RESULTS:

Community radio represents an opportunity for audiences to play a lead role in the production dissemination and ownership of media channels and content. The active participation of audiences is one of the primary differences between community radio stations and their commercial and state-run counterparts. The role of participation though is complicated in environments where community radio acts as an instrument for development as is the case in India where community radio licenses are held by either educational establishments or non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Discussions around defining encouraging and evaluating participation are extensive yet little has been written about what defines meaningful participation from the perspective of community members. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in India this article explores what makes participation meaningful and who is able to engage in this meaningful participation with community radio stations. Applying this perspective to community radio encourages a more qualitative holistic view of the benefits and outcomes of those who participate. Considering meaningful rather than maximalist or minimalist allows space to explore the impacts of participation in environments where it may be limited or restricted by structural factors. Engaged invested audiences who regularly and meaningfully participate in their stations can help ensure that community radio remains a collaborative and powerful force within the global media landscape.

Review of: Community Radio in South Asia: Reclaiming the Airwaves Kanchan K. Malik and Vinod Pavarala (eds) (2020)

Abingdon and New York: Taylor & Francis 294 pp.

ISBN 978-1-13855-853-3 h/bk AUD 252.00

Climate change is already dramatically affecting the Australian landscape and way of life. These impacts are experienced locally therefore responses must also be local at least in part. There is an opportunity for Australia’s vibrant community radio sector to play a leading role in building community resilience around the effects of climate change. The importance of the sector in climate change communication is well-known: from emergency broadcasting during bushfires to disaster preparedness and recovery work in cyclone season as well as the activist role some stations take on local environmental issues. While important work is taking place many stations lack the resources and the confidence to discuss how climate change is affecting their communities. This article details the findings of Warming Up a pilot research project that aims to support community radio stations by amplifying local stories of climate change and building confidence and capacity to engage in meaningful community conversations.

In 2011 Michael Bromley and Regan Neal’s survey of Australian journalism academics revealed low levels of critical research participation and productivity and the under-realized potential of younger female journalism academics. Nearly a decade on our 2019 snapshot study inspired by Bromley and Neal explores the current state of journalism research and education in Australian universities. It examines the changing profile of journalism staff their publishing productivity and the evaluation and funding of their research as well as attitudes towards non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) and engagement and impact assessment. Our study indicates that early- and mid-career journalism researchers in Australia particularly women continue to need research training mentoring and support in securing competitive external grants as well as encouragement to collaborate and benchmark their research internationally. There is also a new imperative to help researchers and their institutions recognize excellence and diversity in journalism NTROs and to understand measures of engagement and impact. Finally we flag the importance of monitoring changes to the classification of journalism research following the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification review of field of research codes.