People from the foothills of the Himalayas to small communities in Benin listen to the radio or watch TV. Now a new book seeks to help developing countries foster a diverse broadcasting sector that truly informs and empowers their citizens.
“Broadcasting, Voice and Accountability,” published this week by the World Bank Institute, is a best-practices guide to the kinds of policies, laws and regulations that result in a free, independent and responsible media, greater transparency in government, and more open public debate.
“The enabling environment for the media is crucial to the type of media we have, and that, in turn, has a critical role in development,” says co-author Steve Buckley, President of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters. “The media can play a role as checks and balances ensuring good governance and accountability.”
The 400-page book, the culmination of five years of research by six media experts, was presented just ahead of World Press Freedom Day, May 3, in Maputo, Mozambique, at a conference on freedom of expression hosted by the United Nations Educational and Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“Broadcasting has enormous potential to serve important social goals, including informing citizens and fostering participation for development,” says co-author Toby Mendel, the Law/Asia Programme Director, ARTICLE 19, Global Campaign for Free Expression.
Fostering Free and Independent Media
The book, subtitled “A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law, and Regulation,” maps out a “public interest approach to fostering free, independent and pluralistic broadcast media.”
“It focuses on broadcasting because that is the medium with the greatest potential to reach and involve poor, illiterate populations—the most disadvantaged segments of society—in developing countries,” explains co-author Kreszentia Duer of the World Bank Institute.
The book summarizes broadcasting in various regions of the world. Radio is the most ubiquitous form of media in Latin America. Media in the Middle East and North Africa is mostly under direct control of the state. Broadcasting in Asia is “hugely diverse” and trending toward commercialization. The collapse of Soviet Union ushered in commercial broadcasting in former Soviet Union, Eastern bloc and Central European countries, but many countries are now shifting to public service broadcasting.
Africa Broadcasting: Moving Forward
Sub-Saharan Africa, with its largely rural population, prefers radio, notes the book. State-controlled radio commands the biggest audiences in most countries, according to “Broadcasting, Voice and Accountability.”
Africa has “moved forward enormously” in the last 15 years in opening up broadcasting as countries have moved toward liberalization and democratization, but still has a “long way to go” to create an environment that fosters a diversity of broadcasting services—public, private and community, says Buckley.
“The book, in drawing on some of the good practices from countries like South Africa, from Benin, from Mozambique, and so on, can help countries in the process of reform to examine what’s worked, to look at potential drafting solutions, laws and regulations that might be appropriate to adapt to their circumstances,” he adds.
Book Is Guide to Policy Design
The book offers advice on how to design policies, laws, and regulations that guarantee freedom of expression, enable access to information, define the use and misuse of defamation law, define content rules, and ensure the freedom of journalists to practice.
It includes good-practice checklists on how to create an independent regulatory body, regulate content and distribution, and ensure public service broadcasting is editorially independent of government, community nonprofit broadcasting is guaranteed access to radio spectrum, and fair competition exists in private commercial broadcasting.
“Information on good practices in broadcasting policy is in demand in countries of every region—particularly in countries that are opening their economies, democratizing and decentralizing public service delivery,” says Duer. “This book thus builds on a growing awareness of the role of media and voice in equipping people to better exercise their rights and hold leaders to account.”