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COMMUNICATION:
Internet Boosts
Reach of Alternative Radio
Patricia
Grogg
TUNIS, (IPS) - While the
transnational corporations
showed off the latest in
information and communication
technologies (ICTs) at the world
summit that ended Friday in
Tunis, reporters from
alternative radio stations
remained loyal to their old tape
recorders and microphones.
"When we tried to develop, we
were told that putting our radio
station on-line would cost a
million dollars and that we
would need super-advanced
technologies," said María Suárez
Toro, co-director of Feminist
International Radio, a station
that already reaches beyond the
borders of Costa Rica thanks to
their short-wave transmitters.
But it did not take them long to
come up with the solution for
getting on-line. "We were the
engineers and technicians of our
short-wave station, so we
decided to use all of the
old-fashioned technology from
our radio station, with an
umbilical cord to the computer,"
she told IPS.
The equipment Suárez uses in her
news coverage includes a mixer,
a tape recorder, a microphone
and a computer connected to the
Internet. A recent study showed
that her station’s audience has
expanded to 145 countries in the
last five years.
"The sound files that we place
on the Internet are downloaded
by women from community radio
stations and played on their
stations. Other professionals
take note of our live broadcasts
and we are a direct source of
events and news," she said.
The station broadcasts in
Spanish and English, which
according to Suárez has the
advantage of connecting women’s
groups in Latin America with
women from Asia, Africa, Europe,
the United States and Canada.
"We believe that the oral
expression of women is where our
biggest strength lies. We are
radio lovers and decided to
invent radio on the Internet,"
added the women’s rights
activist.
That was one of the issues that
drew special attention from the
civil society groups represented
in the second phase of the World
Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS), held Wednesday
through Friday in the Tunisian
capital, with the participation
of more than 9,000
representatives from 597
non-governmental organisations
(NGOs).
An estimated 17,000 people in
all took part in the conference,
which was held with the aim of
narrowing the digital gap
between rich and poor countries,
and within nations.
The meeting included a large
number of activities organised
by NGOs. However, some of the
civil society events were banned
by the host country.
Suárez said that while she was
broadcasting live coverage of
the seminar "Expression Under
Repression", organised by the
Dutch NGO Hivos, Tunisian
authorities warned that
"propaganda" could not be
distributed in the conference
rooms.
"While that was going on, we
were broadcasting live coverage
of the seminar with our little
old equipment, right from there,
to the entire world."
The seminar organised by Hivos,
a Dutch-based NGO devoted to
development themes, included
presentations about the use of "blogs"
(web logs) in Zimbabwe, Iran and
China as an alternative means of
providing people with access to
information through the
Internet.
"When we talk about alternative
and community-based
communication it means being
able to talk about what is
happening at the summit with a
different focus from the large
mainstream media, and also, to
talk about what they are not
telling us," Inés Farina of the
Pulsar news agency told IPS.
Pulsar defines itself as "the
voice of the voiceless," said
Farina. It is an initiative of
the Latin American and Caribbean
branch of the World Association
of Community Radio Broadcasters
(AMARC-ALC), and is aimed at
democratising communications
through direct contact between
journalists and civil society
sources.
The agency has offices in
Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil and
Argentina, and shares agreements
with national and regional
networks as a means of accessing
and disseminating first-hand
information on what is happening
in the countries of the region.
Its services are provided by
e-mail free of charge. "The only
thing we ask for is that they
credit us," explained Farina.
She said that Pulsar aimed to
cover the summit in Tunis from a
critical viewpoint, with a
special focus on issues related
to civil society and community
radio.
Farina said that around 400
community radio stations in
Latin America are members of
AMARC-ALC.
Numerous alternative media
organisations from Latin America
attended the WSIS, primarily to
learn about the possibilities
offered by ICTs for the work
they carry out.
"We are in the process of
becoming a multimedia
organisation. We already produce
a written publication, and will
begin to broadcast a radio
programme in 2006," said
Rosalinda Hernández, co-editor
of the Guatemalan feminist
publication La Cuerda. Founded
in 1998, it has a monthly print
run of 20,000 copies.
Hernández reported that the next
plans for La Cuerda involve the
production of a video version,
which will allow the publication
to reach every corner of the
country, where illiteracy rates
are high. |
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