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U.S. media expert says Zim can learn from U.S. broadcasting experience
U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section
September 24, 2009

An American media expert says Zimbabwe can learn from the experience of the U.S. to provide a platform for under-represented and specialist communities through community broadcasting.

"It took nearly 30 years before both the government and the American population discovered that there was an unheard voice, an unheard community, a niche not being filled and reported about and community radio was going to help cover those communities," said Stephen Coon, Emeritus Associate Professor at Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University.

Coon was in Zimbabwe on a Visiting Speaker Program sponsored by the U. S. Embassy in Harare. The Visiting Speaker Program allows U.S. experts and personalities to meet directly with foreign publics through lectures, workshops and seminars to discuss American policies, society and culture.

The U.S. government granted its first commercial radio license in 1920, but it was in 1949 that the first community broadcasting station went on air.

Coon said the impetus for community broadcasting in the U.S. was assisted by enabling legislation noting that the U.S. government set aside a specific portion of the FM band frequency 'exclusively and specifically' for non-commercial radio stations.

"What we are doing with community radio in the U.S. is trying to meet the needs of specific groups and communities. Since 2000, the U.S. government has . . . encouraged individuals to apply for low power FM stations. The coverage is really small compared with commercial radio stations but it reaches the targeted audience," Coon told participants at a discussion forum organized by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) Harare Advocacy Committee at the Book Café' last week.

Zimbabweans expect community radio stations to start operating following the liberalization of the broadcasting sector in 2000 which culminated in the promulgation of the Broadcasting Services Act. The law was revised in 2007 and in August this year Parliament submitted a list of names to the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity for consideration into the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe. The BAZ is expected to invite and consider licenses from broadcasters, as well as allocate frequencies. The delays have been criticized by civic media groups.

"Although Zimbabwe got its independence in 1980, its constitutional claims of being a democracy have been dented by government's failure to facilitate the licensing of private players including community radios," said Kumbirai Mafunda, chairperson of MISA Zimbabwe Harare Advocacy Committee. MISA Zimbabwe has for the past several years been lobbying the government to relax restrictive provisions of media laws to allow alternative broadcasters in the media sector.

Coon chronicled the specific challenges facing community radio broadcasting, chief among which are sustainability, competition and professionalism.

"Sustainability of these media remains a key challenge throughout the world," said Coon. In the U.S., said Coon, community radio stations receive financial support from an independent federal agency- the Corporation for Public Broadcasting - but these funds are limited due to increasing demand. As a result, a number of community broadcasters have devised a variety of fundraising initiatives to sustain their operations.

In addition to funding challenges, community radio often do not have as high of professional standards as those found in commercial broadcasting, said Coon.

"Many community radio stations operate on limited budgets. Most rely on volunteers and the challenge is to keep volunteers motivated. The quality of the news reporting and production is not as quite competitive as the commercial radio stations. That can be overcome," said Coon who conducted training sessions for radio production training sessions for aspiring community radio stations in Harare and Bulawayo.

Despite the proliferation of different media including new media, community radio remains popular in the U.S. because "we still have voices, we still have issues, we still have topics that are still being reported on. We have communities that want to say something, have something to say, and have issues and concerns that need to be reported about. The mainstream media in the U.S. are simply not doing that," said Coon.

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