[cr-india] CR Forum

[Kanchan]

It would be advantageous to formalise the Community Radio Forum before the issue of guidelines for CR, so that it could play an active role in facilitating the setting up of CR stations. CR forum could work towards some kind of co-regulation by negotiating with the government about the codes of practice and the rules for monitoring CR stations.

It would have to lobby for the setting up of the community radio fund suggested by Prof. Pavarala and also encourage networking among other stakeholders. There could be demands for basic capacity building support at the community level and also for innovative methodologies for local programming. Advocacy for democratic media practices and public awareness about empowerment of communities through CR may have to be launched.

Kanchan  


On Thu, 30 Nov 2006 voices wrote :
>dear all : We need to take the CR forum forward urgently. Many of us had agreed that the Forum should exist as early as May 2004. Subsequently , Articles of Association were also drawn up by Sajan  - which had details about members, associate members etc - which was passed around and endorsed . While some of us felt that we should keep it informal - it has been used for purposes of advocacy. I'm enclosing the copy of CR press release that Stalin had sent last month in this regard. We should build on this.
>
>Best
>
>
>Ashish
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>   From: Vinod Pavarala
>   To: Frederick Noronha
>   Cc: cr-india at sarai.net
>   Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 8:34 AM
>   Subject: Re: [cr-india] Fwd: Code of Conduct
>
>
>   dear all:   I think it is time we engaged with fred's concerns about a code of conduct. True, we don't yet have a flood of players in the cr arena -- the government is yet to frame guidelines for potential applicants. But, soon there will be a variety of players with diverse agendas and interests, some of which may not be in tune with the broad philosophy and ideology of community radio.  While diversity of uses and multiple modes of ownership structures, etc are probably a good thing, we should ensure on our own that the actual use of the airwaves in the name of communities is not going to be violative of certain basic principles. So, the debate should be about what these basic principles are? How do we go about formulating them? I think the forum which we threw up as a contingency measure should now be formalized, with membership norms, etc.   vinod
>
>     On 11/29/06, Frederick Noronha <fred at bytesforall.org> wrote:
>     So are we giving a quiet burial to the Code of Conduct debate? If we
>     have no interest in it, we would just as well have to take a
>     pro-censorship line that officialdome things of. It would really help
>     for us to go beyond just the "security concerns" aspect.  After all,
>     we have been arguing that community broadcasters get their legitimacy
>     because they act on behalf of the "community". Accountability  is a
>     key issue. Self-regulation is important to avoid unnecessary curbs
>     from officialdom and the bureaucracy.
>
>     Below is a letter from Dr Leela Rao, an old friend formerly at the
>     Manipal Institute of Communication and host of an event on CR in 2002
>     or so. FN
>
>     ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>     From: Leela Rao <rao_lee at yahoo.com>
>     Date: 23-Nov-2006 12:31
>     Subject: Re: [cr-india] Code of Conduct
>     To: Frederick Noronha <fred at bytesforall.org>
>
>
>     Deare Fred,
>     First of all congragulations to all of you for the
>     excellent work done in getting through the
>     legislation.
>
>     Fred, I am glad you have initiated this debate about
>     "codes". I was waiting for all euphoria to settle down
>     before suggesting any such proactive stance.
>
>     I agree this is not about regular codes that
>     governement imposes on broadcasters or any self
>     regulatory mechanisms that commercial media are
>     supposed to imbibe.
>
>     Also CR will throw up situations, challenges that are
>     not similar to the mainstream media in many ways. It
>     is difficult to foresee or anticipate all stake
>     holders or their claims of legitimacy.
>
>     However  given the fact that a few of you have been in
>     the forefront of the movement and have reached this
>     significant threshold, may I suggest that you form an
>     CR association of India to begin with and prepare a
>     kind of document that lays down the purpose and
>     intentions of CR in India.
>
>     May I also suggest a kind of "community hearing"
>     process of any grievances or deviations from the
>     claims made by the CR station to get license in the
>     first place.
>     Good luck and best wishes
>     Leela Rao
>     - --
>     FN 9822122436 +91-832-240-9490 (phone calls after 1 pm please)
>     FLOSS, geeks, blogs:  [http://planet.foss.in/]
>     _______________________________________________
>     cr-india mailing list
>     cr-india at sarai.net
>     https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india
>
>
>
>
>   --
>   Dr. Vinod Pavarala
>   Professor of Communication & Dean
>   Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts & Communication University of Hyderabad
>   Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500046
>   Phone: +91-40-23135500/5501 (off); 94407-24914 (m)
>
>
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