R2K celebrates World Radio Day!

Today, the Right2Know Campaign commemorates the 10th anniversary of World Radio Day. 

World Radio Day 2021 arrives at a difficult time when already struggling community radio stations are hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. We note a decline in investment in community media. Community radio stations are underfunded and face difficult political issues. On this World Radio Day as the Right2Know, we reiterate our call for increased funding for community radio stations. We reiterate our call for an annual grant. 

What is key to acknowledge is the role community radio stations play in society as: 

• Information disseminators: Community media is an important tool to counter state propaganda.
• Education: Educate the masses about their rights and facilitate the building of strong community organization and foster active citizenry (citizen participation in the democratic processes).
• Opportunities for community activism: Community media affords the community an opportunity to inform, partake in decision-making and contribute towards popular discourse in ensuring voices of the minority, interest groups and the disenfranchised.
• Transformation (socially, governance and ownership): Community media enables the community to consume media that is created for them by representatives who are interested in improving the well-being of the community. Therefore it becomes vital now in our defence of democracy to support and call for sustainability for community radio stations. Sustainability in three parts: 
• Social sustainability which refers to all the social processes that are needed to create sustainable community media, including community participation in governance, management, operations, content production, generation of income, and feedback.
•  Institutional sustainability which refers to the policies, governance structures, management structures and styles, staffing, internal relationships, and practices, as well as partnerships with organizations and the legal and regulatory environment. 
• Financial sustainability Is the organization’s ongoing income-generating potential and includes cash and donations of goods and services. Community media generate income in many different ways. There are two considerations that are fundamentally important. The first is independence — because of their reach, mass media of all kinds are vulnerable to control by powerful interests. The most obvious concern is the state or political control, but the media are also vulnerable to powerful commercial, religious and other interests. The second consideration is to ensure that income-generation activities are consistent with the mission and goals of the organization. 

In 2021 as South African civil society, we need to join the global village in making community radio sustainable, making sure radio realises its key role, to ensure community radio stations become the mouthpiece for communities. We must fight to ensure that radio stations keep their doors open, as they are also key to ensure employment in the community. The socialization of community journalists begins at community radio station level. It is key that we continue the call for an annual grant.

To mark the importance of the World Radio Day, R2K activists in Gauteng will engage their communities through their local radio stations on the call for a community media support grant.

Community radio stations are vital to the communities’ right to know. They must be strong, independent and well-funded.

For further comment contact:

Lazola Kati, R2K National Communications Organiser: 072 956 7753 

Moeketsi Monaheng, R2K Gauteng Organiser: 078 041 7402