EU Supporting Development Of Community Radio Stations In Mozambique

MAPUTO, May 5 (BERNAMA-NNN-AIM) -- The Mozambican Forum of Community Radios (FORCOM) and the European Union (EU) have signed a co-operation agreement under which FORCOM will receive about US$350,000 for a two-year project aimed at raising political awareness and expanding the spaces for dialogue and the provision of information to citizens in the current electoral and democratic processes.

The agreement was signed here Saturday by the European Commission (EC) Delegate in Mozambique, Paul Malin, and the Executive Director of FORCOM, Benilde Nhalivilo, who disclosed that the project seeks to strengthen awareness so that citizens can make free and conscious choices in elections. Through the community radios, she added, citizens would have a voice in democratic processes.

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(Source :  BERNAMA, Mozambique)

[Australia] Commit To Community Radio Campaign Officially Relaunched

The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia has officially announced the relaunch of their Commit to Community Radio campaign in the wake of last week’s Commission of Audit, which endorsed the abolition of all federal funding for the Community Broadcasting Program.

The Commission of Audit’s recommendation has put the future of Australian community radio — an essential resource for providing a voice for communities that are otherwise inadequately serviced by the media, such as Indigenous Australians, ethnic communities, and Australian youth — at risk.

As the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia write, there is less than five days to ensure the federal government does not cut funding to community radio in their upcoming budget and are beseeching the public to help show the government how big a mistake cutting funding would be.

To get involved, head over to the Commit to Community Radio site to email Treasurer Joe Hockey, as well as the Communications and Finance Ministers, and call on them to ensure cuts to community broadcasting aren’t included in the federal budget, and forward the link to your friends.

You can also spread the word by adding the Commit to Community Radio email signature to your emails, or getting active on social media over at the Commit to Community Radio Facebook page and sharing the page’s graphics and info to help spread the word that while modest, the federal government’s funding is crucial to community radio’s ongoing operation and development.

(Source : MusicFeeds, Australia)

Australia needs community radio

The Commission of Audit says there is little point in funding it but, besides its value to its listeners, how else are tomorrow's broadcasters supposed to learn their trade?

Last week, the federal government’s Commission of Audit report recommended there was no longer much point in funding community radio. When this annual call strikes up, the detractors cry: “It’s tired, it’s over, the model is done. Quit giving them cash.”

The same people often snigger when imagining a community radio announcer. Let’s call him Crispin. In their minds, Crispin sits in a dark studio in faded brown corduroy trousers, shiny at the knees, broadcasting to three like-minded souls. He plays Horst Janowski’s A Walk In The Black Forest on repeat and his stale breath smells of Nescafe Blend 43 from the communal kitchen. With three sugars, thanks.

For most community radio stations in Australia today, this cliche couldn’t be further from the truth. It hasn’t been for years. But nor are they living high on the hog, siphoning their funding into extravagant lunches while quaffing champagne and taking kickbacks.

More at The Guardian

(Source : http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/07/australia-needs-community-radio)