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RIGHTS Journal:Issue 8 / 2007

Finding the Local Community in Community Media:Some Stories from Nepal

Kirsty Martin, Deepak Koirala, Rupa Pandey, Sita Adhikari, Govinda Prasad Acharya and Kiran MS

“We work in the field of information and communication so we alsosupport the movement (toward a democratic republic) by providingthe information to the people because now the media and radio areplaying a very important and supportive role in the success of themovement” (Rupa. April 2006).The role of community media in Nepal is emerging as one of the key factors inthe country's transition to a Democratic Republic

. The country’s current period ofpolitical and institutional transition is a crucial time to raise questions concerningpeoples’ participation at the local or community level. Within the broader politicaldiscussion of Nepal’s changing democratic structures emerge questions aboutthe roles that local media might play

. As Rupa describes in the above quote, it isnot easy to separate the wider political context from the way information aboutthe community, society and nation are administered and understood. IndeedNepal has a comprehensive history of community media and its relationship withnational politics has become increasingly complex during the country’s recentperiod of conflict

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. Nepal’s community media is often premised on socialorganisations which are supported by larger national and international groups. Ifwe accept that civil society by definition is premised on voluntary civic and socialorganisations and institutions [that] form the basis of a functioning society”

thenwe need to question the nature and function of these organisations in thecommunity and ask how community media operates in and for the community.

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RIGHTS Journal:Issue 8 / 2007

One important part of the discussion concerning democracy and the notion ofcivil society is that real democracy means freedom for public discussion andexercise of public reason (Sen: 2000, 2005). In this argument freedom is centralto the process of development, substantive freedoms like the liberty of politicalparticipation, the opportunity to receive basic education, health care, socialsecurity, are among the constituent components of development that contributesdirectly to the quality of life and to its flourishing (Sen: 2000). The process of'development as freedom' as described by Sen, highlight important questionssuch as: Do the marginalised have a voice? Do the marginalised have access toappropriate mediums through which they can tell their stories and ultimately havetheir needs met? How do the marginalised receive appropriate information?This paper takes a community-based approach in an effort to address theseimportant social questions. The four case studies included here highlight thevariety of roles that local media currently plays within their communities. Whatemerges is a complex social narrative of media in rural Nepal. Through thesestories we see how local media acts as a social educator, a facilitator ofimportant social discussions, a negotiator and informer of technological changein village communities and an outlet for local voices to be heard and communityvalues reinforced or challenged. At the same time the stories highlight thesignificant challenges that media encounters in its quest to support and respondto the demands and needs of the local community. How does local media provideopportunities for social participation and who is or should be involved in

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RIGHTS Journal:Issue 8 / 2007

community media? How does a local organisation deal with such issues astechnical maintenance and the cost of their upkeep and the other array ofexpenses that need to be met in order for local media to continue functioning andoffer a valued social service? If mainstream media is accused of favoring theaffluent, minority community media aims to ensure the ‘community’ remains incommunity media

. The following section looks at these issues in detail in thehope of understanding more about the opportunities for disadvantaged, poor ormarginalised individuals to participate in the wider community through communitymedia.

‘Finding a Voice’ in Nepal

The research ideas, themes and methodologies contained in this paper haveemerged as part of an international research project concerned with exploring thepotential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for povertyreduction. Finding a Voice (FaV) is an Australian Research Council

collaborativeresearch project involving Queensland University of Technology, University ofAdelaide, UNDP (Indonesia) and UNESCO (South Asia). The project spans fivecountries: Australia, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The project began inMarch 2006 and there are currently twelve local ethnographic action researchersspread across India, Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

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