Zambia govt says no to State funding of CR
Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Chishimba Kambwili said Government is making efforts to fund public media institutions and has a burden to come up with a policy to support community media stations. Winding up debate in Parliament, after the committee on Information and Broadcasting Services presented a report on information and broadcasting services, Mr Kambwili said community media should be driven by the community.“I can only advise the community media stations to be aggressive in securing adverts, but we do understand that in some situations, it is difficult to get adverts,” he said. Mr Kambwili said Government is doing everything possible to ensure that media houses, including community radio stations, are supported. “Let me make it very clear that it will not be possible for Government to fund community radio stations. Already we are struggling to fund our own ZNBC, Times of Zambia, Zambia Daily Mail and ZANIS, and it will be hard on public coffers to come up with support for community radio stations,” he said.
Committee chairperson Kabinga Pande said the report recommends the Government to formulate and implement a national community media policy that will recognise the unique role the sector is playing. Mr Pande said it is in this vein that the committee urges Government to expand the mandate of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) by creating a community media fund to support community stations and that Government should allocate annual grants.
Source: Zamibia Daily Mail
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Radio plays vital role in quake-ridden Nepal
The horrendous earthquakes that ripped through Nepal in April and May 2015 killed thousands of people, seriously injured many more, and flattened much of this mountainous country’s infrastructure, including its government, commercial and community radio stations. In the wake of these disasters, Nepal’s broadcasters have stood up for their people by doing whatever it takes to get their life-saving transmissions back on air.
Given the extent of the damage, the level of human tragedy that has affected all Nepalese and the country’s limited communications, electrical and emergency response capabilities, these efforts are nothing short of heroic. But Nepal’s broadcasters understand that their broadcasts are lifelines for listeners seeking life-saving assistance, information, and a sense of connection with the rest of their fellow citizens.
“After the jolt of 7.8 magnitude, during the initial and largest earthquake on April 25, most of the radio stations were damaged and some were collapsed in quake-hit districts,” said Gopal Guragain, senior journalist and CEO of Nepal’s Ujyaalo Radio Network and Ujyaalo Online. “It was important to resume their broadcasts because true information and life-saving education was the only remedy to reduce rumors and panic among the people.”
Read more at Radio World by James Careless
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Mangalore University seeks license for Radio Mangala
Mangalore University will have its own community radio — Radio Mangala, if the government approves a proposal sent by the department of journalism. Mangalore University department of journalism is gearing up to commence the FM community radio, which will be available in 15 kms radius of the university campus. The department has already submitted a proposal to the government in this regard and work will be started soon after the approval.
Journalism department chairman G P Shivaram told TOI that a proposal to commence community radio was submitted to the state government four months ago. “We have sought the government an approval to open community radio under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) project. Once the proposal is cleared, then the department will commence the preliminary work of setting up a studio and lab,” he said adding that the community radio will be accessible to people in 15 kms radius of Mangalore University.
Source: The Times of India
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Radio station to preserve Malva language
A group of professionals have decided to launch a community radio in Malavalli town of Mandya district, Karnataka to teach students English and work towards retaining the vanishing Malva language. Madhukar G Appaji, project director of Mysore Heritage Centre, will lead the team which includes Capt Preetham Madhukar of the merchant navy, MS Divyanand, an IT professional and Arpita Chandrashekar, an IIM-K graduate and Suresh, an Intech IBM alumnus.
Appaji said, “Malavalli town still has all features of a classical Old Mysore village. It has been identified as one of the most backward taluks according to the Nanjundappa committee report. We are in the process of launching a community radio station that will be linked to social media — WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter and so on. The test transmission on WhatsApp and podcasting will be launched soon.”
Source: Bangalore Mirror
