Television & Literacy Development in the Czech Republic. Chapter 14.

This chapter begins by explaining that cultural literacy is the ability of a community to create relationships, processes, and institutions aimed at multifaceted community development using indigenous resources (natural, human, social, and cultural). Literacy development in a rural community involves three equally important dimensions--social, educational, and cultural--with corresponding modes of action including adult education, social work, and cultural work. The sociocultural gap between a modern society and a rural society leads to a weakening of the rural community's natural ability to institute development efforts and results in a vacuum, mainly in the social and cultural dimensions of the literacy problem. The history of Czech Republic society after 1948 disrupted the integrity of literacy and considerably weakened institutions responsible for these efforts. Since 1987, Receptar--a television program--has successfully simulated the roles of institutions involved in literacy development and the creation of literacy strategies for rural areas. Receptar, which means "book of prescriptions" or "book of recipes," illustrates how modern forms can be linked to premodern content. Information is collected from viewers and is analyzed, checked, and evaluated. Receptar broadcasts have led to countless community development projects that have created new jobs and profits. The success of Receptar demonstrates that when certain institutions responsible for literacy development become dysfunctional or disappear, their function can be taken up by a television program that can serve, on a large scale, as a guide for community development projects and efforts. (LP)