Letter from Sydney, Australia: OURMedia 6 Moves Toward a Just and Better World

The joint letter from conference participants at OURMedia 6 / NuestrosMedios 6 international conference, Sydney, Australia, presents results from the conference, which
was characterised as a forum for dialogue on issues affecting participatory, community, alternative and citizens' media, and communication. OURMedia seeks to build legitimacy and recognition for the role of grassroots media and communication work within processes of social, cultural, and political change.


The following are key topics of the insights, successes, and challenges of the conference:

• "Building community, identity, and alliances;
• Participation in policy and governance processes;
• Addressing differences: power, gender, diversity, and worldviews;
• The power of art and aesthetic expression;
• Audiences and the right to be understood;
• Beyond the binary of “alternative” and “mainstream”;
• Sustainability, community ownership, and control; and
• Measuring outcomes - Participatory Evaluation".

Among positive and negative developments cited are: support of some multilateral and development organisations; slow advances in legislation that favour community media, despite regional work in this area; corporate dominance and transnational, national and state harassment in presenting obstacles to free media development;
and substantial challenges of digital media, in terms of distribution, the development of appropriate technologies, intellectual property issues, and the cultivation of digital literacy.

Advances and obstacles within major regions of the world, as stated in the letter, include:

• "In Australia, recent “reforms” to media laws are causing greater concentration of media ownership... [In addition,] the introduction of new research quality framework schemes (RQF) may have a potential negative impact on researchers interested in research with and by communities.
• In the Pacific, community media... needs to be encouraged so that Pacific Islanders have access to a diversity of governance and development information.
• In Asia ...India is the first country in South Asia to have a policy for community radio. ... [T]he independent media in Nepal is generally able to function freely... [However,] recognition of community broadcasting in India has been accompanied by excessive limitations on content. [In the Philippines,] [a]uthorities have shut down more than 300 community radio stations and are exercising strictest measures of control over all independent media outlets.
• ... [L]eadership of South African community radio was reinforced by Namibia and other countries in the southern hemisphere [(note: concern is expressed in the document for community media activists in Zimbabwe.)] Community radio has...taken strong root in Mozambique... [and] is regenerating in Kenya. ... [It is] making significant inroads in Uganda and Tanzania and preparing for entry in Ethiopia and, even more actively, in both southern and northern Sudan. Community radio has proliferated in Francophone West Africa, especially in Mali.
• In most of the Arab countries, the governments still control the media through legislation, but there are some attempts to develop community media - mainly in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq.
• Community media in Latin America has ...developed throughout the region, particularly in countries such as Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. Legislation is being developed and approved all over the region; however and in spite of this history of participatory media, local communication initiatives are systematically curtailed - often with violence - in countries such as Guatemala, Brazil, and Mexico... The Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Organization of American States (OAS) in his 2006 Annual Report has recommended state members to legislate and to reserve part of the electromagnetic spectrum for community media.
• The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has a progressive attitude to community media. [There is] growth of the community media sector in the United Kingdom... [and] development towards a community radio sector in Georgia. ... [T]he UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions was ratified by the European Union."

In addition, this document highlights youth media, increased indigenous participation and self representation, and the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) regime and its barriers to media production, among other challenges to build and strengthen links within social movements. The letter concludes by stating that these themes and challenges provide possible areas of work, research, and networking that can help to strengthen and sustain OURMedia.