Promoting Communication for Social Change
| Democratizing the airwaves in the Americas |
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By María Teresa Aveggio, Programme Manager for Recognising and Building Communication Rights, WACC
The Argentinean legislation – several years in the making with support and in-put of a myriad grassroots and community groups, many of them members and/or partners of WACC – this makes the country one of the strongest in terms of regulatory frameworks to limit media concentration. The legislation promotes and, most importantly, guarantees diversity and pluralism in the airwaves. The new law, which replaces legislation imposed in 1980 by past military rulers of Argentina, regulates audiovisual communication services (including radio and open signal TV) incorporating recommendations made by the Inter-American System of Human Rights. By limiting cross ownership of media in accordance with best international practices, the new law puts into place diverse and effective measures such as a maximum number of licenses held by any one person or business. In order to promote diversity of local and national content, a number of European-style guidelines have been introduced and new minimum standards of local, national and home-production are demanded of license-holders. The new law recognizes explicitly three sectors: public, commercial and non-profit. Thirty three percent of the frequencies of the spectrum are reserved for non-profit groups and entities. Community radio and TV are expressly recognized as ‘private actors which have a social aim and are characterized by being organized and managed by diverse non-profit organisations. Their fundamental characteristic is community participation in the ownership, programming, management, operation, funding and evaluation. They are independent media and non government. They will never be understood as a service with restricted geographical coverage.’ The law also establishes mechanisms that ensure that the criteria to allocate frequencies include the applicant’s social functions such as support for vulnerable and marginalized sectors of society. The new Argentinean legislation not only took into account the ‘21 Basic Points of Communication Rights prepared by the Coalition for Democratic Broadcasting’ an alliance of social institutions and organisations, trade unions, academic, grass root and professional communication associations, but it was widely discussed at the preparation stage by citizens’ groups throughout the country. Two days later, on October 15, advocates for greater public access to the airwaves through the licensing of low power station celebrated when the USA’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce voted unanimously to pass the Local Community Radio Act. Introduced with strong bi-partisan support the legislation will open the public airwaves to hundreds of low powered FM (LPFM) radio stations able to broadcast community news and local perspectives to neighbourhoods across the country. Historically the USA big broadcasters have opposed the Local Community Radio Act on the grounds that LPFM would cause interference to full powered stations, a concerned which was disproved by a Congress commissioned technical report. Hearing the results of the vote Cory Fisher-Hoffman, Campaign Director of for the Prometheus Radio Project, a Philadelphia based non-profit group, declared that ‘Today’s vote signals a policy shift towards more local and diverse media.’
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