Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.03.1995, Page 23

Lögberg-Heimskringia • Föstudagur 17. mars 1995 • 23
U.S. Public Radio/T.V.
Comparisons with
lceland, Canada & Europe
By Ron du Bois
Stillwater, OK
It was a pleasure this summer to
visit Iceland. Its national radio
and television stations (like
those of Canada and Europe), are
paid for by public taxation. Iceland
has one public television station
and one commercial television sta-
tion. Viewers may subscribe to the
latter on a voluntary basis.
Commercial television is not fully
self-sustaining and (oddly to us)
requires additional private billing.
Icelanders are content with national
public television alone. An addi-
tional fee for commercial program-
ming that puts popular appeal
before in-depth quality and educa-
tional content does not set well
with highly literate and educated
Icelanders.
Television programs in Iceland
are never interrupted by commer-
cials save for one block of time in
the evening when all commercials
are available for viewing. It is quite
interesting for an American visitor
to view one commercial after the
other in one block of time and to
ponder — why this couldn’t be
done in the U.S.? Icelanders live in
a world in which scrambling for the
mute in order to kill advertising and
increased decibels is unnecessary.
Icelanders view commercial
interruptions as unnecessary, unde-
sirable and uncivil — they view
commercials only if they wish to,
not bécause (as in our system) it is
impossible to avoid them except by
the remote control. Business values
do not rule civility. I have long held
similar views subsumed by a contra-
dictory American assumption —
that placing business above civility
is “normal”.
We pay eighty cents per capita
per year per annum for public tele-
vision and some twenty cents per
annum for public radio. Canadians
are having economic difficulties
similar to ours yet are willing to pay
$28.00 per capita per annum to sup-
port the arts which includes out-
standing public radio and television
without commercial interruption.
Neither Iceland nor Canada are
threatening to cancel or reduce full
support nor public radio and televi-
sion nor generous support of the
arts.
In my view National Public
Radio/Television should be
declared national cultural treasures.
Americans and their leaders should
be proud to fully support them.
What ever merits commercial radio
and television possess, need we
accept as “normal” violence and
hype-interrupting advertisements?
In Iceland, nudity is not considered
objectionable but American pro-
grams depicting mindless violence
are not allowed on public televi-
sion. Icelanders for the most part
don’t admire the attitudes depicted
and don’t believe they promote
mature social behaviour. They
believe that repeated exposure to
violence and anti-social behaviour
has a negative impact on children.
Why are we the exception to the
rule that every civilized nation is
able to support public broadcasting
as an alternative to commercial pro-
gramming? They understand what
we do not — that marketplace val-
ues corrupt ethical and cultural val-
ues, civility and quality of life.
Personnel in commercial radio and
television are fully aware their rat-
ings depend on appeal to the “great
public beast”.
No doubt Americans love heroes.
But we must look carefully at
“heroes” who propose to eliminate
support for National Public Radio/
Television, the National End-
owment for the Arts, etc. Were we
connected to reality it would
prompt us to cultivate a sense of the
ridiculous of which such “heroes”
are inevitably a part.
Should we abandon federal sup-
port for national cultural treasures,
it will be seen by smaller and less
wealthy nations as regressive — the
expression of reverse priorities by a
far larger and richer nation — as a
perverse abandonment of the best in
American values and quality of life.
Ron duBois is an Emerítus Prof. of
Art, Oklahoma State University. His wife
is Dr. Thora Asgeirson duBois.
Newfoundland progress
called lesson for
lceland
s
T. JOHN’S — Battered
Newfoundland has impor-
tant lessons to teach the
so-called miracle fishing state of
Iceland, an analyst from the
North Atlantic nation says.
Topping Sigfús Jónsson’s list:
How do you diversify a
fishing-based economy when
your fish stocks decline to
record lows?
“There are various new
developments in Newfoundland
we could learn from,” Mr.
Jónsson said at a weekend con-
ference on development in
island societies such as
Newfoundland, the Isle of Man
and Iceland. Despite your
extreme difficulties with the
fishery, there are many positive
things happening here,” he said,
citing development of marine
information technology as an
example.
Mr. Jónsson’s views fly
agaiqst the perception among
some casting Newfoundland ás
a ne’er-do-well compared with
Iceland, which has about half
the province’s population of
about 600,000 but a far more
sophisticated fishing industry.
Unlike Newfoundland,
Iceland has an extremely liter-
ate, educated work force less
reliant on income-support pro-
grams that have become a fix-
ture in Canada’s poorest
province. And while New-
foundland has a perennial
unemployment rate of about 20
per cent, the rate in Iceland is
only about 5 per cent.
In the past two years,
declines in groundfish around
Newfoundland have left thou-
sands of fishermen and plant
workers without work, relying
on federal relief programs.
Since 1982, when he spent a
year in Newfoundland on an
academic fellowship, Mr.
Jónsson has been comparing the
two societies.
Both were settled by
Europeans — Iceland in the
ninth century, Newfoundland
beginning in the 16th century.
Both relied on cod, but
Newfoundland never developed
the mechanized, flexible fishing
industry that Iceland did.
Now, Iceland, a rocky land
dotted with geysers, hot springs
and volcanoes, faces declines in
groundfish stocks that have
forced fishermen to seek stoclcs
off Norway.-
Last summer, the squabble
turned violent when a
Norwegian Coast Guard cutter
blew two cannon holes in an
Icelandic trawler.
Mr. Jónsson, a former mayor
of Iceland’s second-largest city,
said his country is full of prob-
lems, which include an overly
expensive and inefficient agri-
cultural sector, an inefficient
education system and over-
priced health care.
Robert Greenwood of
Newfoundland’s Economic
Recovery Commission calls
Iceland’s economy “extremely
vulnerable” because of its
dependence on the fishery.
Courtesy Globe and Mail
J

along with the host chapter, The lcelandic Canadian Club of Toronto
welcomes all those interested in lcelandic Heritage and Culture to attend the
76*h Annual INL Convention

\
"Connection and Continuity
MAY 5, 6 & 7, 1995
Roehampton Best Western Hotel, Toronto, Ontario
Registration fee: $50 (includes Friday reception, Saturday lunch, banquet & dance)
Registration Deadline: April 19, 1995, Individual Saturday Banquet tickets: $25 each
Promises to be an exciting weekend of entertainment and good fellowship!
Display tables are available for organizations and individuals for $10.
Please contact the INL office at 699 Carter Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3M 2C3, (204) 284-3402 or fax (204) 284-3870 for more information.