Tag Archive for 'censorship'

SW Radio Africa uses SMS to bypass Zimbabwe censors

Published on 05 Nov. 2007 in experiences. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Zimbabwe flagIt’s not exactly a local station, but SW Radio Africa does use technology in the service of a community. Faced with one of the most repressive media environments in the world, Gerry Jackson founded SW Radio located in the UK and broadcasting on shortwave and on the internet. The shortwave signal is jammed in urban areas (thanks to Chinese technology, accrding to Jackson), but gets through to rural zones. The station sends headlines to phones in Zimbabwe using , and also streams it programming on the internet and produces podcasts.

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Community radio, new technologies and policy: enough watching, it’s time for doing

Published on 03 Nov. 2007 in opinion and policy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

by Bruce Girard

In Mali broadcasters search the internet to find answers to listeners’ questions, translate them to local languages, and encourage discussion and learning around issues of public interest. Without the internet Mali’s rural radio stations used a handful of old books and last week’s newspaper as main sources of information, but with access and training they are able to find information on the internet and help discover solutions to community problems. They are only able to do this because visionary policies and programmes enabled community radio and provided them with internet access and training.

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