GAMES OF IDENTIFICATION AND SELF-PRESENTATION: LOCAL RADIO BROADCAST IN SKOPJE, MACEDONIA

Abstract

In the 1990s, the media situation in Europe, especially in its post-socialist part, has changed rapidly. Democratisation was the magic word which radically reshaped the political and public domains of the continent. Among different kinds of democratisation, it was democratisation of media policies which was one of the most intriguing, but, at the same time, among the most neglected. It was not limited only to the former socialist countries. The bastions of national broadcast monopolies (e.g., Great Britain, Austria, Sweden) begun to democratise media, especially radio broadcast, in the late 1980s. Democratisation of mass media in the former socialist countries differed from country to country. Everywhere, the state-sponsored and controlled giant public radio and television networks lost their monopoly. Private initiative came to the fore – together with its unintentional consequences.