"Gemessen an seiner Einwohnerzahl hat Australien den größten Community Radio-Sektor weltweit. Seit der Verabschiedung des Broadcasting and Services Act im Jahr 1992 und der damit verbundenen Vereinfachung der Lizenzvergabe für Community Radios steigt die Zahl von Community Radios kontinuierlich a
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n. Von dieser Entwicklung ausgehend untersucht die vorliegende Arbeit die damit zusammenhängenden Auswirkungen auf die selbstdefinierten Ansprüche des Mediums Community Radio anhand von drei Fallbeispielsendern in Sydney. Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit steht die Untersuchung der Umsetzung der zwei wesentlichen an die Medienform Community Radio gerichteten Ansprüche: interessierten Bürgern einen offenen Zugang zum und umfassende Partizipationsmöglichkeiten am Medium Community Radio zu bieten. Daraus wurde die grundlegende Frage für diese Arbeit abgeleitet: in welcher Art und Weise wird der theoretische Anspruch eines offenen Zugangs und einer realen Partizipation von den drei Fallbeispielsendern in der Realität verwirklicht? [...] Nachdem im deskriptiven Schritt der Untersuchung die drei Fallbeispielsender anhand gleicher Kriterien beschrieben wurden, ist vor dem Hintergrund der herausgearbeiteten Eigenschaften der theoretische Anspruch nach offenem Zugang und umfassender Partizipation analytisch untersucht worden. Diese Untersuchung lässt folgendes Fazit zu: die wachsende Konkurrenzsituation durch die Zulassung eines weiteren Community Radios (FBI Radio) führt in Teilen von Sydneys zu einem erhöhten Wettbewerb. Folge ist eine zunehmende Professionalisierung, womit zwangsläufig Selektionskriterien und Beschränkungen in den Bereichen Zugang und Partizipation einhergingen. Für interessierte Bürger in Sydney, die an einer Mitarbeit am Medium Community Radio interessiert sind, haben sich die Möglichkeiten einer Mitarbeit damit nicht verbessert, sondern verschlechtert. Zugang und Partizipation ist nur noch in einem Rahmen möglich, der den theoretischen Vorstellungen an das Medium Community Radio widerspricht, wie beispielhaft anhand der beiden Radiostationen Radio 2ser und FBI Radio verdeutlicht wurde. Daraus ergibt sich eine Diskrepanz zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit. Die Radioschaffenden bei den drei untersuchten Community Radios müssen einen Balanceakt zwischen den Vorschriften der zuständigen Behörden (ACMA, CBF und CBAA), dem eigenen Anspruch und der Wirtschaftlichkeit ihres Radios bewältigen, der aber in zunehmendem Maße nicht mehr gelingt. Die Grenzen zwischen Community Radios – als not- for profit Organisationen – und kommerziellen Radios verschwimmen zusehends. Community Radios, die auf Kosten der Professionalität an den Ansprüchen des Mediums nach freiem Zugang und Partizipation festhalten, stehen vor immensen finanziellen Problemen, da sie nur wenig Sponsoren an sich binden können und staatliche Finanzierungshilfen weiter gekürzt werden. Im Falle von Koori Radio konnte gezeigt werden, dass dies einen geregelten Tagesablauf und eine zukunftsfähige Planung kaum zulässt. Wie dieser problematischen Entwicklung entgegengewirkt werden kann, ist nicht klar. Die Regierung hat sich bisherigen Anfragen nach einer Erhöhung der staatlichen Unterstützung für den Hörfunktyp Community Radio verweigert. Auch die Idee der Erhebung einer Sonderbesteuerung für kommerzielle Radios, um damit Community Radios zu unterstützen, hatte bislang keinen Erfolg." (Zusammenfassung, Seite 110-111)
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"The purpose of the study is to determine the challenges and prospects of community radio in Ethiopia, taking Harar Community Radio (HCR) as a case study. This radio station is selected because it has already stopped broadcasting a few months ago. For the effectiveness of the research, efforts have
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been made to study the overall operational activities of Harar Community Radio and the attitudes of its audience toward the managing, financing and production processes. The researcher acquired the necessary data and information by employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, including document inspection. Taking sample survey as the main means of acquiring data, focus group discussion and in-depth interviews have been used to complement the study. In addition, different books and documents were revised to give depth to the research outcome. The researcher has also examined the theories of participatory communication and Jankowski’s community media research agenda to specify the research objectives and questions. The outcome of the study has pointed out that Harar Community Radio lacked many qualities of a community radio station. As the findings clearly identify, it is not possible to take HCR as a well organized community radio station. On the other hand, however, the radio station still has the support and trust of its audience." (Abstract)
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"From all that has come before it should be all too clear that starting up and developing a small independent community newspaper takes considerable tenacity. There is a general perception in this sector that the value of these publications often goes unacknowledged. Shirley Govender of the Southern
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and Soweto News summarises how many of independents in this research appear to feel: “No one takes you seriously as an independent publisher…[we] feel that disadvantage is running through our veins.” In every single newspaper’s case study at least one person says they are in the industry for the love of it. Most are stoic regarding challenges they face. Some are more independent than others. Many form good and often interesting symbiotic partnerships to share resources and people-power. Some report on contentious issues, most do not. The majority use their newspapers in ways that work towards building a better life for themselves and the communities they serve. But few have the time and know-how to access and engage with media development agencies. And fewer still have the time and expertise to represent the voice of small community publications in the battle against unfair competition, inequitable practices and marginalisation." (Conclusion, page 114)
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"Now that it's possible to publish in real time to a worldwide audience, a new breed of grassroots journalists are taking the news into their own hands. Armed with laptops, cell phones, and digital cameras, these readers-turned-reporters are transforming the news from a lecture into a conversation.
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In We the Media, nationally acclaimed newspaper columnist and blogger Dan Gillmor tells the story of this emerging phenomenon and sheds light on this deep shift in how we make--and consume--the news. Gillmor shows how anyone can produce the news, using personal blogs, Internet chat groups, email, and a host of other tools. He sends a wake-up call tonewsmakers-politicians, business executives, celebrities-and the marketers and PR flacks who promote them. He explains how to successfully play by the rules of this new era and shift from "control" to "engagement." And he makes a strong case to his fell journalists that, in the face of a plethora of Internet-fueled news vehicles, they must change or become irrelevant." (Publisher description)
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"In this book, Chris Atton offers a fresh introduction to alternative media: one which is not limited to 'radical' media, but can also account for newer cultural forms such as zines, fanzines, and personal websites. Alternative Media examines how and why people produce and use alternative media - to
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make meaning, to interpret, and to change the world in which they live; encompasses a wide range of alternative media and draws on examples from both the United States and United Kingdom; locates contemporary alternative media in their cultural, historical and political contexts." (Publisher description)
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"This paper tries to contribute to the discussion on how alternative, community media has altered the media scenery and affected socio-political life in Jordan in terms of the interplay between the civil society and public sphere. With specific reference to Radio AmmanNet, the first community radio
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in Jordan as a case study, and based on socio-political analysis this study will apply relevant social theories and explore the role of alternative and community media in transforming communication in media outlets from that of transmitter-receptor (one to masses) into an interactive transmittertransmitter form thereby nurturing democratic forms of communication, defending local cultural autonomy, harnessing deliberative and teledemocracy, serving as advocacy and lobbying tool promoting civil society and rebuilding a sense of community, and as a role model for regional non-democratic countries." (Abstract)
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"The focus in this article is on two different modes of 'giving a voice to the voiceless' in Southern African new democracies, namely South African community radio and its support apparatus, Democracy Radio, and the Namibian People's Parliament. South African community radio operates within a sphere
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of its own, it is supposed to be closely linked to the grassroots, while the Namibian contact programmes fall under the auspices of the Namibian Broadcasting Company. There are differences in administrative form, but both models have come up against very similar problems in the design of the content. It is easy to talk about community and grassroots orientation, but to implement such policies is difficult, especially when the basic task is to promote democracy and citizenship." (Abstract)
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"Participatory research design appears as an attractive option in the study of community media organisations. It puts the generation of the research question, the design of data collection methods, and the analysis of the results in the hands of the researched. This approach can demystify the resear
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ch process and can be an empowering experience. But, as I found out with my doctoral research, the researcher needs to carefully assess an organisation’s capacity to undertake do-it-yourself research, because, when things go wrong, this approach can also reveal conflicts within an organisation, as well as give rise to tension resulting from the divergent needs of the researcher and those of the researched. This paper describes the troubles that arose during fieldwork conducted at a community radio station, how these unexpected events forced a reformulation of the research question, and how this eventually led to an improved theoretical insight." (Abstract)
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"In den wenigen Forschungsberichten, die bislang verfügbar sind, ist so gut wie nichts nachzulesen über die Hintergründe und die Motive der Nutzer, die in den Offenen Kanälen ihr Programm gestalten. Noch weniger ist zu erfahren über das, was diese aktiven Nutzer bei der Fernseharbeit lernen kö
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nnen. Auch ihre Veröffentlichungsinteressen blieben bislang unbekannt, und der Ertrag für sie selbst aus dieser zeitintensiven und ehrenamtlich erbrachten Arbeit spielte – wenn überhaupt – eine ganz nebensächliche Rolle. In diesem Buch steht dieser Ertrag im Zentrum. Sein Spektrum ist weit: Von Bildungszugewinn in den Bereichen der Medienkompetenz, der sozialen Kompetenz, der Entscheidungskompetenz über Bewusstseinsstärkung und Erwachsenwerden bis hin zu praktischer Lebenshilfe und Familienersatz." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Only a handful of the estimated 150 FM radio stations in Mali could properly be called ‘community’ stations, with administrative structures to ensure representative listener participation in decision-making. However, due to regulations and scarce funding sources, virtually all stations depend o
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n their audiences for direct financial support in return for mediated listener-to-listener communications. This article, based on over a year and a half of fieldwork in the southern Malian city of Koutiala, outlines the system of social and technical interdependence that links stations and their listeners in Mali. FM radio depends fundamentally on systems of transportation, and, to a lesser degree, other communication technologies like telephones. Social interdependence is emphasized in the speech of announcers, through an insistence on Islam as a common religion and fictive joking relationships. Referencing the operational structures of the stations in the city, including one community station, I show that a socio-technical system has developed in which local FM blurs standard understandings of ‘community’ media." (Abstract)
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