Promoting social cohesion: the role of community media - amarc

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USA, North Carolina“The Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN). In the tradition of the rural cooperatives that helped spread the reach of electricityin the 1930s, MAIN is a non-profit Internet service provider offering reliable, low-cost Internet service both in western North Carolinaand nationwide. It is a unique community network with a broad vision of its role in the community that encompasses media literacy,economic development strategies, community low-power radio, a community-based web portal, and the provision of Internetconnectivity to rural western North Carolina. MAIN is largely responsible for the remarkable expansion of Internet accessibility inwestern North Carolina, allowing thousands of people to spend their Internet access dollars with a locally controlled and accountableorganisation. MAIN demonstrates the value of the community networking concept to areas that are lagging in connectivity due tofailures of the market. MAIN has taken a leadership role in building a community media culture in Asheville that demonstrates the easewith which digital media leaps organisational boundaries. Its community network runs the Blue Ridge Web Market, which provides afree, customisable Internet presence to hundreds of small businesses throughout western North Carolina. Its Latino Digital LiteracyProject offers training to help the area’s growing Latino populations access the Internet. MAIN has been one of the key partners inbringing a cable access centre to Asheville and has been the driving force behind WPVM, WNC’s low-power FM radio stationbroadcasting local news, views, and music over-the-air in the Asheville region (and the world via webcast)”(Johnson, F. & Menichelli 2007:21).In Sri Lanka, the established communityradio and Internet project atKothmale has branched out usingSri Lanka, Korthmalethe three-wheeled motorcycle,known as tuktuk, the mostcommon form of transport on theisland. 10“Kothmale Community Radio (KCR) has devised a new innovative approach of content delivery and radio production, in line with thestation’s commitment to increasing access and participation to new and traditional ICTs and providing voice and expression to thecommunity it serves.The eTUKTUK is a self-contained mobile telecentre and radio broadcasting unit which travels into remote villages in the Kothmaleregion and provide communities the opportunity to participate in the KCR’s programming as well as have access to new digitaltechnologies and internet.The eTUKTUK contains a laptop computer, battery operated printer, camera, telephone and scanner. Internet is provided via a CDMAenabled wireless connection and electricity is provided via a generator. A roof rack allows the vehicle to carry other equipment such asthe Kothmale Community Radio Station’s mobile broadcasting unit. Narrowcasting of radio programs is done using the two loudspeakers mounted to the roof rack. This system is used to announce the telecentre’s presence when it arrives in a village or designatedlocation. The weekly route of the eTUKTUK is broadcast over the radio to inform the listeners about the location and time that it willarrive in their community.”10.See weblinks 1 and 226 Promoting social cohesion: the role of community media
5. Do third sector media contribute to socialcohesion or threaten it?The political aspect of the questionfirst has to be answered by thegovernment of a country, and thisgoes back to McQuail’s summarycited on page 9. What view is takenby the authorities of initiativeswhich, if not exactly centrifugal,represent diverse or minority opinions?India’s decision to licencethousands of community radio stationsis significant because for solong this important democracy haddecided against such a devolution ofpower. Across the world, communitymedia are widely used for theexpression of marginalised or disadvantagedgroups who define themselvesby gender, age, sexualpreference or geographical isolation,to name the most common examples,but in the contemporary Europeancontext the question is mainlyconcerned with minority ethnicgroups and this, together withbroadcasting in minority languages,will be the focus of the discussionthat follows.Within that focus, a distinctionhas to be made between (1) languagecommunities that pre-datethe nations within which they findthemselves, such as Basque, Occitan,Gaelic and Welsh, and (2) those thathave arrived in Europe as a consequenceof colonial and post-colonialconnections or as refugees from persecutionsuch as the Jewishdiaspora. One might describe theselatter groups as older minority communitiesin comparison with themore recent arrivals.In many of the western Europeancountries, the older minority communitieshave had to wait a longtime before seeing some concessionsin mainstream media that begin torepresent their views and cultures.Still less do more recent arrivals feelsatisfied:“Audience research shows thatmigrants and refugee communitiesdo not feel they are equally andfairly represented in the nationalmainstream and that they are notseen as equal citizens of the countryof settlement.”(OL/MCM 2002)Recent shifts in patterns ofmigration, and the creation of newdemocracies since the demise ofSoviet- or Yugoslav-style socialism,have meant the arrival of newminority language communities,without previous experience of thehost countries – let us categorise thisgroup as (3).Again, to focus the discussion, itis the relation of groups (2) and (3)to community media that will beaddressed here. Community mediawill be understood to include“minority ethnic media” in the thirdsector, recognising that broadcastmedia may take the form either ofslots assigned to a minority ethnicgroup within the schedule of a stationowned by a broader group – themore usual situation, or might insome cases be a station whollyowned by a minority ethnic group.Assuming that there is politicalwill to deal fairly with migrants,refugees and asylum seekers on thebasis of their human rights, thequestion is: to what extent do communitymedia assist in the dual roleof according space for the expressionof minority cultures and languages,and of assisting minority communitiesto settle in their new home? 1A handbook on InterculturalMedia Training in Europe, the outcomeof a two-year EU Socratesproject, distinguishes between“polylingualism” in communitymedia – the existence of many programmes,each of them in a differentlanguage, and “multilingualism”– the use of different languages inone programme.It is common to find, across Europe,the polylingual approach inwhich different languages are usedin separate programmes in theschedule. There is an increasing tendency,however, within the programmes,for the local majoritylanguage to be used as well. “Thesemultilingual programmes seek tomake the concerns of their languagecommunity understandable for amuch broader audience – a crucialstep in the direction of genuineexchange between majority andminorities” (Intermedia 2006:52). 21. For a discussion of “dual role” see Riggins 1992 p.4.2. In many cases of broadcasting by established minorities the broader audience is likely include not only the native speakers of the majority languagebut the younger generation of the minority group who have less proficiency in their parent’s mother tongue.5. Do third sector media contribute to social cohesion or threaten it? 27
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Page 7 and 8: Executive summary1. The report was
Page 11 and 12: 2. Academic studies, conceptual fra
Page 14 and 15: ecome a significant feature in theb
Page 17 and 18: 4. Characteristics of third sector
Page 19 and 20: C. Moderate to active CM sectorAUST
Page 21 and 22: Table 3: Some models of ownership a
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Page 33 and 34: 6. Measures to support third sector
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Page 37 and 38: Everitt, A. (2003a) New Voices: an
Page 40: Annex 1The Community Radio Charter
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Page 45 and 46: iii) Universities, deemed universit
Page 48: Directorate Generalof Human Rights

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