Radio Journalism

R Chug Sir presented before us different types of definitions of community radio described by various organisations. These are:-

Radio as defined by Information & Broadcasting Ministry - Community radio means radio broadcasting with the objective of serving the cause of the community in the service area by involving members of the community in the broadcast of their programmes.

The next definition by UNESCO- community radio is a type of radio service that caters to the interest of a certain area, broadcasting content that is popular to a local audience but which may often be overruled by commercial or mass media broadcaster.

Later on he taught us the advantages of community radio, and why people should be more trustworthy toward community radio.

·         No profit organisation

·         It is for the welfare of the community

·         Participation methodology is involved

·         Voluntary service

·         It challenges the organisation which claims to be public service broadcasting

·         Community radio is development radio, rural radio, cooperative radio, hence it is also known as people’s radio.

Community radio is not a broadcast, it is narrowcast and thus, always for the people who has been never approached by any kind of medium. Hence it is also called as the third media. Keeping aside the advantages there are some disadvantages too. These are:-

·         The financial problem- not a privately owned body

·         Administrative

·         Donation

·         Electricity- as it is community based so there are many places which are barred of electricity

·         Lesser number of Professional or experts

·         Cost of Maintenance

He also discussed about the facts regarding the present number of operational community radio i.e 152 in India and the number rejected are 575.

Lastly the rule of democracy is the rule of radio is

Community radio is by the community, for the community, of the community, in the community and with the community.