[cr-india] RE: Research query on "Lifeline Radio" use in the tsunami devastation area

Thu Feb 3 17:39:34 CET 2005

From: "J. Christian Quick" <quick at internews.org>
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Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 22:10:28 +0600
Subject: RE: [creative-radio] Research query on "Lifeline Radio" use 
in the tsunami devastation area

Hello Ed and list,

Currently 5,000 donated radios are en route for Colombo for an Internews-led
distribution, with another 10,000 radios to be received by the Ministry of
Social Services (both donations courtesy of Commercial Radio Australia).
These will arrive nearly six weeks into the crisis and be distributed in
affected areas in coordination with a USAID-funded effort by Internews to
create 2 fixed local radio stations and one mobile broadcasting unit in the
South, one station in the hardest-hit East Coast district, Ampara, and two
mobile production units for the Southern and Eastern coasts. Practical
difficulties relating to the LTTE controlled areas of the North and East
limit the amount of radio development that can currently be done in those
regions.

In short, though, very little has yet been done to increase information
access in Sri Lanka's affected areas subsequent to the disaster. Should you
like some detail on the current state of information access, I've appended
some information gathered for our project.

My colleague, Ivan Sigal, and I arrived in Sri Lanka about ten days after
the Tsunami. In our first week we conducted a small survey of 100
respondents near Hikkaduwa, in the area of Telwatta, asking about access to
information and relief services. Telwatta is on the main Colombo road and
one of the most easily accessible areas of the disaster, and correspondingly
likely to be better served by information and aid than more far-flung
communities. This should be taken into account when considering the survey
data. A summary of the survey and general findings, as follows:

"1) Prior to the disaster, media in the south were not designed to provide
local information to local audiences. Both government and nongovernmental
media infrastructure in the south is designed primarily to broadcast
programming originating in Colombo. Programming for the south is sent via
microwave link to three locations along the southern edge of the hills north
of the coastal plains, and the feed for regional programming is almost
identical to Colombo programming.

"On the entire south coast, there is only one radio production studio, at
the regional SLBC broadcaster in Matara. While this station has sufficient
access to air time and powerful transmitters, it has extremely thin
resources to actually gather and produce programming. The station has 48
employees, but only one reporter, producer, and editor respectively. It has
no Internet, cell phones, or car, one recorder, and one studio editing
suite. It relies on a stringer network of no more than eight regular
contributors along the entire south coast. These stringers also have no
resources to fund their reporting, and typically file by fax or public
phone. They are paid by the story. The station is also subject to strict
editorial control with a strong pro-government political bias.

"No commercial stations have southern bureaus. Instead they rely on the same
small stringer network as the regional government stations, and often
receive identical reports from those correspondents. There is no diversity
or competition in journalistic endeavor, and hence little point of
comparison for audiences. Their reporting is also regarded as political.

"On the east coast, the SLBC has no regional broadcaster, and no private
broadcaster has regional or local coverage that focuses on the east. No
production capacity exists on the east coast at present. A government-owned
community station in Uva province does have considerable capacity to
broadcast and produce. Its signal reportedly reaches the east coast from a
strong transmitter in the hills; however, while it may have a few
correspondents on the coast it does not have actual production capacity
resident in the affected areas.

"The ongoing conflict has also caused many journalists in the east to depart
for Colombo. This pre-existing condition has deepened the problem of weak
capacity for regional journalists to collect and disseminate information.

"Colombo based broadcasters, production units, and journalists are traveling
to the east to cover the continuing crisis, and are producing stories for
national and Colombo-based audiences. This material does not generally
support the information needs of the affected population.

"In neither government nor nongovernmental media is there real or adequate
local reporting designed for the local population: information that those in
need can use to improve their situations. Instead reports are designed for
national audiences removed from the actual event.

"The lack of a local media structure was a lost opportunity to provide early
warning to those living on the coast. Local media that know each other, and
have formal and informal networks of communication can spread word of
impending disaster extremely quickly. Unfortunately, this could not happen
in the south. The controller of the Matara SLBC station said that if one
person from the east coast had known of his station, and called, he would
have been able to get the message out minutes before the tsunami struck.

"2) While many humanitarian relief organizations have press and information
officers, in the field there is no systematic coordination of public
information on the part of the relief effort, or by the government. While
foreign journalists and some Colombo-based Sri Lankan journalists seek out
government agents and relief agencies in the south, most of these
organizations hold press conferences only in Colombo, where journalists are
more likely to turn up. Hence it is very difficult for local journalists to
get systematic access to relief information. There is therefore a disconnect
between the needs of those affected by the disaster, and the target audience
of public information produced by the aid organizations. This is not
necessarily a fault of those running the relief effort: even if more
information was available in the field, there would be few journalists to
report it, and few outlets to distribute it.

"3) In the absence of trusted media, or of a media system designed to
provide local audiences with information, survey respondents said that they
turn most often to religious institutions or civil authorities for
information. However, they appear to have sporadic and distant access to
those authorities. Some survey figures:

94% of respondents stated that they receive information from religious
institutions.

85% of respondents stated that they receive information from civil
authorities.

However, only 17% said that they had any contact with authorities regarding
their needs, and that had occurred overwhelmingly in large group contexts.
These encounters occurred infrequently and did not appear to touch concerns
in depth. Only 3% reported speaking to authorities or relief agencies on an
individual basis about their needs.

43% of respondents stated that they received trustworthy information from
friends and acquaintances.

31% of respondents said they owned or had access to radios. Respondents aged
26-40+ were 40% more likely to have access than those in other age groups.
Those with access to radios tended to trust them as information sources, but
this group could be self-selected for preference.

3% of respondents had access to TV, all between ages 26-40+.

1% of respondents had access to newspapers.

31% of respondents had access to electricity, though generally only when at
IDP camps.

"Taken together, the survey and structural conditions of media suggest that,
without some kind of media intervention or support, there will continue to
be a serious gap in information between the affected population and those
directing the relief and reconstruction effort.

"Relief agencies are very concerned that decisions about reconstruction will
take place without significant consultation or critical discussion with
those actually affected. Given the current status of information access,
that concern is very valid. The pre-existing political tensions and violence
in the south mean that a reconstruction process that is not inclusive and
open for discussion is likely to be a source of continuing conflict. A
timely and well-structured media support project has the potential to
alleviate these tensions before they become explosive, and at the same time
provide vital information and assistance to people currently in great
distress. It can also help facilitate aid efforts on distribution, health
and sanitary information, trauma, and a range of other serious issues."

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Christian Quick
Internews
"J. Christian Quick" <quick at internews.org>

-----Original Message-----
From: George Lessard [mailto:media at web.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 11:05 AM
To: Creative Radio List
Subject: [creative-radio] Research query on "Lifeline Radio" use in the
tsunami devastation area
Importance: High

Lifeline radios are the windup radios from
http://www.freeplayfoundation.org/

Ed Girardet, just back from Aceh and once again in Kabul.

I am in the process of reporting a piece for the December 2005 edition of
National Geographic on Frontline Aid workers: who are they and why do they
do it? This will also explore key issues of humanitarian aid in the 21st
century plus how aid has changed over the past 25-30 years.

One particular question I am exploring is whether any serious efforts
(within the first week or so) were made in Aceh, Sri Lanka etc.
following the Tsunami to help inform affected populations. As far as I can
gather, no wind-up radios etc were distributed in Aceh and apart from
certain efforts by Internews to train local journalists, there was - and
still is - no appropriate lifeline media/public awareness outreach aimed at
informing the affected communities.

Does anyone have any information on this? Ed Girardet Contact:
edgirardet at gmail.com

-------

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Via / By / Excerpted / From / Tip from / Thanks to:

"J. Christian Quick" <quick at internews.org>

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