A Case for Community Broadcasting
Ashish Sen
Vice President AMARC &
Trustee, VOICES
Community Radio in the Asia-Pacific region confronts a paradoxical scene. The good news is that community voice is increasingly being acknowledged as a critical instrument for poverty eradication, good governance and social change. The flip side is: Whose voice is primarily heard in mainstream media?
The challenge of development today, whether it is tackling floods or drought or reckoning with the MDGs, compels us to re-examine the role of the media. Is the media’s responsibility just to inform and react to events? Or do the media have a more pro-active and nurturing role in building and sustaining human development?
It is here where the case for communitybroadcasting comes in. At a time when public-private media lines are vulnerable to blurring and a market is the mantra climate dominates the media landscape, community media provides primacy tothe local. It provides a voice to the voiceless, the unheard and the marginalized.
Because it is an integral part of community life, community media is a vital link to people centered development. The Right to Information movement in India and the role of the Jan sunwai (or the public hearing) demonstrates how people centered media has strengthened good governance, transparency and accountability. It also helps to reinforce the case for a three tiered media structure- public, private and community- based on principles of inclusiveness and equity.
The case for communityradio inIndiais often traced back to the 1995 Supreme Court judgment that airwaves are public property. It mirrors the same raison d'etre. More than 11 and a half years after the judgment, the government of India endorsed guidelines that enable community radio to assume its legitimate place as the third tier of broadcasting in the country. While some would argue that the pace and quality of change should have been faster, there are sufficient examples from the existing community radio stations in the country to demonstrates that it is change for the better.
The Bangladesh Government’s recent endorsement of community radio is another welcome development of governments recognizing the significance of the community broadcasting sector in development. So far, so good. However, questions of equity, equal access, and restrictive legislation like a ban on broadcasting news remain concerns in many countries. Attackson Community Media/Radio journalists have also increased across the region.There are also challenges within the sector related to infrastructure, community involvement, content development and regulatory framework. Increasingly, community radio stations find themselves vulnerable to the criticism of ‘ngoisation.’ How do we tackle these issues and strengthen on air diversity?
Nearly 300 community radio practitioners, advocates and production groups who participated at the Bangalore AMARC Asia Pacific Regional Consultations in February2010 recommended a 10 point agenda for the development of community radio in the region:
- To have a distinct and clear definition of community radio;
- To recognize community radio as a distinct sector and acknowledge its contributions to societies and communities;
- To legitimize Community Radio/ or give it legal status;
- To open up of the airwaves/frequencies to Community Radios, on an equitable basis: from 20 to 30 percent of frequencies;
- To urge governments to provide financial and technical support to Community Radios ;
- To support sustainability of Community Radios through initiatives like a community radio fund;
- To remove unreasonable restrictions in terms of technical (power) and editorial policies such as the ban on news ;
- To simplify licensing procedures,
- To provide guidelines, mechanisms and funding for development, reform, research and development, and capacity building; and
- To ensure protection of community radio journalists.
How can we take these forward?
STRATEGIES FOR CONSIDERATION
1) Deepen linkages with Development: There is a need for community radio to deepen its linkages with development and build synergies with social movements like Freedom of Information, Freedom of Expression, Food Security, Gender issues etc. The experience of Sangam Radio in India is a case in point.
Sangam Radio India is India’s first grass root community radio station to go on air. It is also the country’s first Dalit Radio managed by the Community Media Trust – a team of Dalit women. The radio station’s programmes on traditional systems of agriculture have played a significant role in addressing the issue of food scarcity in a drought prone area.
The radio station recently initiated an innovative mechanism of a shareholder concept to address sustainability and income generation.In October 2009, a plan to strengthen its sustainability was formalized by the Community Media Trust.Accordingly, each of the 5000 sangham members would contribute Rs 5 every month towards the radio station resulting in an annual contribution of Rs 2, 50,000. Already 2,000 are active members and contribute the requisite amount which helps to take care of staff and radio production. In doing so, it ensures that it is not dependent on advertising, but exhibits and practices a shareholder model
2) Innovative use of mixed media/technology: Community Broadcasting needs to strategically combine old and new communication technologies and develop mixed media media models. Some examples below illustrate the point.
ARRnet is short for the Aceh Radio reconstruction Network that started in November, 2005 in Indonesia. Comprising a membership of 46 community radio stations in Aceh andNorth Sumatra, the network was dedicated to community based rehabilitation and reconstructionposts the 2004 Tsunami. It used a mixed media model that combined community radio, website, telephone and fax lines to enable it to reach out to the last mile, last post. The operational strategy was a direct process whereby the member stations sent information to the ARRnet hub in Banda Aceh, from where it was uploaded directly on to the internet.
There are other interesting examples that demonstrate how a mixed media model has been effectively used to reach the last mile, last post. Prior to community radio legitimacy in India, the Namma Dhwani community media centre (in the southern state of Karnataka) used a mix of cable technology and loudspeakers to function as a cable radio station and also regularlynarrowcast information through loud speakers on market prices. The same technology was used by the YCMC Centre in Bangladesh.
With climate change and disaster mitigation assuming criticality, the case for community based mobile broadcasting and examples like the E Tuk Tuk in Sri Lanka, and Doko Radio in Nepal assume additional significance.
3) Strengthen relationship between community and public broadcasting sectors: There needs to be more engagement between the community broadcasting and public broadcasting sectors. In India, community based groups have (especially in the pre 2006 period) bought time and broadcast programmes produced by the community over the Government owned All India Radio which also has a substantial local radio network across the country.
4)Engage with Academia: There is a need to build linkages with Academia. There needs to be more research and impactassessment studiesthat track and evaluate performance of Community Radio stations and study their co-relation with development. The Ethnographic Research programmes initiated by UNESCO in South Asiaexemplify this point. At the same time, there needs to be more support provided for training in community radio and develop a pool of country/regional resource persons that undertake community radio capacity building.
5) Explore funding mechanisms: Funding support from government also needs to be explored. The example of France throws up the up the possibility of a support mechanism like a community radio fund. Closer home, in the Philippines, there are collaborative alliances like the Local Government Units (LGU) initiative.
6)Strengthen Networking: Even while community radio may be a recent entrant in some countries in Asia Pacific, there needs to be a greater emphasis on networking both at the country and regional levels. Networks comprising community radio practitioners, advocates and community media production groups at the country and regional are required to strengthen the case for legal reform, technology access and fund raising. Examples like ACORAB in Nepal, CRF in India and JRKI in Indonesia are examples of efforts in the Asia Pacific region to advocate for enabling environments and judicious legislation in their countries. They are also valuable mechanisms for content sharing anddissemination, awareness and capacity building.
The experience of AMARC strengthens the case for building cross regional and global networks. AMARC today is a network of about 6,000 community radio stations in 110 countries. The network comprises membersfrom diverse and marginalized communities with expertise in advocacy, capacity building, technology facilitation and content sharing.