[Ict4ruralwomeninafrica] Community Radios - background / lobbying paper

[Nnenna]

--0-1759173536-1076944811=:60109
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I thought this might interest a few  of us.
 
Nnenna
______________________________________________________
 
PROMOTING MEDIA DIVERSITY, PLURALISM,SELF SUFFICIENCY,INDEPENDENCE



The Role of Community Broadcasting

Community media has enormous potential in southern Africa. It can raise awareness on issues such as the position of women, play a part in improving literacy and education, and provide information on health, the environment, agriculture, democracy as well as on issues such as land mines and HIV/AIDS. Community broadcasting is an empowering tool for any community that is often ignored or insufficiently catered for by national and commercial radio and television services.

Community media provides a vital alternative to the profit-oriented agenda of corporate media. It is driven by social objectives rather than the profit motive. It empowers people rather than treats them as passive consumers, and it nurtures local knowledge rather than replacing it with standard solutions. Ownership and control of community media is rooted in, and responsible to, the communities they serve. And they are committed to human rights, social justice, the environment and sustainable approaches to development.
Community broadcasting enhances participation in democracy, encourages free speech, promotes cultural knowledge and assists communities to work together for their own social and economic well being.

Community Broadcasting can include:

Community Radio;
Community Television;
Community Video.

We sometimes refer to this type of media as:

Democratic media;
Participatory media


Campaign to Enable Community Media in southern Africa

Background

In southern Africa broadcasting, and in particular radio, is undoubtedly the most important medium of communication, but the development of community broadcasting has been slow. As nations move towards a more independent and free media climate, space is opening up for communities to develop their own communications. Many are choosing to embark on community radio projects.

One of the greatest achievements of community media internationally has been to make communication media accessible to ordinary people. It promotes the concept that anyone is capable of producing a program. You donąt need to be an expert ­ just to have the will and the commitment. You donąt have to be literate to listen to a message or to broadcast. Many stations around the world have illiterate people as broadcasters.

The essential question for a community radio station is not technology but rather how the community will control the medium technically, culturally and politically. The establishment of a community radio station in a town or a village requires some community structure. Otherwise the result can be a broadcast project imposed from above or externally. In some cases, such as a refugee camp where people need information but may be traumatised and otherwise not able to organise a radio station, such an intervention can prove valuable if it provides high quality information and achieves close links to the people ­ but that is not the approach advocated for more established communities. 

Because communication is a basic right and necessary for social and economic development, community media can make a strategic contribution to local development. A sustainable approach requires firm foundations, rooted in community ownership and control, realised through participation. 

As real participation is hard to achieve and income generation always difficult, community involvement and participation can be compromised. Stations should be aware of the danger and regularly look at themselves to see whether the station is really serving the community.

A voice for civil society
The information society promises much - access to vital knowledge for health and education, better information from governments and corporations, electronic democracy, global trade and exchange, up to the minute news. But the world's poorest communities face the twin dangers of being left out of this new economy and becoming a cultural dumping ground for mass market products made by and for the richest economies.

Community media helps to balance these inequities. It provides the means for cultural expression, community discussion, and debate. It supplies news and information and facilitates political engagement. Radio is the most widespread electronic communications device in the world and community radio is a practical and cost-effective means of reaching and connecting the world's poorest communities. Independent and community publications provide news and views that are often framed out of the corporate media. And in the field of community life, web-based media is seen as a way to help communities achieve social, economic, cultural and political goals. 

Community media in practice, globally ­ the big picture
Community media is integrated with practices of community life. It is a concrete means for public participation and for defending cultural diversity. Content includes political and economic news that facilitates community dialogue and involvement, community and personal messages (marriages, union-meetings, lost donkeys), musical greetings, educational programs for development (health, environment, gender), information programs, and culturally relevant entertainment. 
A growing trend is the formation of regional, national, and trans-national networks that support local communications initiatives and facilitates participation at all levels of community. For instance:

… The National Community Radio Forum of South Africa is pioneering the use of Internet and satellite distribution for exchange of social action programming and news among its 100 community radio station members in South Africa.

… In North America, Deep Dish Television is a network that provides programming to 200 to 300 public, educational and municipal television channels. The programmes are produced by different communities using satellite television as a means of distribution. 

… The Latin American Indigenous Broadcast Network ŚRed Quiechua Satelitalą combines e-mail, audio by internet and satellite transmission, to daily connect 28 Quechua and Quichua radios and their audiences with news-bulletins and radio magazines. These community media contribute to the cultural and political awareness of the twelve million discriminated and mostly poor Quechuas and Quichuas in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. 

… 101.7 MAMA FM: is a community radio station set up by the Uganda Media Women's Association (UMWA). The first womenąs radio station in Africa, it targets women between the age of 15-45 with gender sensitive educational programmes, and offers training and practical experience for female journalists.

… In southern Africa MISAnet, a member based group of independent newspapers in the region exchanges news from the region, facilitating greater regional co-operation and understanding.

… Around the world a growing number of Independent Media Centres are struggling to create an interactive, web-based platform for reporting and sharing information on social issues and social movements. 

Building community media nationally
Building community media requires an approach based on the empowerment of peoples and communities ­ not private investors. Nation states and institutions have to guarantee access for production, distribution and consumption to all groups in society, and legislative reforms that assure effective access and support policies for community media must be implemented in a diverse media environment. In part, this requires strengthening rights to freedom of information and freedom of expression. Similarly, copyright and intellectual property right regulations must allow for the free circulation of information that may impact upon health and well being. 

Greater awareness of the development potential of community broadcasting, and particularly community radio, is needed among governments, intergovernmental agencies, non-government organisations and the private sector. Community media projects require assistance to adapt to new digital production technologies and to increase their access to the internet. Strategic links need to be made between community radio and telecentre development, and opportunities to cluster broadcast, print, and web-based community media resources must be developed and promoted.

In particular, the development of community radio and the future of community television will depend on access to significant technical resources. Affordable access to frequencies, channels and bandwidth and the adoption of appropriate technical standards is imperative. Governments and intergovernmental bodies, including the International Telecommunications Union, need to ensure spectrum allocation and technical standards provide for community media development. Private media and telecommunications providers must be required to offer free or low cost channel space and bandwidth for community media content. 

MAIN ISSUES

WHAT IS COMMUNITY OR PARTICIPATORY BROADCASTING?

Most community stations worldwide agree that a community station is one that is owned, managed and programmed by the people it serves. It is non-profit making and persues a social development agenda. It is responsive to the communityąs expressed needs and priorities and is accountable to community structures.

There must be a clear recognition of the difference between decentralised public broadcasting and community broadcasting.

Commercial broadcasters define themselves as profit making institutions. As a communications medium they have to show the same social and cultural responsibility that all good journalists have, and have to base their programming on service to their communities. But, when conflict arises, when they have to choose between community issues and profit, the owners of commercial stations will be inclined towards the latter.

Community broadcasters are not looking for profit but to provide a service to a particular community. Naturally, this is a service that attempts to influence public opinion, create consensus, strengthen democracy and above all, create a tangible sense of community. 

Community broadcasting is:

Available to community residents so that they can participate, express their needs and wants or discuss issues of interest to their own community, it allows people to exercise their right to communicate through non-discriminatory and participatory content.

Accessible so that all community members can easily participate and benefit from it through the utilisation of the languages of that community.

Affordable to the community it serves and is not for profit.

Acceptable to the community as a cultural medium and tool for development, it responds to the community's expressed needs and priorities and is an integral part of the community that it serves.

Accountable to the community it serves, through an ongoing process of interaction and consultation, it is about communities doing something for themselves by owning and controlling their own means of communication.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION?

€ Participation means that the community plays a fundamental role in the station.

€ Participation means that the station is owned, managed and programmed by the community it serves.

€ If there is no community involvement, then the station should not be called a community station.

€ Community participation should be an on-going interaction between the broadcast station and the community. This ensures that the station is really the voice of that community, representing and clearly putting forward the needs, wants concerns, feelings and prioritised issues of the people in the area.

€ Community participation is not only about getting community support. Often regulators require those applying for a community broadcasting license to prove that the proposed community station has the support of local residents. One way of proving that is to obtain signed petitions from residents in support of the station. A station could collect thousands of signatures and this is great but it is not enough. Stations should not assume that because they have a wide and strong support through the petitions, no further effort is needed to continue involving the people in all aspects of the station.

€ A great danger of community broadcasting is how easily staff members, volunteers, executive committees or forums can forget the fundamental importance of involving and consulting community residents in the decision making processes and the general running of the station.

€ when a community station stops being sensitive to the needs of the community it is serving, it has lost its reason for existing, it has lost its identity.

€ It is the involvement of the local residents in the decision making and the implementation of a particular project. It is also about ownership and sharing in the benefits of that project.

€ It is about identifying the Śfelt needsą and starting a project with the common purpose of addressing those needs.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION?

€ It allows for community ownership and responsibility for the project. Commitment and pride motivates involvement and sustainability of the project, even when resources are scarce.

€ It helps to develop self-reliance and frees people from dependency. It is an empowering experience.

€ It allows a unique understanding of the real community needs and priorities taking into account language, tradition, culture and beliefs.

€ It helps further development in the community if the project succeeds. It is an example of how community members can get together in an ongoing way to address their own needs.

TO EXPLORE WHETHER A COMMUNITY STATION IS ALLOWING COMMUNITY RESIDENTS TO GET INVOLVED, TRY ASKING THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

- When did the last community general meeting or forum take place at the station?
- Did you have an Annual General Meeting last year?
- Is your management team or board representative of the community?
- How have they been elected and for what period?
- What mechanisms do you have in place to ensure access of community members to programs?
- Do community residents have a say in what type of programs go on air?
- Does the station change and adapt its programs according to feedback from the listeners?
- Do you have a constitution?
- When was the last time you looked at the constitution? Does it mention ways in which the community can participate?
- Does the station cater for all residents according to age, gender, orientation, needs, interests?
- In what language are you broadcasting? What are the languages spoken in the community?
- Do you cover local events?
- How much airtime is used for musical programming?
- How many women are involved in broadcasting and management at the station?
- Do you have childrenąs programs?
- Do different religious groups and political groups have equal access to airtime?

There are no set formulas for achieving community participation. There are different ways, processes and time frames. Each community is unique and should develop their own ways of doing things.

The important thing is to have a broadcast station that is owned, managed and programmed by the community it serves. This is not an easy task to achieve. There are always challenges, conflicts and obstacles to be conquered. Nonetheless, if we want to call our broadcast station a Ścommunity stationą we need to rise to the challenge.

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE

€ Grassroots participatory groups must be given the opportunity to learn from their own experiences with broadcasting. Hence, the community station will develop, and the confidence of the broadcasters will be enhanced. In this process everybody gets a chance to gain experience.

€ If it is feasible the training of members of the broadcasting station should be organised in the participatory group itself. This facilitates the participation of women who usually are responsible for the management of everyday life and so are less available and cannot easily take time off to participate. By organising together these issues can be taken into account and planned around and despite patriarchal, structural and educational constraints, everyone is exposed to similar levels of knowledge and skills.

€ Participatory projects have to protect themselves against the danger that people who have had access to a better education try to occupy positions that will only cement their own privileged position.

€ Training programs in the fields of broadcast technology and journalism have to be keyed into the experiences and conditions of the community.

Financing Community Radio
Media diversity in any country is regarded as a sign of the status of its democracy. Media diversity is measured in terms of ownership and content. A diverse environment is one that fosters and supports diversity, correcting imbalances as required. 

Community media are key to creating a strong, socially responsible civil society. They must have access to sufficient financial resources whilst respecting and preserving their independence from government and commercial media corporations. Revenues raised from the sale of spectrum and cable and telecommunications licenses can be reinvested in social communications objectives, including support for community media development. And policy initiatives that support and promote community media at regional, national, and transnational levels ­ such as tax incentives, production funds, and legislation supporting the creation of not-for-profit organisational forms - should be devised and implemented. Communication policy development and investment in information and communication technologies must consistently include support for community-based media.

The challenge of maintaining community radio stations in southern Africa is great since they are most often established within communities that are under-developed and lack resources. Community radio stations tend to draw their revenue from a local and national advertising base, from local fundraising activity including concerts and events, from the sale of locally produced music or programs and from international aid sources. Many stations are located in areas where the sourcing of these revenue streams is difficult or impossible. These are the locations where people who have traditionally been least able to participate in decision making and who have had the least access to information live.

Since it will take a long time to correct these imbalances there is a strong argument for mechanisms that will support media diversity where it is challenged by economic inequality and historical under-development. Community media is where this need is greatest. 

 


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online
--0-1759173536-1076944811=:60109
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii

<DIV>I thought this might interest a few&nbsp; of us.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>Nnenna</DIV>
<DIV>______________________________________________________</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>PROMOTING MEDIA DIVERSITY, PLURALISM,SELF SUFFICIENCY,INDEPENDENCE<BR><FONT size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman"><BR><BR><BR></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial>The Role of Community Broadcasting<BR>
<H2><I><BR></I></H2><I>Community media has enormous potential in southern Africa. It can raise awareness on issues such as the position of women, play a part in improving literacy and education, and provide information on health, the environment, agriculture, democracy as well as on issues such as land mines and HIV/AIDS. Community broadcasting is an empowering tool for any community that is often ignored or insufficiently catered for by national and commercial radio and television services.<BR><BR>Community media provides a vital alternative to the profit-oriented agenda of corporate media. It is driven by social objectives rather than the profit motive. It empowers people rather than treats them as passive consumers, and it nurtures local knowledge rather than replacing it with standard solutions. Ownership and control of community media is rooted in, and responsible to, the communities they serve. And they are committed to human rights, social justice, the environment and
 sustainable approaches to development.<BR>Community broadcasting enhances participation in democracy, encourages free speech, promotes cultural knowledge and assists communities to work together for their own social and economic well being.<BR><BR>Community Broadcasting can include:<BR><BR></I>Community Radio;<BR>Community Television;<BR>Community Video.<BR><B><I><BR></I></B><I>We sometimes refer to this type of media as:<BR><BR></I>Democratic media;<BR>Participatory media<BR><I><BR></I><BR>Campaign to Enable Community Media in southern Africa<BR><BR>Background<BR><B><BR></B>In southern Africa broadcasting, and in particular radio, is undoubtedly the most important medium of communication, but the development of community broadcasting has been slow. As nations move towards a more independent and free media climate, space is opening up for communities to develop their own communications. Many are choosing to embark on community radio projects.<BR><BR>One of the greatest achievements
 of community media internationally has been to make communication media accessible to ordinary people. It promotes the concept that anyone is capable of producing a program. You donąt need to be an expert &shy; just to have the will and the commitment. You donąt have to be literate to listen to a message or to broadcast. Many stations around the world have illiterate people as broadcasters.<BR><BR>The essential question for a community radio station is not technology but rather how the community will control the medium technically, culturally and politically. The establishment of a community radio station in a town or a village requires some community structure. Otherwise the result can be a broadcast project imposed from above or externally. In some cases, such as a refugee camp where people need information but may be traumatised and otherwise not able to organise a radio station, such an intervention can prove valuable if it provides high quality information and achieves close
 links to the people &shy; but that is not the approach advocated for more established communities. <BR><BR>Because communication is a basic right and necessary for social and economic development, community media can make a strategic contribution to local development. A sustainable approach requires firm foundations, rooted in community ownership and control, realised through participation. <BR><BR>As real participation is hard to achieve and income generation always difficult, community involvement and participation can be compromised. Stations should be aware of the danger and regularly look at themselves to see whether the station is really serving the community.<BR><BR><B>A voice for civil society<BR></B>The information society promises much - access to vital knowledge for health and education, better information from governments and corporations, electronic democracy, global trade and exchange, up to the minute news. But the world's poorest communities face the twin dangers of
 being left out of this new economy and becoming a cultural dumping ground for mass market products made by and for the richest economies.<BR><BR>Community media helps to balance these inequities. It provides the means for cultural expression, community discussion, and debate. It supplies news and information and facilitates political engagement. Radio is the most widespread electronic communications device in the world and community radio is a practical and cost-effective means of reaching and connecting the world's poorest communities. Independent and community publications provide news and views that are often framed out of the corporate media. And in the field of community life, web-based media is seen as a way to help communities achieve social, economic, cultural and political goals. <BR><BR>Community media in practice, globally &shy; the big picture<BR>Community media is integrated with practices of community life. It is a concrete means for public participation and for
 defending cultural diversity. Content includes political and economic news that facilitates community dialogue and involvement, community and personal messages (marriages, union-meetings, lost donkeys), musical greetings, educational programs for development (health, environment, gender), information programs, and culturally relevant entertainment. <BR>A growing trend is the formation of regional, national, and trans-national networks that support local communications initiatives and facilitates participation at all levels of community. For instance:<BR><BR></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT face=Symbol>…</FONT><FONT face=Arial> </FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial>The National Community Radio Forum of South Africa is pioneering the use of Internet and satellite distribution for exchange of social action programming and news among its 100 community radio station members in South Africa.<BR><BR></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT face=Symbol>…</FONT><FONT face=Arial> </FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial>In North
 America, Deep Dish Television is a network that provides programming to 200 to 300 public, educational and municipal television channels. The programmes are produced by different communities using satellite television as a means of distribution. <BR><BR></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT face=Symbol>…</FONT><FONT face=Arial> </FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial>The Latin American Indigenous Broadcast Network ŚRed Quiechua Satelitalą combines e-mail, audio by internet and satellite transmission, to daily connect 28 Quechua and Quichua radios and their audiences with news-bulletins and radio magazines. These community media contribute to the cultural and political awareness of the twelve million discriminated and mostly poor Quechuas and Quichuas in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. <BR><BR></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT face=Symbol>…</FONT><FONT face=Arial> </FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial>101.7 MAMA FM: is a community radio station set up by the Uganda Media Women's Association (UMWA). The first womenąs radio
 station in Africa, it targets women between the age of 15-45 with gender sensitive educational programmes, and offers training and practical experience for female journalists.<BR><BR></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT face=Symbol>…</FONT><FONT face=Arial> </FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial>In southern Africa MISAnet, a member based group of independent newspapers in the region exchanges news from the region, facilitating greater regional co-operation and understanding.<BR><BR></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT face=Symbol>…</FONT><FONT face=Arial> </FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial>Around the world a growing number of Independent Media Centres are struggling to create an interactive, web-based platform for reporting and sharing information on social issues and social movements. <BR><BR>Building community media nationally<BR>Building community media requires an approach based on the empowerment of peoples and communities &shy; not private investors. Nation states and institutions have to guarantee access for
 production, distribution and consumption to all groups in society, and legislative reforms that assure effective access and support policies for community media must be implemented in a diverse media environment. In part, this requires strengthening rights to freedom of information and freedom of expression. Similarly, copyright and intellectual property right regulations must allow for the free circulation of information that may impact upon health and well being. <BR><BR>Greater awareness of the development potential of community broadcasting, and particularly community radio, is needed among governments, intergovernmental agencies, non-government organisations and the private sector. Community media projects require assistance to adapt to new digital production technologies and to increase their access to the internet. Strategic links need to be made between community radio and telecentre development, and opportunities to cluster broadcast, print, and web-based community media
 resources must be developed and promoted.<BR><BR>In particular, the development of community radio and the future of community television will depend on access to significant technical resources. Affordable access to frequencies, channels and bandwidth and the adoption of appropriate technical standards is imperative. Governments and intergovernmental bodies, including the International Telecommunications Union, need to ensure spectrum allocation and technical standards provide for community media development. Private media and telecommunications providers must be required to offer free or low cost channel space and bandwidth for community media content. <BR><BR>MAIN ISSUES<BR><BR>WHAT IS COMMUNITY OR PARTICIPATORY BROADCASTING?<BR><BR>Most community stations worldwide agree that a community station is one that is owned, managed and programmed by the people it serves. It is non-profit making and persues a social development agenda. It is responsive to the communityąs expressed needs
 and priorities and is accountable to community structures.<BR><BR>There must be a clear recognition of the difference between decentralised public broadcasting and community broadcasting.<BR><BR>Commercial broadcasters define themselves as profit making institutions. As a communications medium they have to show the same social and cultural responsibility that all good journalists have, and have to base their programming on service to their communities. But, when conflict arises, when they have to choose between community issues and profit, the owners of commercial stations will be inclined towards the latter.<BR><BR>Community broadcasters are not looking for profit but to provide a service to a particular community. Naturally, this is a service that attempts to influence public opinion, create consensus, strengthen democracy and above all, create a tangible sense of community. <BR><BR>Community broadcasting is:<BR><BR><B>Available</B> to community residents so that they can
 participate, express their needs and wants or discuss issues of interest to their own community, it allows people to exercise their right to communicate through non-discriminatory and participatory content.<BR><BR><B>Accessible</B> so that <U>al</U>l community members can easily participate and benefit from it through the utilisation of the languages of that community.<BR><BR><B>Affordable</B> to the community it serves and is not for profit.<BR><BR><B>Acceptable</B> to the community as a cultural medium and tool for development, it responds to the community's expressed needs and priorities and is an integral part of the community that it serves.<BR><BR><B>Accountable</B> to the community it serves, through an ongoing process of interaction and consultation, it is about communities doing something for themselves by owning and controlling their own means of communication.<BR><BR>WHAT IS COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION?<BR><BR>€ Participation means that the community plays a fundamental role
 in the station.<BR><BR>€ Participation means that the station is owned, managed and programmed by the community it serves.<BR><BR>€ If there is no community involvement, then the station should not be called a community station.<BR><BR>€ Community participation should be an on-going interaction between the broadcast station and the community. This ensures that the station is really the voice of that community, representing and clearly putting forward the needs, wants concerns, feelings and prioritised issues of the people in the area.<BR><BR>€ Community participation is not only about getting community support. Often regulators require those applying for a community broadcasting license to prove that the proposed community station has the support of local residents. One way of proving that is to obtain signed petitions from residents in support of the station. A station could collect thousands of signatures and this is great but it is not enough. Stations should not assume that
 because they have a wide and strong support through the petitions, no further effort is needed to continue involving the people in all aspects of the station.<BR><BR>€ A great danger of community broadcasting is how easily staff members, volunteers, executive committees or forums can forget the fundamental importance of involving and consulting community residents in the decision making processes and the general running of the station.<BR><BR>€ when a community station stops being sensitive to the needs of the community it is serving, it has lost its reason for existing, it has lost its identity.<BR><BR>€ It is the involvement of the local residents in the decision making and the implementation of a particular project. It is also about ownership and sharing in the benefits of that project.<BR><BR>€ It is about identifying the Śfelt needsą and starting a project with the common purpose of addressing those needs.<BR><BR>WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION?<BR><BR>€ It
 allows for community ownership and responsibility for the project. Commitment and pride motivates involvement and sustainability of the project, even when resources are scarce.<BR><BR>€ It helps to develop self-reliance and frees people from dependency. It is an empowering experience.<BR><BR>€ It allows a unique understanding of the real community needs and priorities taking into account language, tradition, culture and beliefs.<BR><BR>€ It helps further development in the community if the project succeeds. It is an example of how community members can get together in an ongoing way to address their own needs.<BR><BR>TO EXPLORE WHETHER A COMMUNITY STATION IS ALLOWING COMMUNITY RESIDENTS TO GET INVOLVED, TRY ASKING THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:<BR><BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> When did the last community general meeting or forum take place at the station?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> Did you have an Annual General
 Meeting last year?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> Is your management team or board representative of the community?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> How have they been elected and for what period?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> What mechanisms do you have in place to ensure access of community members to programs?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> Do community residents have a say in what type of programs go on air?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> Does the station change and adapt its programs according to feedback from the listeners?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> Do you have a constitution?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> When was the last time you looked at the constitution? Does it mention ways in which the community can participate?<BR></FONT><FONT
 face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> Does the station cater for all residents according to age, gender, orientation, needs, interests?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> In what language are you broadcasting? What are the languages spoken in the community?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> Do you cover local events?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> How much airtime is used for musical programming?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> How many women are involved in broadcasting and management at the station?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> Do you have childrenąs programs?<BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">-</FONT><FONT face=Arial> Do different religious groups and political groups have equal access to airtime?<BR><BR>There are no set formulas for achieving community participation. There are different ways, processes
 and time frames. Each community is unique and should develop their own ways of doing things.<BR><BR>The important thing is to have a broadcast station that is owned, managed and programmed by the community it serves. This is not an easy task to achieve. There are always challenges, conflicts and obstacles to be conquered. Nonetheless, if we want to call our broadcast station a Ścommunity stationą we need to rise to the challenge.<BR><BR>TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE<BR><BR>€ Grassroots participatory groups must be given the opportunity to learn from their own experiences with broadcasting. Hence, the community station will develop, and the confidence of the broadcasters will be enhanced. In this process everybody gets a chance to gain experience.<BR><BR>€ If it is feasible the training of members of the broadcasting station should be organised in the participatory group itself. This facilitates the participation of women who usually are responsible for the management of everyday life and
 so are less available and cannot easily take time off to participate. By organising together these issues can be taken into account and planned around and despite patriarchal, structural and educational constraints, everyone is exposed to similar levels of knowledge and skills.<BR><BR>€ Participatory projects have to protect themselves against the danger that people who have had access to a better education try to occupy positions that will only cement their own privileged position.<BR><BR>€ Training programs in the fields of broadcast technology and journalism have to be keyed into the experiences and conditions of the community.<BR><BR><B>Financing Community Radio<BR></B>Media diversity in any country is regarded as a sign of the status of its democracy. Media diversity is measured in terms of ownership and content. A diverse environment is one that fosters and supports diversity, correcting imbalances as required. <BR><BR>Community media are key to creating a strong, socially
 responsible civil society. They must have access to sufficient financial resources whilst respecting and preserving their independence from government and commercial media corporations. Revenues raised from the sale of spectrum and cable and telecommunications licenses can be reinvested in social communications objectives, including support for community media development. And policy initiatives that support and promote community media at regional, national, and transnational levels &shy; such as tax incentives, production funds, and legislation supporting the creation of not-for-profit organisational forms - should be devised and implemented. Communication policy development and investment in information and communication technologies must consistently include support for community-based media.<BR><BR>The challenge of maintaining community radio stations in southern Africa is great since they are most often established within communities that are under-developed and lack resources.
 Community radio stations tend to draw their revenue from a local and national advertising base, from local fundraising activity including concerts and events, from the sale of locally produced music or programs and from international aid sources. Many stations are located in areas where the sourcing of these revenue streams is difficult or impossible. These are the locations where people who have traditionally been least able to participate in decision making and who have had the least access to information live.<BR><BR>Since it will take a long time to correct these imbalances there is a strong argument for mechanisms that will support media diversity where it is challenged by economic inequality and historical under-development. Community media is where this need is greatest.&nbsp;<BR><BR></FONT> </DIV><p><hr SIZE=1>
Do you Yahoo!?<br>
Yahoo! Finance: <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=22055/*http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html">Get your refund fast by filing online</a>
--0-1759173536-1076944811=:60109--