Community Media Sustainability Guide

Community media are now widely recognized by governments and the international development community both for their reach and for their practices, that is, the ways in which they reach people. Recognition has led more and more governments (sometimes reluctantly, under pressure to democratize) to introduce laws and regulations that include community media. What this means is that community media are increasingly being shaped and defined within mainstream systems, as a "third" tier of...
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Community media are now widely recognized by governments and the international development community both for their reach and for their practices, that is, the ways in which they reach people. Recognition has led more and more governments (sometimes reluctantly, under pressure to democratize) to introduce laws and regulations that include community media. What this means is that community media are increasingly being shaped and defined within mainstream systems, as a "third" tier of media. Community media are being defined in relation to the "first" and "second" tiers of commercial and public media. This is a shift from the past in which community media developed in opposition to the mainstream, to represent and give voice to oppressed, marginalized and excluded communities. In fact, one of the defining features of community media was is its origins in people's struggles against oppressive regimes, poverty and exploitation. There are many examples of community media of all kinds that have operated illegally and been closed down by repressive governments, sometimes using violence. The new era of recognition and value owes a huge debt to decades of work by thousands of community media pioneers and activists, whose voices can be heard in the new policies and laws being drafted. The Community Media Sustainability Guide explores some of the challenges and issues facing community media in the 21st century. It is designed to be of value to community media practitioners and to donors, trainers, consultants and others who provide support to community media in a changing environment. We draw on research and experiences of community media from all over the world to provide different perspectives on sustainability and suggestions as to how to achieve it. We focus on financial sustainability. This is not because we believe that success with funding and finance automatically results in sustainable community media, but because funding and finance are a major concern. Financial sustain¬ability is a particular concern in developing countries, where community media play a crucial and often life-saving role, and where their fortunes are so often tied to international donor support. The crunch comes when donors withdraw support. Ideally, this should be when the media are able to fund their own operations, but withdrawal schedules are usually set in moments of optimism when contracts are signed and tend to be based on promises of sustainability rather than on thorough planning and practical experience.