REVIEW OF COMMUNITY RADIO POLICY IN BANGLADESH: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES By Kamrul Hassan Monju Executive Director Mass-line Media

Centre,Dhaka, Bangladesh Website: http://www.mass-line.org Email: info@mass-line.org

The government of Bangladesh has approved Community Radio Policy in May 2008. This has come to be a reality due to a 12 year long advocacy initiative of civil society organizations as well as the willingness of the government. The policy was formulated with the participation of six high-level government officials of the Ministry of Information and two civil society organizations, Mass-line Media Centre (MMC) and Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC). The direct contribution of the civil society campaign and other advocates expedited the whole advocacy initiatives for establishing community radio in Bangladesh. Moreover the continuous support of the development partners like DANIDA, UNESCO and UNICEF and inspiration of World Association for Community Radio finally helped the Community Radio activists to make it happen in Bangladesh. The present policy possesses some strengths and weaknesses. Here an attempt is made to review the Community Radio Policy for further improvement after the pilot phase. The community radio policy of Bangladesh, which is meant for the pilot phase of the medium in the country, contains eight articles along with a brief introduction. The introductory part puts places emphasis on the needs and importance of radio, as well as its potential in the age of proliferation of diversified global media. The historic role of Bangladesh Betar as a public service broadcasting institution is highlighted in the approved policy. It also recognizes the presence of commercial FM radio and criticizes its very commercial and centralized feature and thus justifies the importance of community radio. The definition of community radio is presented in the Community Radio Policy 2008 by emphasizing certain internationally recognized keywords that articulate the unique characteristics of community radio. It states that community radio has to be operated as a non-profit broadcasting service. Its ownership has to rest with the community and voices of the community have to be given expression through its programmes for the benefit of the community, especially the marginalized groups. Community resources should be utilized for its operation and management. It should be treated as a central resource to for communication and democratization. Fundamental Principles and Required Criteria: The policy has specified certain fundamental principles, which should be followed by the interested applicants. Similar principles are followed by neighbouring countries like India and Nepal. The policy requires an applicant to possess five years' of experience in the field of community development and to treat the initiative as a nonprofit venture. Community based

participatory management and ownership structure have to be ensured. The contents of CR have been specified as education, social issues, gender, economy, environment and community culture. An applicant organizations must have a legal entity and a clear commitment to disseminate information on disadvantaged rural communities. Moreover, sources of funds should be clearly mentioned in the proposal.

Eligibility Criteria: Only government research institutions and development organizations, on-government development organization, ICT-based media organizations possessing legal entities or registrations are entitled to apply. The policy limits the scope of individuals, partnership firms, political parties, profit making organizations, foreign broadcasters, channels and organizations banned by the government. Some interested parties may feel that the eligibility criteria are too restrictive and limit the scope for promoting multidimensional community based information. These may be seen also to limit the creative exposure of various social groups. Some educationists have noted that the policy does not give government and non-government educational institutions any opportunity to establish community radio stations. As a result, campus radio cannot be introduced in Bangladesh unlike in other developing countries. A provision for campus radio in the CR policy could provide an opportunity to introduce distance education for the community. Critics have also suggested that the policy provide for the introduction of campus radio in all agriculture universities. These suggestions should be taken into account when the government prepares a full-fledged policy after the pilot phase. Licensing Process: To avoid undue pressure and to maintaining a transparent licensing process, the policy requires applicants to use prescribed forms and has to wait for the application is to be assessed by the regulatory committee and technical sub-committee, and clearance given from the Ministry of Home Affairs. It lays down that the license is to be given for two years and one year for installation. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Board is responsible for frequency allocation. License fees: The winning party to deposit $ 286.00 equivalent to Tk20, 000 as license fee and $1429.00 equivalent to Tk.100000 as security deposit?. It is felt that the license fees are not a burden for the community radio entrepreneurs. A successful applicant is required to install the equipment and start broadcasting within one year. Failure to do so makes the operator ineligible for a refund of the deposit. Under the policy the government reserves the right to revise the fees when it is required. Technical Structure: The CR policy has also laid down certain technical parameters, but with some flexibility. Generally the coverage of a CR should not exceed 17 kilometers, requiring a 100-watt transmitter. In the case of ERP the power of the transmitter would be in between 100 watts and 250 watts. The antenna gain would be 6DB and transmission frequency would be in the FM Band.

Areas Restricted: The policy restricts the dissemination of information which may offend decency, endangers friendly relations with other countries, is obscene, defamatory or false. It takes a strong position against any information that may incite violence, or cause instability in the law and order situation. Dissemination of information that shows a lack of regard for women, children, the disabled, ethnic minorities, and religious beliefs has been restricted. Equal respect to all community members has been encouraged through program planning and broadcasting. The policy requires advisory committees to be formed with the participation of upazila and government officials and other promoters of development advertisements, for monitoring and evaluation of community radio operations. This provision presents a dilemma on the one hand, the government may take advantage of it to manipulate political information through CR, but on the other hand, it may create opportunities for CR entrepreneurs to receive development advertisements, which would make their operations financially sustainable. Challenges: Tax policy: There is no specific indication regarding the tax rate for import of community radio equipment from overseas. The existing tax policy implies 70% of cost for imported electronic goods. But were to be treated as ICT tools, the tax would be only 5%. If such an exemption policy is not followed a high rate of dropout can be expected. As for income tax, failure to treated community radio as a nonprofit sector and subjecting it, instead, to normal income tax rules and rates would also hamper its sustainability. Political interference: Some critics are apprehensive of possible interference from local political pressure groups while the next government will take over. They feel that local politicians and their bureaucratic alliances may exert pressure on CR entrepreneurs to ensure that their preferred content is broadcast. However, it is felt that the adoption of a clear and transparent in-house policy prepared with the participation of the community may reduce such tensions. Ownership: Critics say point out that though the issue of licences for community radio is an important step, not many community-based organizations may be able to obtain licences, as the CR policy only gives this opportunity to the government research institutions and NGOs rather than communities. The justification for this policy could be that, the CR project is currently at the pilot stage. The licensee organizations are expected to learn the operation of CR at this stage, so that they may handed over the facilities to the communities in future. Capacity constraints: The critics believe that the community radio initiatives may face some constraints of capacity due to non-availability of trained manpower at the community level. This may be true as Bangladesh is new to community radio, but the experiences of neighboring countries could be utilized through experience-sharing and

training programmes. On the other hand, NGOs are expected to play a vital role in capacity building. Sustainability: Critics have raised the sustainability issue as a serious concern. Low coverage, restriction on commercials and its community-based public service broadcasting nature, they feel, may hamper community radio's sustainability. Existing tax laws would also have a negative impact on the sustainability. Others point out that the present policy provision for broadcasting advertisements related to development services, would help CR receive government advertisements and NGO campaign messages. Also, some research and exchange programmes could be developed wherein the development partners may might contribute financially. Political news coverage: Political news has always been popular with media consumers. Critics say that the community radio in Bangladesh may losse the credibility and audience interest on account of restrictions on political news. Some stress that these restrictions are an interference in the peoples freedom of expression. Others argue that though it there are restrictions on the partisan political programmes, there is no interference in the politics of development. There are no restrictions on messages about the empowerment of the poor and bottom-up information dissemination concerning the rights of marginalized and disadvantaged communities. These issues are rarely touched upon by the mainstream private sector media. Power supply: Lack of a regular power supply may be a serious constraints for community radio as the frequent failure of power has come to be a regular feature in Bangladesh. Generators, UPS units or solar energy could be utilized to avoid interruption. Local power supply units may be persuaded to treat the CR operations as a VIP areas. Opportunities: 1. The government is ready to use CR to promote of the peoples right to know. 2. The governments willingness to work with the civil society as well as community radio activists is very high. 3. The level of awareness about the rights of women, marginalized and indigenous communities are very high at the community level and a high level of empathy is found with development programmes on in radio and television. 4. NGOs experiences on grassroots communication are found to be a supplementary support for future advocacy to broaden the policy. 5. The willingness of government to support CR entrepreneurs is very high. 6. The policy ensures the promotion of development advertisements of different government institutions. 7. SME market is flourishing at grassroots level, which would ensure access to development related private advertisements. 8. Governments willingness to consider the CR equipments as ICT tools that may reduce the tax ratio at minimum level.