The Community Radio Movement in India: Challenges and Opportunities

Media play a major role in the development of any nation as media informs, educate, persuade, motivate, aware and decide national agenda. Scholars like Daniel Lerner, Wilbur Schramm, Lucian Pye, Edward Shils and Ithiel de Sola Pool have done intensive work on the role of mass media in national development. Daniel Lerner found a high correlation among urbanization, literacy, media participation and political participation (Merrill, 1971). The positive role of development has been recognized in third world countries because information dissemination plays key role in bringing social change among the receivers. Media is working as a development tool in developing and under developed countries. The question arises which media is working as peoples media. Media can be divided into three sectors- public sector media, private sector media and community media. Public sector media is called mouth piece of government and remote control of private sector media is in the hands of big media conglomerates. As mainstream media is in the hands of a big media conglomerate which is a profit oriented industry and governed by market forces we cannot expect people's participation in mainstream media. We find less or no participation in mass media/mainstream media, whether they are governed by market forces or by government. The only media left for common people to raise their voice is community media/ alternative media. Alternate media could be seen as critical media which questions domination, expresses the standpoints of the oppressed and argues for the advancement of an active and participative society. As alternative media is both under-researched and an under-represented topic in media research, aim of this research paper is to identify potential and challenges of community radio as an effective alternative media in India. Community radio can play a major role in rural development of India as listening to the radio does not demand reading and writing ability and it is a portable media. The basic feature of community radio is that it has to be participatory. As said by the UNESCO, a community radio station is one that is operated in the community, for the community, about the community and by the community. This study throws light on opportunities and challenges for community radio in India through the case study method of two community radios – Radio Bundelkhand of Orchha, and Radio Dhadkan of Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh.