Document details

Broadcasting in UN Blue: The Unexamined Past and Uncertain Future of Peacekeeping Radio

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2010), 73 pp.
"For almost twenty years, United Nations peacekeeping missions have set up local radio stations in conflict-prone countries - 14 to date, seven of which remain in operation. According to this report, some of the fourteen peacekeeping radio stations implemented by the United Nations contributed more to democratisation and media development in certain post-conflict countries than any other media assistance programmes. Surveys have confirmed their popularity and credibility with national audiences, and local journalists have lauded their contributions to media diversity and journalism standards. Nevertheless, Bill Orme states that the UN radios were created without long-term planning. Upon disappearance of UN peacekeeping missions the stations were simply closed, therefore losing their positive effects on democratisation and plurality. Only in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Radio Okapi) were there serious attempts to continue the stations after the exit of the UN missions. Based on detailed description and analysis of the different experiences, Orme formulates a number of policy steps that would help UN radios to become lasting contributions to press freedom and peacekeeping." (CAMECO Update 2-2010)
Overview, 11
Radio: Why It Matters, 22
Peacekeeping’s Paymaster: The U.S. Stake In UN Radio, 24
Perceptions From UN Headquarters: Radio Barely Audible, Fiscally Invisible, 27
Creating Guidelines for Public Information Radio, 28
Radio Entrance and Exit Strategies: The Public Option, 31
Radio Openings and Closings: Specific Cases, 35
Angola, 35
Sudan,. 37
Cambodia, 38
East Timor, 39
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, 42
Sierra Leone, 50
Recommendations, 62
Appendix: Mobilizing Mobile Phones - Alternatives for Peacekeeping Media, 64