discussion programmes are examined as television formats with the potential
for providing a democratic public sphere in the media. An expansion of the concept of
the public sphere, its transformation and its role in contemporary societies is, therefore, essential to develop this argument. Also, the relation between television debates and the community is explored through a survey carried out amongst participants of Scottish
Women and La Vida en un Xip.
This work provides media studies with some keys to evaluate the role of television
debates in the delicate political make-up of two nations without a state, Scotland and
Catalonia. Questions of national and cultural identity are crucial to the policy-making of their respective broadcasting, industries. Yet, such questions are difficult to distinguish and define in their programming. The comparative analysis of the two caseThe American Soccer League (1933-1983) began life in the big cities and outlying industrial areas of the Northeast during the Great Depression. In fact, the league referred to here is actually a reincarnation of the original ASL, which played in New England, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania from 1921 to 1933.

For most of its 50-year existence, the ASL was a cluster of ethnically-identified clubs in the Northeast. Teams came and went on annual basis, often dropping out or changing identities in the middle of seasons. See the alphabetical listings below just for the city of Baltimore to get an idea of the churn. Until 1969, the ASL played a fall-to-spring schedule that mirrored the traditional football calendar played in Europe and elsewhere. In 1969, the ASL switched