There is a clear relationship between the basic processes of social modernisation and the dominant structures of broadcasting. While social and economic modernisation meant increasing centralisation and concentration of capital and political power, the break-up of traditional communities produced new ways of life. Mobility was both social and geographical, and both forms implied that individuals and households were, both literally and metaphorically, 'on the move' in ways that left them relatively isolated compared to people in much more stable early communities. Centralised broadcasting was both an answer to the need felt by central government to reach all citizens with important information efficiently, and a highly useful instrument in the production of the harmonising, stabilising 'imagined community' of the nation-state. The pervasiveness of these structured processes and interests rendered broadcasting the 'naturally' victorious organisation of both radio and television. What is left out here is the more positive view of broadcasting as a social form suitable also for democracy. In the formation of broadcasting policies between the World Wars, the interest in broadcasting as a means of securing equal access to resources necessary for conscious, informed and autonomous participation in political, social and cultural life played a very important role in many countries. Of course television is changing, and there is the risk that the very term broadcasting becomes outmoded or at least inadequate. In which case, this metaphor will be seen only as referring to a particular organisation of audio-visual technology during a certain centralised phase of social modernisation.