WHAT IS COMMUNITY RADIO - amarc

Chapter 5
Conclusions
“Communication can be about development or for development. It is generally agreed that for
communication to be for development, the means of communication should be locally owned
and community-controlled.” (Heloise Henning and Eric Louw, DBSA, Some Perspectives on
communication and development, January 1996)
Against this background it should be made clear that community radio is not about doing something
for the community but about the community doing something for itself, i.e. owning and controlling its
own means of communication.
Clearly community radio is very important in a developing context like in Africa. For development and
democracy processes to grow, communities should actively participate in communication, which will
empower them to drive and nurture these processes.
“Community Radio is the community’s ‘tree of speech’, managed by the community and
requiring its participation in order to develop. Regardless of what it is called - local radio,
native radio, popular radio, educational radio - it is a true instrument of democratisation, all
the while recognising cultural pluralism.” Eugénie Aw, Opening Speech by President, Dakar,
Senegal, January 24, 1995.
This booklet’s proposed definition of Community Radio is therefore trying to ensure that the above is
achieved. It is not about what the station is called, rather about its mission.
“The emergence of independent broadcasting is linked therefore to the people’s desire to
participate in public debate on public affairs. For example, public rural broadcasting has been
useful in disseminating social information, but has not allowed its audiences to communicate
their own social development and political-economic agendas. Community-based
broadcasting has the potential to promote African cultures and to set the national agenda by
allowing for people’s participation in public debate about public affairs.” EcoNews Africa and
ACCE, Community Media Workshop for Eastern and Southern Africa Report, Nairobi, Kenya,
November 13 - 16, 1995.
Clearly there is a need for participatory and community-based approaches to the production of
alternative media, especially given the context of economic liberalisation and ‘Structural Adjustment
Programmes’.
While Community radio is an important tool for the promotion and protection of local and national
cultures (against the dominance of multinational western music distributors and news agencies), it must
also be defined in a way that does not revive ethnic divisions. The regulators should be able to ensure a
guard against this development of ethnic-based community radio stations.
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What is Community Radio? A Resource Guide
Published by AMARC Africa and Panos Southern Africa in collaboration with IBIS/Interfund and WACC