This year’s World Radio Day celebrations focus not only on celebrating radio as a medium, but on improving international cooperation between broadcasters and encouraging major networks and community radio alike to promote access to information and freedom of expression over the airwaves.
Commenting on the day’s celebration, MISA’s Regional Director Zoé Titus, noted that despite the explosion of new information and communication technologies such as the Internet, broadcasting in its traditional form (i.e. radio and television) remains the major source of news and information for most people in the region.
“Radio notably remains a powerful means of receiving information especially in the rural areas where poverty and illiteracy mean that people cannot rely on other sources of information (such as newspapers and ICTs). Indeed, broadcasting is a powerful medium that promotes democratic expression and influences ideas”, she said.
RADIO BROADCASTING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
The biggest challenge for broadcasting reform in southern Africa is the transformation of state/national broadcasters into public broadcasters. The national broadcasters have the biggest reach in terms of technical coverage; they fill the gap left by community and commercial broadcasters and have the greatest opportunity to inform or misinform the public.
“It is therefore of utmost importance that the national broadcasters operate in the public interests, and not state interests”, Titus said.
Other challenges in the region include the enactment of broadcasting legislation which guarantees the three-tier system of broadcasting (that is, public, community and commercial), amendment of laws that are not conducive to the three-tier system of broadcasting, enactment of broadcasting policies, and the establishment of independent regulatory bodies and independent boards to govern the broadcasters.
Titus pointed out that there is a blackout on community broadcasting in some southern African countries like Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe where legislation for the granting of operating licences is lacking or is severely restrictive. In some countries like Malawi and Zambia, government places content restrictions with constant threats of closure for broadcasting ‘unacceptable’ content while exorbitant license fees are also a major concern.
The Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (2002), notes that oral traditions, which are rooted in African cultures, lend themselves particularly well to radio broadcasting. Radio therefore provides a platform where young and old may speak, exchange ideas, learn and be entertained.
And for these reasons, on this day MISA celebrates the power of radio and reaffirms its commitment to promoting broadcasting pluralism and diversity in Africa, as articulated in the African Charter on Broadcasting.
Post published in: News