Sunday, November 19, 2006
Community radio in India
Subramanian Vincent writes in India Together:
Community radio gets its day
After years of meetings, letters, discussions, workshops, petitions, and even some international pressure, New Delhi has decided to move forward and open up radio broadcasting in a way it never was until now.
The good news is that India is moving towards opening up community radio. The unfortunate part is that it’s not quite open yet.
For one, you have to be a registered non-profit. I’ve seen friends try to run community-friendly businesses registered as non-profits, only to find themselves compelled to turn for-profit to keep the business growing. The modalities of a non-profit registration are not conducive to a business that wants to generate its own revenue rather than run on charity. While the decision to limit it to non-profits is in line with policies around the world, with the community expected to finance the operation, it also hinges on what it means to be a non-profit in each of these regions.
Next, the radio has to be low power, giving it an approximate radius of five kilometres in an urban area, and broadcasting of news is not allowed. The limit on reach is understandable, for it helps reinforce the community aspect, but debarring news is not. We currently suffer from gaping holes in media reach. Television channels reach nationwide or specific linguistic regions (ie, states). Newspapers cover entire cities. But what of news only relevant to specific neighbourhoods? Where is the medium to carry such news? For connected communities, web-based media can fill the gap, but we’re a long way from significant access density.
Community radio is a viable option. That it’s opening up is great news, but it could do with being more open.
K Jayaram — Nov 21, 2006 10:15:15 PM — # ↩
foss.in
Will you be at Foss.in/2006 ?
Kiran Jonnalagadda — Nov 22, 2006 7:12:21 PM — # ↩
Jayaram, I'll be there, but not on all days.
n — Dec 16, 2006 4:04:47 PM — # ↩
news
the community radio policy does not ban local news and leaves the term open to interpretation. So as long as the station doesn't go too mainline, it can report about local powercuts, grain market prices, local elections even district and state polls, water supply timings -- stuff that is more useful that what most papers carry :). in fact, a number of the experimental community radio stations already do that.
nrambles.blogspot.com