edition-dw-akademie-in-the-service-of-the-public-functions-and-transformation-of-media-in-developing-countries-pdf

In contrast, the second sector, commercial radio, has playeda dominant role in the development of the radio and TV, asMerayo points out: “Latin American commercial radio wasthe origin and engine of radio on the continent, as had happenedin the U.S. and in opposition to the European model.” 27However, this initial positioning of commercial media as aninnovation factor later turned out to be a disadvantage for themedia landscape: During the 1980s, governments radically reducedthe participation of the state in public policies relatedto communication and the private media sector began to havean overwhelming prevalence. Today, big media enterprises likeGrupo Clarín in Argentina, like Televisa in Mexico, Globo inBrasil or Cisneros in Venezuela dominate the television market(cable or satellite TV). They have a strong affinity with conservativeelites and multinational corporations that hold commercialinterests in the region, there are even transnationalarrangements and commercial products like the soap operasthat are broadcast simultaneously in most Latin Americancountries. Most analysts make a rather negative assessment ofthis process of media privatization:“Today, in the territory that extends from Mexico to Tierradel Fuego, the turnover linked to the information businesscomes close to forty billion dollars a year. This impressive figure,however, has not translated into growth for the region noran opportunity to achieve independent, participatory, autonomousand high-quality communication.” 28Thus, the monopolistic and privileged position of the secondmedia sector is now increasingly part of a strong publicdebate on the role of the media and on the necessity of legalreforms. The abovementioned New Leftist governments inArgentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuelahave a tense relationship with media groups, for instance,Argentina's president Cristina Fernández with the powerful“Clarín” corporation. Frequently, these governments tendto centralize and control state power over media, whetherthrough the expansion of state broadcasting, the participationin private media enterprises or the restriction of press freedombased on laws and regulations. 29The third sector is community broadcasting, which can becharacterized as an independent, civil-society-based non-profitbroadcasting sector. 30 There are approximately 15,000 communityradio stations in the region, from a total of 25,000 registeredoutlets. In Brazil alone, there are 6,000 community radiostations. AMARC (World Association of Community RadioBroadcasters), the leading umbrella organization of communityradio broadcasters worldwide, counts 1,500 members inLatin America. For decades, these stations were considered “pirate”or informal initiatives; the private sector engaged activelyin lobbying against this “unfair competition” and the stateslimited or even prohibited the allocation of frequencies. 31Research on community radio in Latin America is still inits infancy. There are only estimates of the number of communityradio stations in existence and of the recent developmentof this sector; few case studies demonstrate their impactempirically. 32 ALER (Latin American Association of Radio Education)published a study in 2001 on the development and roleof “popular” radio in the region. 33 One of the first volumes thataddresses the radio landscape of the region as a whole (ratherthan just community radio), was edited by the Spanish communicationscientist Arturo Merayo. 34Brief History of Community Radio 35The first modern community radio stations worldwideemerged in Latin America, namely when Bolivian unionistsstarted to establish local radio in tin-mining communities inthe 1940s. The local mining company in the small town Cataviin the Andean region used to inform the workers abouttheir daily duties and activities through public loudspeakersinstalled in a public square. Inspired by this communicationsystem, the mining workers decided to install their own transmittersin 1947. Initially, they founded Radio La Voz del Minero(Radio Voice of the Mineworker) and Radio Sucre.At almost the same time, the catholic priest José JoaquínSalcedo Guarín began to use radio as a means of deliveringeducation to the indigenous peoples, as he found that the majorityof the population was illiterate. Additionally they hadvery strong oral traditions and access to their communitieswas difficult. As Reyer Fernández explains, these educationalprograms were based on local knowledge: “Salcedo developeda methodology with members of the community of Sutatenzato produce radio content based on their own experiences inagriculture, health, education or cultural expression.” 36 Thiseducational approach adopted by Radio Sutatenza, enrichedwith elements of the participative pedagogy of Paulo Freire,was later taken as a model for many other community radiostations in the region and is still valid for the case of Radio PioXII described below.The mining radio stations in Bolivia were self-governedand financed by the contributions of each worker. Many otheroutlets emerged following the example of La Voz del Minero.By 1954, 24 stations had already sprung up, forming a powerfulnetwork, as Reyero Fernández explains: “In the 1950s thesestations played a relevant role in the Bolivian revolution andcontributed to the recognition of universal suffrage, the rightsof indigenous peoples and land reform.” 37 In 1979, this networkof local radio stations resisted the media censorship imposedby a military junta and broadcast for a period of 16 days as theonly independent news and information source. The networkwas called “Channel for Democracy” and contributed to thefall of the dictatorship. These broadcasters opened up theirmicrophones to the people in the streets, in the markets andin the mines and they are considered by many analysts to bethe forerunners of participatory communication. 38The mining companies were privatized in the 1980s andthe trade unions forced to disband. Only few radio stationswere left. In the 1980s, local community radio made a substantialcontribution to the process of democratization, accordingto María Pía Matta, President of AMARC: “In the time of post-234