"Our aim in this book is to uncover the myths and try to give equal status to alternative interpretations - of history, of current policies and of an alternative practice of radio which we refer to as 'community radio' in a shorthand that has become widely used and abused, but which we elaborate and analyse later. We look at both sides of the Atlantic and at the position of radio in Third World countries in many of which the original, Western systems of broadcasting have been found wanting and in some of which alternatives have been developed. The book begins with a discussion of myth and history, and a brief sketch of the three models or types that both define themselves by difference from each other and are engaged in actual struggle: the free market model, the public service model and community radio." (Introduction, page xiii)