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

Part III Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador: Three Examples From Latin American Community Mediawhich is unique in the Caribbean region and where more than100 radio broadcasters meet, swap stories, and run a live showin a local community to be transmitted by radio.In the case of Radio Intag, community involvement has diminishedand the instances of participation (like the steeringcommittee) are not very active. There seems to be a kind of“fatigue”: “People enjoy the program and are used to it. Theydon’t see the necessity to be more actively involved. Perhapsthey are not aware of the unstable situation at Radio Intag.” 72The cultural approach with focus on local identities is strong;a new program, for example, which looks at the life stories ofelderly members of the community, is in the making.Achievements and ChallengesThe Bolivian Congress is dominated by the socialist politicalmovement MAS, which is skeptical about the influence of theCatholic church. In December 2013 this Congress awarded RadioPio XII a prestigious national distinction for its defenseof democracy and human rights. The key to maintainingthe broadcaster’s significance in the region seems to be thelong-term community approach, the institutional anchoragein the Catholic radio network, the intransigent engagementwith human rights and vulnerable groups, the adaptability tonew audiences and issues, and its capacity building approachinvolving vocational and practical training for its local multilingualjournalists.Pio XII has been skillfully using and integrating the ser vicesof existing radio networks like ERBOL. Evidently, it builds oncultural potential in a socially divided region where extremepoverty predominates. Its focus on local development issuesis an adequate strategy to avoid political confrontation in ahighly polarized national context. However, there are manychallenges, mainly related to investigative journalism and theinnovation in formats and products. The mechanism of participationseems rather conventional still, and the incorporationof civil society in the programming and management process,for instance, through a steering board in the same way as otherstations, could be a worthwhile discussion. This conclusion isin line with the findings of a comparative study on participationmechanisms in community radio. Fröhlich examines theinvolvement of communities in programming, management,ownership, and funding, and concludes that “Latin Americanradio stations top participation in programming, but they arefar below average in management and ownership.” 73The Radio Vokaribe case demonstrates how to patientlybuild up an urban community station, based on an interdisciplinarycultural approach and strong local participation: “Theconvergence between neighbors, students, and artists makingradio in a very popular urban area is the particularity of Vokaribe.The mix between conventional and new radio via internet isvery promising,” says expert Ernesto Lamas, who has been givingVokaribe technical support. However, numerous challengesremain to be tackled, e.g., related to continuous programmingand financial sustainability. After all, Vokaribe will have to findits “niche” and specific audience in a landscape where manyother commercial radio stations compete for listeners.When it comes to lessons learned for media support, weshould mention two DW Akademie projects which involve PioXII and Vokaribe, as well as AMARC and the Friedrich EbertFoundation (see table 4). The DW Akademie-supported project“Ondas en Red,” which included the Pio XII network as one ofeight cooperation partners, yielded important findings froman external evaluation. 75 Based on a previous detailed needassessment, the project, under the coordination of a Germanmedia expert, focused on the improvement and quality ofdifferent journalistic formats, online journalism, and the improvementof the processes in the editorial office. 76 The supportconsisted of a mix of methodologies related to horizontallearning and professional exchange between different cooperationpartners, and included practice-orientated training,input from international experts, and personalized coachingand organizational counseling. The feedback of the journalistsand participants involved has been positive: “The project improvedthe reporters’ professionalism significantly,” acknowledgesdirector Roberto Durette. 77 As a result, Radio Pio XII hasenhanced its background reporting, developed new formatsand established a strong partnership with the radio networkERBOL. Furthermore, the editorial team transformed the webpageinto a journalistic platform and introduced the use of socialmedia like Twitter and Facebook.Vokaribe is included in a project which aims, with supportfrom DW Akademie, to strengthen four recently-founded urbancommunity radio stations and to help transform theminto economically sustainable platforms with attractive andsocially relevant programming. DW Akademie’s main contributionis in the areas of organizational development, journalisticcapacity building, advice on the design and structure ofprogramming, and consultation with international experts,e.g., on financial sustainability. The project is still ongoing: Inthe case of Vokaribe, the core team expressed satisfaction withthe “process-oriented counseling” and the practical technicalinput. They also feel that this project offers a different type ofsupport to that of previous projects, where certain goals establishedby the donor organizations had to be accomplished.In this case, the team perceives that the coaching process involvesquestioning essential elements (like visions and goals)69Barié & Legatis 2014.70Patricia Rendón, ProjectManager, Vokaribe, Colombia.71Peter Deselaers, ProjectManager, Research and Development,DW Akademie, Germany.72Andreas Postrach, Coordinator,German Association for theIntag region.73Fröhlich et al. 2012, 1.74Ernesto Lamas, Foundingmember of Radio Tribu,Buenos Aires, Argentina.75Dietz 2013.76Peter Deselaers, Project Manager,Research and Development,DW Akademie, Germany.77Roberto Durette, DirectorGeneral Radio Pio XII in Bolivia.Edition DW Akademie In the Service of the Public 241