If the public broadcaster had been a company, it would have already perished in the chaos, argues Fons van Westerloo. Hague chaos, that is. "Public broadcasters once started dividing the scarce air space among the various political or confessional movements. Broadcasters could then claim with dry eyes that they stood for something and that the members wanted to see 'their sound' spread through mass media. Broadcasting associations were paid from membership fees and especially from profits from the broadcasting magazines. And because making radio and television was expensive, viewing and listening fees had to be paid by those who had a device at home. Until The Hague threw itself into our broadcasting system."

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