"In 2020 Internews launched the Rooted in Trust project to counter rumors and misinformation about COVID-19. They commissioned Translators without Borders (TWB) to map community radio stations and investigate the language and translation challenges community radio broadcasters face when relaying off
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icial COVID-19 risk communication to their audience. To better understand these challenges, TWB conducted a survey and interviews with 65 community radio broadcasters, representing a quarter of all community radio stations across Afghanistan. Based on our survey, we mapped community radio stations and the reach of each radio signal to estimate overall radio coverage across the country. Where possible, we triangulated our findings with data from Internews’ Information Ecosystem Assessment in Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat. Community radio stations remain an important source of information, especially for rural populations, less literate individuals, and in remote provinces. During public health emergencies, broadcasters can turn into health communicators and support the relay of risk communication, but they face several challenges.
• Radio signals don’t cover all provinces: Based on the radio signals we were able to map, radio coverage doesn’t reach people equally across the country. Speakers of marginalized languages have especially limited access to radio broadcasts. Relative to population density, speakers of Turkmeni, Brahui, Balochi, and Uzbeki have especially limited access to radio broadcasts.
• Few broadcasts are in languages other than Dari and Pashto: Dari and Pashto are the main broadcasting languages, but not everyone understands them. Broadcasts in other languages are largely limited to adverts, short audio clips, and sporadic language mixing in talk shows and call-in shows. Dedicated programs providing in-depth information in another language are rare.
• Language barriers reduce the quality and timeliness of broadcasts: Community radio stations lack resources and translation capacity to broadcast in languages other than Dari or Pashto. As a result, some important information is delayed, and some is never broadcast at all. The quality and level of detail of broadcasts in other languages is also reduced.
• Broadcasters face difficulties accessing available information: Most community radio stations have limited access to the internet and experience electricity failures. This makes accessing and validating available information on COVID 19 extremely difficult. Also, background information is often passed to broadcasters in English, but with limited internet access this information can’t readily be translated.
• Information needs to be provided in plain language: Broadcasters don’t relay information that uses complicated language or technical and medical terms. New terms and complex new information around medical issues need to be rewritten and presented in plain language for a general audience. Yet community radio stations often can’t provide plain-language editing, so don’t relay more complex information." (Overview, page 1)
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"Las comunidades indígenas de la región amazónica peruana fueron duramente golpeadas por la pandemia de la COVID-19. Prácticamente desde sus inicios, surgieron distintas iniciativas para informar adecuadamente en las lenguas originarias a las comunidades, pero también otras que permitieran cont
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ribuir a paliar y reducir los impactos de la pandemia. En este artículo analizamos un proyecto implementado para enfrentar la pandemia de la COVID-19 así como otras emergencias sanitarias en general. Este proyecto fue diseñado en conjunto con el equipo de comunicadores indígenas de Radio Ucamara, ubicada en la ciudad de Nauta (región Loreto), en la Amazonía nororiental del Perú. El principal objetivo de este proyecto fue el de convertir a la radio en un centro o hub comunicacional que permita el flujo de información sobre la situación de salud de las comunidades indígenas a las autoridades regionales, y viceversa, de tal manera que permita una atención en salud primaria oportuna y culturalmente pertinente." (Resumen)
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"This study examined perceptions on the effectiveness, attendant challenges and remedies of community media for effective acculturation in Nigerian languages. The qualitative survey design was adopted with focus group discussions and key informant interviews of 50 purposively chosen informants. It w
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as perceived that community media could serve as veritable platform for effective acculturation in Nigerian languages since they would engender the setting of acculturation in Nigerian languages as national objective or goal. It was further held that the strengths of community media for acculturation were in being goal-defined, ensuring local content and diversification. The study identified that as palatable as the proposal for community media for effective acculturation in Nigerian languages is, it would be fraught with some set-backs or challenges that were very much surmountable. Perceptions pointed towards transient nature of community media and funding as challenges as well as multibased funding as one remedy. Immediate establishment of community media for the purpose of acculturation in Nigerian languages was recommended." (Abstract)
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"This article explores the interaction between media policy and the development of minority language media, in this case, Hakka language radio stations. It examines how media policy has been caught between neo-liberal economic development and election politics and delineates the extent to which medi
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a policy has impacted the establishment, programming and performance of minority language media, especially in the context of political democratization. This article argues that the mission to promote cultural diversity and to ‘make more voices heard’ should not fall on minority language media alone, and that the government and mainstream media ought to take the lead if this goal is to be achieved." (Abstract)
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"Radio is hailed as Africa’s medium of choice in the global communication age. Introduced as a colonial tool of information, education and entertainment in the early 1930s, radio broadcasting was mainly in colonial languages as colonial administrators perceived local language broadcasting a threat
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to their empire building and ‘civilization’ agendas. The fortunes of local language broadcasting did not dramatically change in the independence era when broadcast media were in the firm control of the state. From the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, mostly resulting from a more liberalized media environment, local language broadcasting has undergone unprecedented growth. Drawing on written archival material, including internal communication among policy-makers, audience letters, key informant interviews and findings from a recent audience study, this article charts the progressive development of local language radio broadcasting in Ghana, and engages with the role played by early audiences and broadcasters in indigenizing broadcast content." (Abstract)
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"Indigenous Peoples have been excluded from accessing media for many reasons, including their geographic location, languages, and legal barriers. Indigenous Peoples living in isolated areas have little physical access tu urban-centred media. Similarly, a lack of awareness of human rights, freedoms,
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and the right to access information on State and municipal services contributes to obstacles. Indigenous journalists work in difficult conditions in remote areas, and are often the only mediums informing their communities on rights violations and cultural, environmental, and social issues, which would otherwise be ignored by other media sources. Although all journalists face similar threats, it is often indigenous journalists and communicators who are most impacted, as in most cases they work in informal settings in rural areas that are inaccessible to the mainstream media and even to government officials. They often lack access to protection mechanisms and justice. Indigenous journalists are generally not formally recognized as journalists because they do not have formal university training or they are not affiliated with a major press or news agency. This additional safety risk often goes unreported and is overlooked by both government and international agencies. In this regard, the Indigenous Media and Communication Caucus conducted and published this study in order to better understand the status of indigenous media globally, and to bring the problems faced by indigenous communit media broadcasts to a larger audience. The aim is for this study to be the basis of international advocacy in international forums, including the United Nations. This report will also be helpful in advocating for the right to freedom of expression within legal frameworks, as well as in advocating for better laws and policies to access community or non-commercial radio frequencies." (About htis report, page 5)
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"This article analyzes the role of community radio broadcasting in promoting indigenous minority languages and cultures in selected parts of Malawi. The study collected empirical data from two community radio stations and their surrounding populations. Using the theories of ethnolinguistic vitality
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and globalization, the study reveals that recent establishment of community radio stations, centered on local community development, has created opportunity for promotion of languages and cultures, as practiced by minorities in local areas surrounding the radio stations. Thus, the use of minority languages simplifies the understanding of information and encourages the participation of speakers who might otherwise be excluded due to language difficulties." (Abstract)
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"This article refutes dominant views that define evangelical indigenous media as intrinsic tools for religious indoctrination. The case of the Colombian Misak community shows that evangelical radio stations can contribute to community building. However, the degree of the positive or negative contrib
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ution of evangelical media depends on the dominance of evangelical presence at indigenous localities. The rapid expansion of indigenized evangelical groups via the provision of social services has radicalized Evangelicals against views different from their own. As a result, these evangelical media are progressively leaving their role as promoters of positive social change to become tools for religious indoctrination." (Abstract)
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"This article explores the reception practices of multi-lingual audiences in Ghana, focusing on their views on the different norms and approaches of local language and English language radio newscasts. Using data from a convenience sample of 1000 radio listeners in five Ghanaian cosmopolitan cities
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the study finds that audiences prefer more performative modes of news delivery on their local language stations. It was also evident that radio audiences are discerning and make distinctions between what is acceptable on local language versus English language radio. These results call for a reconsideration of western-influenced standards of news delivery and the development of professional standards more accommodating of the inflections of culture." (Abstract)
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"El libro busca visibilizar la preocupante situación que atraviesan las y los comunicadores indígenas y afrodescendientes particularmente en Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua y Venezuela. En el marco de la defensa por sus der
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echos, tierras, territorios y cultura, los trabajadores se encuentran expuestos a múltiples situaciones de violencia cotidiana [...] En un primer momento, el libro analiza la forma en que los pueblos comprenden la comunicación y en especial la comunicación ancestral indígena frente a las concepciones modernas de comunicación y un sistema de medios latinoamericano cada vez más concentrado. A su vez, plantea que la comunicación todavía es un derecho emergente, en disputa y en construcción. Si bien en muchos de los países analizados el derecho a la comunicación está reconocido explícitamente en sus constituciones, todavía falta para un pleno respeto de su ejercicio. En este marco, releva y sistematiza los instrumentos legales tanto nacionales como internacionales disponibles. Por otra parte, el trabajo demuestra la falta de información sistematizada en relación al tema y plantea que la carencia de reportes panorámicos claros es parte de la discriminación y marginación de los y las comunicadores y sus pueblos. Finalmente, proporciona una serie de recomendaciones para el fortalecimiento de una comunicación democrática y plural." (Editorial)
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"Este artículo reflexiona sobre la reivindicación de una perspectiva amazónica de los Kukama Kukamiria expresada en las narraciones audiovisuales que Radio Ucamara realiza en esta región, principalmente en dos perspectivas: la temática regional e indígena como respuesta a las temáticas de los
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grandes medios nacionales, y la recuperación de la memoria y las historias de cada miembro de este pueblo indígena. A partir de una elección aleatoria, se analizaron tres videos de radio Ucamara —uno de cada categoría en la que clasificamos sus producciones—, los cuales fueron difundidos por su canal de YouTube durante el 2015 y 2016: un video musical titulado Parana (“río” en lengua Kukama Kukamiria), el video testimonial de abuelos y vecinos llamado Las Muyunas, y un reportaje realizado tras un nuevo derrame de petróleo causado por Petroperú en la comunidad nativa de Monterrico (Loreto). Los tres videos permiten notar las formas en la que las cosmologías amazónicas permiten la interacción e intercomprensión de los espacios de vida del mundo Kukama, en la medida en que los acontecimientos diarios ocurren en este mundo (por ejemplo, el derrame de petróleo) y en los otros mundos (las ciudades que existen debajo del agua, los humanos y los no-humanos, las muyunas, entre otras), con afectaciones a ambos espacios (denunciado por los jóvenes y los niños en “Parana”)." (Resumen)
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"Este número de Chasqui, Revista Latinoamericana de Comunicación, reflexiona precisamente sobre las formas de establecer una comunicación que Mauro Cerbino propone llamar “del común”, la cual se establece -más allá de la identidad y el territorio-, “con uno de sus componentes definitorio
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s a las obligaciones colectivas o de “genuina solidaridad” (Mata, 1993: 58). Lo característico del común es que estos compromisos surgen de procesos y no de certezas identitarias homogéneas” (Cerbino, 2018: 138). Así, esos vínculos redefinen amplios esfuerzos para mejorar las condiciones de vida colectiva en diversas tradiciones históricas, en especial en el abordaje de la comunicación comunitaria y la adaptación de otras entradas analíticas de acuerdo con las necesidades coyunturales y su apropiación por movimientos y sectores sociales (como: popular, alternativa, ciudadana, educativa, participativa, para el desarrollo, del tercer sector, entre otras. (Kaplún, 1983; Cerbino, 2018: 130 ss.), pero siempre con esa relacionalidad que parte de las demandas y apuestas para fortalecer una convivencia y nuevas posibilidades de transformación grupal y societal.
Dentro de este amplio espectro, la presente edición sirve como un acicate a la reflexión sobre una vertiente comunicacional entrelazada con diversas instancias de la sociedad y que apunta hacia un modo de pensar los procesos de cambio social profundo y, a la vez, democrático, de abajo hacia arriba (Kaplún, 2007). Ahora bien, los aportes abordan su génesis y acción en nuestra región dentro del trabajo conjunto con organizaciones de la sociedad civil, movimientos sociales y educomunicacionales, permitiendo irrumpir en el mensaje masivo unificador (Gumucio, 2005), y sus efectos al englobar expresiones sociales, ideológicas, políticas y culturales, desde “otras” voces (Gumucio, 2010). Vista así, la comunicación comunitaria propende a la integralidad y responsabilidad para expresar y fortalecer formas de vida en las que la razón instrumental no sea la guía dominante, sino un tipo de relación basada en una ética de fomento a interrelaciones que superen las lógicas de dominación, claramente diferenciada de la comunicación privada-comercial y aún de la pública." (Editorial, página 10)
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"This study examines news production and newsroom culture in radio stations in Ghana’s Northern Region. It explores the dynamics of news production and delivery in indigenous language newsrooms. Through in-depth interviews with eight indigenous language news presenters and journalists, the study c
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ritically explores the intricacies of news production, drawing attention to how news production is contextualized within this society. Through an oral epistemological approach, I argue that news journalists and presenters draw on orature and oral epistemologies to build their news-presenting personas and personalities in a way that positions them as frame sponsors who intentionally set the agenda for news content by unilaterally selecting specific stories to air. This study presents novel ways to conceptualize framing and agenda-setting while demonstrating the usefulness of customizing theory for specific sociocultural contexts. The study presents theoretical and practical implications to bridge the gap between theory and praxis while rethinking news production in Global South contexts such as Ghana." (Abstract)
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"[...] el principal objetivo de este cultivo y crianza de conocimientos y sabidurías es analizar los elementos de comunicación comunitaria presentes en la radio Ilumán, y la incidencia de éstas en la sostenibilidad económica, con el fin de proponer estrategias para su fortalecimiento y crecimie
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nto. Para el cumplimiento de este objetivo se identificaron los aspectos que caracterizan la comunicación comunitaria promovida por la radio y su importancia de su cobertura en el fortalecimiento de la identidad cultural de las comunidades. Asimismo, se procedió a analizar el carácter comunitario de la sostenibilidad económica hasta concluir con una propuesta de fortalecimiento de la radio. El estudio fue realizado en el año 2016, en la sede de la radio Ilumán en la Comunidad Ilumán Bajo, pe teneciente al Cantón Otavalo, así como en los lugares comunitarios y públicos de los 4 cantones de cobertura." (Página 243)
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"In this article, we posit that Maori radio as it is structured in Aotearoa/New Zealand is at the same time national, international and transnational. Based on a research project that we carried out with the radio station Tautoko FM, we show that this station caters for national Ngapuhi audiences, t
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hat it engages in international networking with other iwi-based radio stations and that it has invested in transnational connections with diasporic audiences. As a result, it has constructed a public sphere for both national and transnational indigenous audiences. This is facilitated by the changing nature of radio as a medium, which is evolving into a multimedia experience incorporating broadcasting, live streaming, websites and social media. Maori radio in Aotearoa/New Zealand is one example of a global trend in which indigenous communities have adapted new media technologies to re-centre notions of national identity. The digital media landscape allows them to form indigenous media networks, to narrate indigenous experiences in new ways and to acquire attention for indigenous struggles." (Abstract)
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"En esta investigación se analizan las potencialidades del acceso al ejercicio del derecho a la comunicación a través de radios comunitarias en América Latina por parte de mujeres afrodescendientes e indígenas, poblaciones históricamente excluidas del acceso y representación en los medios de
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comunicación de masas, y se examinan los elementos que obstaculizan y potencian el proceso de apropiación comunicativa. La investigación se construye y desarrolla a partir de dos ejes articuladores: como primer eje, se asume la construcción de la subalternidad como un producto de las relaciones de poder moderno-coloniales que es actualizada y legitimada por la representación que los medios de comunicación de masas realizan de la población subalternizada. El segundo eje aborda el reconocimiento del derecho a la comunicación en el contexto del debate latinoamericano con el que se abre una oportunidad histórica para el ejercicio del derecho a la comunicación de las poblaciones excluidas de los medios de comunicación de masas, tomando en cuenta las potencialidades de la comunicación para la transformación social. A partir de lo anterior se toma como referencia el análisis de dos experiencias comunicativas que han permitido comprender y analizar los procesos y ejercicio del derecho a la comunicación de mujeres afrodescendientes e indígenas. La primera experiencia que se toma como estudio de caso es la emisora Avanzadoras de Yoco, una radio comunitaria gestionada de manera exclusiva por mujeres afrodescendientes sin experiencia previa en comunicación, situada en el Estado Sucre, en el Nororiente de Venezuela. Como segunda experiencia comunicativa se toma como objeto de análisis el diseño, implementación y sistematización de una intervención comunicativa con mujeres indígenas sanadoras de la provincia de Chimborazo, Ecuador, dirigida al desarrollo de habilidades comunicativas que permitieran un acercamiento al ejercicio del derecho a la comunicación a través de la grabación de un programa de radio en la emisora comunitaria Escuelas Radiofónicas Populares del Ecuador (ERPE). La investigación demuestra las potencialidades del ejercicio del derecho a la comunicación para mujeres excluidas de la representación y acceso de los medios de comunicación de masas, en relación al desarrollo de un proceso de empoderamiento y de transformación social en el entorno. Sin embargo, dada la multiplicidad de situaciones discriminatorias que colaboran en la subalternización de estas poblaciones, es necesaria la concurrencia de diferentes circunstancias que permitan la superación de los obstáculos que encuentran en el acceso al disfrute general de sus derechos, incluido el derecho a la comunicación." (Resumen)
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"In Australia in the 1980s, large numbers of remote Indigenous radio stations were established due to a perception that the introduction of ‘mainstream’ satellite programming in remote areas would act as a form of cultural ‘nerve gas’ (Remedio, 2012: 295) that would threaten ‘the very isol
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ation that had helped to preserve what remained of traditional language and culture’ (Guster, 2010: 9). There are parallels here with the development of remote media in Mexico and Canada, where local radio networks focusing on cultural content production were established in response to impending development and imposed sources of mass media. In each country, broadcasters in remote communities have, in recent years, been producing increasing amounts of hyper-local cultural and language-based content. This article examines the role played by Indigenous media in remote areas of Australia, Canada and Mexico in creating an alternative cultural voice for traditional communities and maintaining language and culture." (Abstract)
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