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 Mediamainstream media landscape, where state media rarely fulfilla public service function, and where the concentration of medialeads to a unified and simplified image of social reality andeven discrimination, as Becerra confirms: “The concentrationof ownership in Latin America in few groups tends to result inan editorial unification and reduces and simplifies diversity.” 84Referring to the television sector, Kitzberger maintains thateven mainstream media reinforce inequity:“By propagating the lifestyle of the upper class as desirable,television as a place of symbolic representation contributessignificantly to stabilization of the existing social divide in societies.At the same time, the rich barely experience anythingabout the living conditions of the poor on television. Theseusually appear only in the context of insecurity and crime.Thus, Latin American media today reproduce the existing socialinequality.” 85Media development organizations should seek to supportthe consolidation of the third sector and should ask how theycan contribute to a much more strategic use and developmentof the community media sector as promoters of a pluralisticpublic sphere and as supporters of social integration in highlydivided and fragmented societies.However, in spite of the fact that community radio fulfills importantpublic functions of social integration and the buildingof a public sphere, it can and should not substitute public servicemedia: “It is important to stress that community broadcasting,while it may perform certain public service broadcastingfunctions, does not replace public service broadcastingwith its broader outlook and national scope.” 86Public service media should take community broadcastingas an inspiration and example, but states must not interpretthe existence of a dynamic community radio sector as an easyway to get rid of their obligation (often constitutionally established)to guarantee the rights of access to information andpolitical education. Public service broadcasting has an entirelybroader mission than community radio, which can perfectlycomplement and reinforce the mission of community radiobut not replace it.As we have seen, the concept of public service media asfirst sector is still not widespread and often misunderstoodin the region. However, the idea should not be abandoned,as Rodrigo Villarzú, Coordinator for Latin America at DWAkademie points out: “There is now more openness for thenotion of public broadcasting and media development organizationsshould take advantage of that and promote thisdiscussion.” 87 This would imply working with those who couldlobby for public broadcasting and seek political influence, as arecent report suggests: “Too many broadcasting conferencesare aimed just at the broadcasters. The real need is to addressthose with the power to alter things. It is no use preaching justto the converted.” 88Community radio emerges prompted by the urgent needs ofdiverse local communities, unions, groups, indigenous peopleor minorities to articulate their concerns, to make their interestsvisible or to counterbalance information of the mainstreammedia. Community radio makers feel and perceivethat something is missing in the overall media landscape, thatsome groups or issues are not adequately represented andthey want to fill that gap. They fulfill public media functions,but not necessarily in a conscious way, seeking the creation ofpolitical spheres and the promotion of social integration. Forinstance, Radio Intag has a clear political position against miningprojects, and objectivity is not the main goal in this case.Thus, it seems that the communicational needs perceived byspecific communities or groups are the incentive and drivingforce that defines the roles and functions, rather than an abstractidentification with public and social functions. In thecase of Radio Pio XII, civil society organizations and religiousgroups perceived initially that the indigenous population ofthe Bolivian Highlands was disconnected and affected by extremepoverty. In reaction, Radio Pio XII tried to involve them,using their language, in local development issues. A group ofactivists and communication professionals was concernedabout violence amongst the young people in the neighborhoodand the weak sense of local belonging. As a consequence,they got together and established a radio station to helpstrengthen the local identity of young people (Vokaribe). Journalistsand social leaders in the Intag region were concernedabout the misinformation on the impact of extractive industries.So they founded a radio station to take up these environmentalissues and offer a critical point of view.Some community radio stations even respond to veryspecific needs: Las Voces del Secuestro, for instance, is a radiostation aimed entirely at giving out information relevant tokidnapped persons and their dependents in Colombia, andLa Colifata in Buenos Aires (Argentina) is produced by and forpatients of a mental hospital. In conclusion, based on severalinterviews and the empirical data, we can imply that these78Petra Berner, Head Research andDevelopment, DW Akademie,Germany.79There are many other documentsrelating to this issue, for instance,the study “The state of CommunityMedia in the European Union”submitted by the EuropeanParliament in September 2007.80Mónica Valdes, in charge ofcapacity development, AMARC,Bogota, Colombia.81Carlos Rivadeneyra, Coordinatorfor Latin America, AMARC,Lima, Peru.82Kivikuru 2006, 7.83Matthias Kopp, Country ManagerColombia, DW Akademie,Germany.84Becerra 2014, 64.85Kitzberger 2013, 2.86Banerjee & Seneviratne 2005, 13.87Rodrigo Villarzú,Coordinator forLatin America, DW Akademie,Germany.88Smith 2012, 40.Edition DW Akademie In the Service of the Public 243