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

support for Radio Pio XII in Bolivia included the strategic use ofan internet platform and social media but also radio broadcastingon different bands. Vocaribe in Colombia is a project whichbrings a community together with the help of the internet,radio, and sometimes live events. And the program of Serbianradio station B92 was already available on the internet as earlyas 1996, thanks to the help of a Dutch provider.Another important factor in the development of these smallmedia organizations is team building and human resources.Here media development organizations supported the communityradio stations in dealing better with the high level offluctuation among their staff by building teams that developa working culture of shared responsibility. They have establishedpractices of internal training by senior staff and routinesof quality improvement through deliberation within theteams. – And yet these efforts are often limited by high fluctuationof the staff.Equally the issue of economic sustainability of communityand private media is an area in which media development organizationshave recently tried to increase support. But in manycases this is a major challenge both for the media outlets andthe consultants. It is a complex task to professionalize a mediaoutlet that first started out as a non-professional organization.One possible path towards sustainability is the building ofcommunity radio networks, as in the case of Bolivia. Professionalexchange not only of experience but also of broadcastingcontent can help these stations to improve. The aforementionedsupport centers in the country can also be valuable,providing practical help, as well as know-how with referencematerials and consultancy. Certainly more work beyond thesepiloting projects needs to be done.Social participationIt goes without saying that social participation is the mostimportant strategic area for community media. So all thesupport given to them is there to include the people from thecommunities, local initiatives, and civil society groups, notonly as audience or interviewees but as those responsible forthe content and its broadcasting. But occasionally communitiesalso show signs of fatigue, as in the case of Radio Intag inEcuador, and become less active.The work of DW Akademie in Latin America encompassespromising cases where care was taken to first identify localinitiatives that looked auspicious, to assess their needs andthen to support them through a broad approach. In doingso, various participative mechanisms of consultation andreflection within civil society were established. Besides radiobroadcasting, webpages, Twitter, and Facebook are usedas additional channels of communication for specific partsof a community.Overall we find that more strategic and long-term commitmentsby media development actors for community mediaand private media are needed. Too often development agenciessimply perceive them as a vehicle or tool to spread theirmessages. Instead they should recognize and support thesemedia as actors in their own right.For coherent development strategies these media need tobe taken more seriously. They can close gaps in the mainstreammedia landscape, they can inform and empower localcommunities, they can help to resolve conflicts and they caneven be professionalized and deliver a number of PSM functions.But to do so, they must be helped to operate independentlyand sustainably.At the same time, community and private media should notbe expected to entirely replace PSM. Although they can andshould provide some public service functions, they cannot fulfillall the varied and yet distinctive PSM tasks. Nevertheless,development actors need to help to consolidate communityand small private media as a third, distinctive, and importantmedia sector.To do this, media development has in the past developedtechnical, journalistic, and management capacity. Changeprocesses in the organization were also supported. Innovativeways have been found to improve the quality of the products,and advance the human resources and financial sustainabilityof community media. But these results will remain limitedunless there is also advancement with respect to political andlegal frameworks. Therefore, media development actors needto further explore ways to build networks of media outlets, assembleexpertise, search for ways to work with the licensingbodies, and strengthen lobbying work. Only on the basis of fairand supportive licensing processes can community media dotheir work well and empower minorities, put their issues onthe agenda, strengthen human rights, and thus, advance societiesas a whole.RQ 5: Which approaches and methods of media developmentwere taken in our case studies?The most successful approaches in our case studies werethose with broad strategies that included activities in severalareas of the DW Akademie model (See chapter 2.4). In thecase of Mongolia, intensive work in the field of qualificationswas combined with work in the area of professionalism andeconomic sustainability of the media sector. Additionally inSerbia and Moldova, some headway in social participationwas made. The same can be said, in a general sense, aboutthe DW Akademie work with community media in Boliviaand Columbia.In all these cases the political and legal frameworks weresupportive of or at least not a hindrance to a PSM transformationprocess or, respectively the operation of community media,at the time when the media development actors came in.In Kyrgyzstan special emphasis was placed on advancingpolitical and legal frameworks. The success in this strategicarea, in particular brought about by an active civil society,made the overall progress possible. Meanwhile in Afghanistanthe intervention was halted because no progress withrespect to the regulatory frameworks could be made.286