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St Francis Magazine Vol 9, No 4 | August 2013 North Africans were trained in radio production, but ‘the number of people listening was still so low that it was felt it did not merit the amount of money spent. ’ 216 6. Conclusion 6.1 Indigenization The beginnings of NAM’s involvement in radio production were conceived among the western missionaries of NAM, and management of its media organization, RSB, was always fully western. The dependence of RSB on its Arabic production personnel ensured that in major managerial decisions their opinions would always be taken very seriously. Initially, NAM and RSB endeavored to have North African speakers for its programs. However, since 1966 the main speakers in the programs, who also worked fulltime in RSB, were Arabs from the Levant. These people were invited to work for RSB as it was difficult to find staff from North Africa. From a Pan-Arab viewpoint that could be called indigenization, but from the perspective of the audience in North Africa, these Arabs were not indigenous. 6.2 Contextualization NAM’s initial choice to broadcast programs in colloquial Arabic and Amazigh was a choice to speak in the languages of its audience. The later choice to broadcast in MSA was made in order to be able to speak meaningfully to all of North Africa, as NAM had missionaries in all North African countries. For radio broadcasts to North Africa, this choice of using Middle Eastern speakers using MSA created unnecessary distance with the audience. Not only did these speakers use a language that was not the mother tongue of anyone in North Africa, but they also had an accent in MSA that was not North African. The culture of these Middle Eastern speakers was Levantine and Christian, which was also an added hurdle for producing programs that were contextualized. Immediately after independence, only a small minority in North Africa could read and write, hence understand MSA. The problem RSB’s audience had with understanding MSA was clear from the fact that initially the majority of the audience was interested in doing the French, not the MSA BCCs. During the 1980s and 1990s, RSB was prepared to use brief inserts in colloquial Arabic in its programs, but MSA continued to create the framework for the programs. At the beginning of the 21 st century RSB underlined that it wanted to take the desires of the churches of North Africa seriously. That could possibly change RSB’s language policies. In its programs, RSB did not use Islamic language. That would have been unacceptable to the Levantine Christians in RSB, but it was also respectful to the Christian communities in North Africa. These converts from Islam wanted to distance themselves from the mosque, not perpetuate its forms. The content of RSB’s programs was, in general, focused on individuals and their most direct needs, without any reference to a Christian view of political matters like dictatorship or human rights. To those who were not interested in these issues, and who did not turn off their radio, these programs were obviously good, but the gospel should also address corporate evil, so this was a missed chance. Though RSB underlined that the gospel had concrete implications for the lifestyle of the audience, and the gospel was allowed to play its prophetic role in their lives, this was only adhered to in respect to the personal implications of the gospel, and not in its societal implications. That was a loss for the audience. At the same time, as the churches in North Africa avoided involvement in socio-political issues on a national scale, RSB’s approach to not speak about politics or Islam in its programs was in a sense contextual. 6.3 General AWM’s Statement of Faith, that had to be accepted by all its missionaries including the Arabs working in RSB, was rather detailed and a western expression of the evangelical faith. It did show RSB’s adherence to absolute truth as revealed in the Bible and Christ. It was commendable that the organization, at the beginning of the 21 st century, expressed its belief in the liberty of the churches of North Africa to describe their own theology as they deemed suitable for their own context. It 216 ‘Prayer’, in Vision Vol. 2 (2003), p. 4. St Francis Magazine is published by Arab Vision and Interserve 31
St Francis Magazine Vol 9, No 4 | August 2013 remains to be seen whether that meant that RSB would accept North African co-workers if they refused to sign AWM’s Statement of Faith. RSB’s policy to use its programs for creating personal relationships with people only, was a rather restricted usage of the medium. With only 90 minutes per week, it was impossible to create balanced programming, so the goal to use radio for getting contact was probably the best RSB could do in the context of its aims in North Africa. RSB’s broadcasts to North Africa have been effective in creating an interest in the gospel, and often also in encouraging people to take a decision to become a Christian. AWM, with its own missionaries ‘on the ground’, even after missionary work had become illegal, has played an important role in nurturing small groups of believers in North Africa. During the 1990s, the audience response for programs of RSB declined steeply, probably as the general interest in radio diminished due to the development of satellite television in the 1990s. AWM envisioned dramatic changes in the media landscape, and made some strategic choices to diminish its radio production and to invest in video production and satellite radio broadcasting. At the beginning of the 21 st century it seemed that RSB had not been able to decide about its new direction, though. St Francis Magazine is published by Arab Vision and Interserve 32
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