Increasing community participation in radio broadcasting
Writing by kosala on Wednesday, 30 of May , 2007 at 10:53 pm
A three-day workshop on community broadcasting aimed at developing the capacities of regional and community radio broadcasters in Sri Lanka was recently held in Kothmale Community Radio (KCR).
In a media environment inundated by commercial radio, how can public and community radio broadcasting cope? How can we develop participatory and community based broadcasting methodologies that cater to the needs of our audiences? How can we consistently build and develop our technical and communication skills? These were some of the questions that producers and representatives from seven regional and community based radio services in Sri Lanka discussed and put into practice during the workshop which was organized by KCR and Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) in collaboration with UNESCO.
A series of four workshops has been scheduled through the month of May. The first, on community broadcasting, brought together fourteen participants to learn the concepts/methods of community broadcasting and to share their experiences in the broadcasting field. This process enabled participants to understand the importance of community broadcasting and adapt quality monitoring and control methods to programmes broadcast through national, regional and community radio stations in Sri Lanka. To make content effective the importance of local audience, context and needs were emphasized.
Participants were assisted and trained by the main trainers from SLBC and professionals in community broadcasting from Sri Lanka. The use of digital story telling through the mobile access models like eTUKTUK, was shared by the team of the Kothmale Community Multimedia Centre.
Pathiraja, a program producer from Rajarata Regional Service, who participated in the first workshop, says: “I have been working in the broadcasting field for many years but in the past three days I realized that there is a whole new world to be explored… and community broadcasting methodologies can be used to narrow the gap between the listener and the broadcaster.”
Sunil Wijesinghe, the workshop coordinator and the Station Controller of KCR, commented: “We are not teaching them new things, this is what they have been doing, but we are teaching them to do it effectively and to make radio programmes that can have an effect on their communities.”
A CMC combines traditional local media, like radio, TV and newspapers, with new technologies, such as computers, Internet and digital devices. It is a unique way for poor communities, often in remote rural areas, to overcome common obstacles to their full and profitable use of ICT, including the vast potential knowledge resources of the Internet and other digital media. The Kothmale CMC in Sri Lanka combines radio broadcasting with telecentre and training facilities. The CMC roughly serves a population of 200,000 people in some sixty villages. This article was contributed by Kosala Keerthiratne to the UNESCO WebWorld news service. To view the original article click here.
Category: event
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