[00:05.91]2005
[00:08.03]It is not easy to talk about the role of the mass media
[00:11.05]in this overwhelmingly significant phase in European history.
[00:15.56]History and news become confused,
[00:18.08]and one's impressions tend to be a mixture
[00:20.69]of skepticism and optimism.
[00:23.02](1)
[00:26.15]are created and conveyed
[00:28.16]--and perhaps never before has it served so much
[00:30.86]to connect different peoples and nations
[00:33.69]as in the recent events in Europe.>
[00:36.32]The Europe that is now forming
[00:37.93]cannot be anything other than its peoples,
[00:40.55]their cultures and national identities.
[00:43.38]With this in mind we can begin to analyze
[00:45.90]the European television scene.
[00:48.41](2)
[00:49.91]multi-media groups have been increasingly successful;
[00:53.13]groups which bring together television, radio,
[00:56.36]newspapers, magazines and publishing houses
[01:00.08]that work in relation to one another.>
[01:02.60]One Italian example would be the Berlusconi group,
[01:06.24]while abroad Maxwell and Murdoch come to mind.
[01:09.86]Clearly, only the biggest and most flexible television companies
[01:13.50]are going to be able to compete in such a rich
[01:16.54]and hotly-contested market.
[01:19.06](3)
[01:20.23]that the television business
[01:21.94]is not an easy world to survive in,
[01:24.48]a fact underlined by statistics
[01:26.80]that show that out of eighty European television networks,
[01:30.83]no less than 50% took a loss in 1989.>
[01:34.96]Moreover, the integration of the European community
[01:38.08]will oblige television companies to cooperate more closely
[01:42.02]in terms of both production and distribution.
[01:45.44](4)
[01:47.56]that respects the different cultures and traditions
[01:50.39]which go to make up the connecting fabric of the Old Continent
[01:54.61]is no easy task and demands a strategic choice>
[01:58.85]--that of producing programs in Europe for Europe.
[02:02.79]This entails reducing our dependence
[02:04.81]on the North American market,
[02:06.82]whose programs relate to experiences
[02:09.22]and cultural traditions which are different from our own.
[02:12.85]In order to achieve these objectives,
[02:15.17]we must concentrate more on co-productions,
[02:18.10]the exchange of news,
[02:19.68]documentary services and training.
[02:22.39]This also involves the agreements
[02:24.41]between European countries for the creation
[02:26.73]of a European bank for Television Production which,
[02:30.97]on the model of the European Investments Bank,
[02:33.98]will handle the finances necessary for production costs.
[02:37.91](5)
[02:40.54]it is no exaggeration to say,
[02:42.65]"United we stand, divided we fall">
[02:46.18]--and if I had to choose a slogan
[02:48.20]it would be "Unity in our diversity."
[02:51.52]A unity of objectives that nonetheless respect
[02:54.35]the varied peculiarities of each country.