and local agencies were also involved; and (4) environmental justice was often an issue. The purposes of the study were to: (1) identify those factors most important to, and essential for, successful community involvement, (2) evaluate or suggest initiatives to further enhance successful public participation, and (3) identify options for more successful interaction and coordination of federal, state, and local agencies in their efforts to promote environmental and public health goals in contaminated communities.The study focused on initiatives which: enhance communication, outreach, and learning in the community; build skills and capability in the community; and provide for increased community participation in, and access to, government decisions. Special attention was paid to public participation problems in economically disadvantaged and minority communities with disproportionate environmental burdens (i.e., environmental justice communities), and to mechanisms for improving interagency coordination at all levels of government.

From American involvement in Iraq to post-apartheid South Africa, the issue of public participation in foreign policy has gained considerable prominence in the last decade. The recent WikiLeaks campaign has brought the issue to the forefront of public opinion by dispelling the veil of secrecy behind which politics once hid. The public is becoming increasingly immersed in the political landscape, and widespread opposition to both the war in Iraq and the financial cuts suggests that the people are rediscovering their political voice. Bringing together a range of opinions from academia, government, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, trade unions and business, this book raises potent questions about the role of the public in shaping foreign policy. It explores the breakdown of the boundaries between the public domain and the government and argues that there is a still a long way to go before public opinion will have the power to alter foreign policy.