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Seventh
World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters
Milan, 23-29 August 1998 Main | Activities | Local information | Register now! | Virtual Forum | Other links Septième
Assemblée mondiale des radiodiffuseurs communautaires
Séptima
Asamblea Mundial de Radios Comunitarias
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amarc-3
My name is John Barker and I am the Coordinator of the Media Institute of Southern Africa broadcasting development programme. MISA is a regional NGO working in 11 countries in southern Africa to promote free, independent and pluralistic media. Here is a quick brainstorm on the questions put by Elvira. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION >>1. How can we ensure that civil society's interests are considered in the >>current technological environment? We need to define civil society, there are plenty of NGOs out there that claim to represent civil society. Most have not consulted their "constituencies" for many years or may not really be sure who their constituency are! It would be better to talk about groups representative of civil society. In democratic societies at what level do we seek this input or dialogue. If democracy begins at home or in the village, we need to develop strategies for advocacy at a local, national and international level. This requires the building of alliances and coalitions at all these levels, to make a holistic whole. In this way, it could be shown at international level, the ITU, Worldbank etc. that the strand of representation connects all the way down to the urban and rural poor. At the same time the advocacy will be coming from the bottom, influencing local and national structure to adopt policy. >>2. How can cultural and social issues gain a more prominent place in the >>debate over technological convergence (telecommunications, computing, >>broadcasting)? This debate will come when we bring together legitimate representatives of civil society. Often absent when government officials and commercial interests meet together. Many conferences and meetings around convergence happen at this latter level. If civil society representatives manage to gain access to these forums, they are often ignored or side tracked by more experienced politicians and PR men. A strategy to overcome this problem could consist of, prominent, alternative fringe forums to the official ones and better interaction and input into existing forums. To do this successfully requires good planning and specialised expertise in many areas, such as organisation, media advocacy, public relations etc. We need to build capacity, at a local and international level, in these skills. Some environmental and alternative economic development campaigns are already developing these skills. They could prove to be important coalition partners. >>3. The development of new digital broadcast systems is leading to >>re-planning existing frequency allocation and new approaches to regulation >>- how can we ensure community broadcasters have a say in the changes? In Africa most frequency plans are considered state security secrets. The movement towards independent regulation has not changed this. These new regulators do not understand the policy issues surrounding regulation. Not only for spectrum planning, but also local content provisions, sustainable licensing systems, regulation of satellite broadcasting and even the difference between public, commercial and community broadcasting. They are easily confused and influenced by technicians or representatives of political and business interests. We should consider organising colloquiums - in partnership with other institutions and the regulators themselves - on the policy issues of regulation. >>4. Specifically, when regulating the media environment, how can we ensure >>that a space is reserved for communication services run by and for >>citizens, communities and social organizations, and not solely based on the >>interests of government and industry? We are already loosing this battle in southern Africa. Governments are putting pressure on public broadcaster to commercialise. New licenses are increasingly being given to commercial operations based in capital cities. These broadcasters are then given re-broadcast licenses for any other sizable population densities. Rural people are the losers, it also makes it very difficult for local or decentralised broadcasting to establish itself, even in urban or peri-urban areas. Regulators need to be educated about the importance of a sustainable and pluralist broadcasting environment. Research must also be conducted on alternative sustainability mechanisms. Communities also need to be educated and given information about the benefits of community media and production.. >>5. And, how can we ensure universal access to new communications >>technologies to avoid the creation of a two tier system of "haves" and >>"have-nots"? (universal access - the social and economic argument and its >>implications) Do people in a rural context really want access to the Internet or even a telephone? There is no point in simply providing these services without providing the skills and promoting the desire to use them. The technology also needs to be appropriate. I have seen telecentres in South Africa, where computer access is provided to communities, who are not computer literate, with software that is in English, where English is not even spoken. We must be careful about adopting "trendy" solutions. It is not a simple question of access, but providing appropriate technology, that meets real needs, in the place where it is needed. The computers and Internet access provided in telecentre for instance may be more appropriate if placed in the school next door. >>6. How can regulation be influenced so that smaller independent and >>community broadcasters survive the clutches of larger media companies whose >>concentration of ownership increasingly threatens plurality? We need regulation covering media and cross media ownership. Broadcasting policy needs to define local and community radio and regulate on ownership and control on a local, provincial and national level. I have forwarded a section from the MISA regulation briefing that covers regulatory mechanisms as a separate message. >>7. How can community media strengthen cultural rights, in particular, for >>minorities, aliens, indigenous peoples, and migrants? (through >>legislative, administrative, and financial measures) We need to discuss the notion that community media must be representative and allow access for everyone in its geographic area regardless of ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation etc. The German open channel experiment is an interesting case study in this context. This could provide a platform for the minority group to organise amongst themselves, set their own priorities and agendas. They can then use the same platform to influence and win support of other groups in the community. Community media programme exchanges may also be effective in this regard, comparing conditions affecting similar groups in other parts of the country and/or the world. >>8. How can we ensure that the diversity of the world's cultures and >>languages are sustained? People need access and skills to produce their own programme in their own languages. Community radio stations should not stop people from making programme in a language of their choice, no matter how much it is a minority language in the community. My experience is that there is a huge demand for culturally relevant programming, even with national and regional audiences in Africa. The problem is to develop broadcasting as a "cultural" industry that can compete with the dominant "cultural" industries from other countries. It requires advocating for the political will and cross-regional cooperation. >>9. How do we ensure that the market economy is not the only model for the >>shaping the communications infrastructure; under this model people are >>defined solely as "consumers" of information, how can we ensure people are >>seen as producers and contributors? If communications is defined as a cultural product it would allow many other issues to come to the table. Big business is currently setting the agenda and to counter act this we need good information and research allowing the presentation of viable alternative scenarios and communications models. John Barker, Regional Programme Coordinator (Broadcasting) Media Institute of Southern Africa Private Bag 13386, 21 Johann Albrecht Street Windhoek, NAMIBIA Tel: +264 61 232975 Fax +264 61 248016 E-mail [email protected] ********************************** * http://www.misanet.org * ********************************** ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AMARC 7 Foro Virtual Forum Virtuel http://www.amarc.org/amarc7 to unsubscribe / pour se desabonner / para abandonar : e-mail "unsubscribe amarc-3 " to: [email protected]