Community Media, Skill Development and Empowerment in India

The reason for this research lies in the fact that expansion of alternative media channels in India has triggered the new dimension of mass media channels especially in terms of its role in skill development process at grassroots level. The aim of this research is to investigate how community radio initiatives in India has emerged as a powerful participatory medium of communication for the empowerment of underprivileged and marginalized communities in terms of skill development. A Responsible citizen is central aspect of democracy. As says Aristotle, “A citizen is the one who plays the dual role of the ruler as well as the subject” i.e. a responsible citizen is the one who necessarily participates in the process of governance. Herein lays the importance of the role the media i.e. the fourth estate needs to play in a parliamentary democracy such as ours. Ashish Sen (Media Development, Bangalore) underlines the pertinent and the pro-active role played by the media in India. He says, “In terms of reach and access, India’s print and broadcast media is strong: Â Approximately 60% of urban Indians and 25% of rural Indians read print media on a regular basis, and 96% of the country is reached by radio”.

The high degree of commercialization of news channels and a detrimentally increasing influence of a select few on the kind and the nature of issues highlighted, the never-ending obsession with the casual effect of policies on the privileged class delivers a partial and to an extent, deceptive information to the people. The issue of paid news misleading the electorates, and of the media being used as a tool for propaganda and other such impediments calls for a different manifestation of the media in which it should play a very neutral, growth-centric role as in the case of community media. In this era of growing inclination towards market-driven consumerist and commercial ideals, the role of community media at large becomes significantly pertinent and sacrosanct. Unlike mainstream media that primarily aims to serve a broad and general audience with a commercial purpose, community media aims to serve those who do not have any other channels that can amplify their voices, without looking for profit in those efforts. Community media springs from dissatisfaction with mainstream media and serves to offer an alternative media channel for the community.

An essential component of community media is community radio. Community radio derives its genesis from the fundamental principles of democracy necessarily entailing equal and active participation in civic affairs and freedom of speech and expression. Community radio therefore caters to the interest of such groups. It is thus obvious to the point of banality that the low level of literacy rates and even lower awareness towards the society is definitely a handicap for them. Consequently the community radio has become an important medium for development and social change, giving communities a platform for communicating about local issues, news and challenges that directly affect their daily lives. It has also demonstrated many positive attributes that benefit in preserving local culture, giving the community a voice and capacity to express their identity, and empowering the community with direct positive effects on democracy (Mtimde, 2000; Myers, 2011; Odine, 2013).

Rennie (2006) emphasizes the role and value of community media as citizens’ ability for self-representation and self expression. In other words, simply the ability to voice your own concerns and represent yourself in your own community, are fundamental empowering and democratizing principles. Even though empowerment can be understood in different ways, a broad understanding of the term in terms of skill development will be undertaken in this study. It’s the relationship between participation, skill development and empowerment that will work as a theoretical framework to analyze how participation contributes the process of skill development and ultimately it empowers communities.