In Mali, there is a radio station that regularly broadcasts a musical party. What makes it different is that the party goers are not dispersed throughout the country. They are dancing outside the studio, and can even come in to talk on the radio.
Outside Johannesburg, a studio guest can look out the window of the radio station and, with luck, catch sight of the person telephoning in to ask a question.
In Washington, DC, cable television provides the daily schedule of the mayor, and also lists civic events, only one flick of the tuning button away from a CNN broadcast from the Middle East.
In Australia, both commercial and community radio stations regularly take outside broadcast vans to shopping centres and community events, where they broadcast from the middle of a crowd, making radio more accessible to people both as listeners and participants.
High-technology communication options have become cheaper, more accessible, and more able to reach into niche markets than ever before. Educators often set their sights on national impact; but it is possible to use community impact to reach precisely those special groups, high-impact individuals, and groups that lead to a successful programme.
When the merit of such media has been recognised by commercial interests, it is possible to work through agencies or directories to gain access to them. But even these agencies and directories cannot always keep up with the pace of change in the marketplace. In societies where there are attempts at centralised control of media, or where particular groups of people distrust the mainstream, it is more difficult to identify what is available.
What follows is a set of clues and places to look rather than a full listing:
- cable and community television
- community radio stations
- community newspapers
- religious or denominational newspapers
- self-published magazines ('zines)
- information kiosks
- community bulletin boards
Cable and Community Television
Cable television starts from a presumption that people will pay for a service either on a regular basis, or increasingly on a pay-per-view basis. In order to achieve that, companies must install the necessary cable, and once this is in place, it may be a condition of the licence of those using the cable that they have a certain amount of public service broadcasting, or they may choose to allow small operations, or cheaper options to fill air time that they would otherwise not use. So, there
often is spare capacity on these channels that can be used to send even static images or text into houses that subscribe.
Such access allows very cheap productions to take up odd times of the day and night. But the ready availability of television and the voracious appetite for material means that, in addition to the specialised channels, there are increasing numbers of regional stations that broadcast community (or citywide) programming in between prime time programming provided by the larger national stations.
Even in countries with a very limited number of broadcast channels using the airwaves as opposed to cable or satellite, there is an increasing tendency to establish regional breakaway magazine programmes that might broadcast in a different language for a certain period of the day.
Such programmes might not appear to have the same reach as a national prime time advertisement, but they are likely to be cheaper and therefore possible to air for longer periods. It is also likely that it is possible to prepare a much more focussed message because the likely viewers are better known.
Community Radio
Small radio stations are always looking for programming material and are willing and able to place advertising spots at low cost. What is more, they have loyal although small audiences with well-known characteristics. In some countries, such stations may be trusted more and may be able to provide more detailed political information and debate.
These factors should be considered when preparing material. The correct language and dialect should be used when possible, the issues should be those of the listeners, and the style should match that expected. Material that is well prepared according to the appropriate specifications is likely to be used as is.
Community radio stations may broadcast on a specific frequency throughout a country, so that a listener who is travelling can leapfrog from one station to another without touching the dial. When this is possible, national advertising can enable people to keep posted on the elections or some other campaign while they are moving around, an ideal situation for educators and administrators.
Other stations may be willing to give up time during an election, an ideal situation for distance education programmes.
An education programme can give prominence to a local spokesperson, perhaps someone who has undergone training or has been appointed as an information officer. Community stations may be able to interview such people at short notice and without major cost.
There are some constraints. Educators should not rely solely on community stations. Such stations can have very small audiences. They are also often disorganised placing an advertisement is no guarantee that it will air or that there will be a record of its airing. Programmes are most successful is they make personal contact the local people.
Community Newspapers
Community newspapers can be large-circulation city papers for which people pay. Access to these is similar to that of those newspapers described in National Impact Media. They are, however, more likely to be free papers supported by local advertising.
These newspapers can be distributed free to households or can be left at community sites such as libraries and shops for people to collect. In the first case, the distribution figure can be more reliable, as is the ability to determine the geographic spread of the information. In the second case, some observation is needed to determine whether the paper does reach its intended audience.
These papers provide important community services: local news, commemoration of civic events, advertising of local events and services, and often a vigorous correspondence page where people fight out local politics. They may not be well laid out or professionally produced - often they are a labour of love and highly idiosyncratic. But they are read, if only for the classified advertisements, but normally for much more than that. And their editors know what is happening in their local
communities.
So, they are an ideal means for promoting events, obtaining information, or establishing what might form part of a civic education programme or political campaign. Election educators can use papers for communicating local information such as where to vote, where to register, and so on. Material that is prepared in discussion with editors and is done in a suitable format is more likely to be used as is.
Many community newspapers do not consider themselves part of the free distribution family. They have a mission and come with backing from a community-based organisation or set of associations with a political goal. Such newspapers can have a hard core of readers, and the more successful have broken into the broader community.
Educators should analyse readerships and distribution patterns carefully so as not to romanticise their reach and influence.
Religious or Denominational Newspapers
Many religious organisations have newspapers. These may have substantial readerships across an entire country. Others may have smaller, more specialised readerships.
Not all religious organisations are favourably disposed to political activity or to democracy promotion. And some of their publications zealously guard access to their readers.
But it is possible to engage the editors and governors of such publications in order to discover whether there are particular messages that might be placed in their publication and how best to do so.
Some editors can draw a distinction between partisan information and nonpartisan voter education. Or they may wish to have the material written by their own writers and education programmes will merely provide background information and model articles.
It is possible to direct the editors toward personalities involved in the campaign who are significant members of their religious faith or community. And it may be possible to encourage the leaders of these religious faiths and communities to join coalitions in civil society supporting the programme.
Self-Published Magazines ('Zines)
The spread of low-cost printing, reproduction, and photocopying facilities, together with access to computers and other home design tools, has resulted in a spread of specialised, self-published magazines ('zines). Such 'zines, to use a label applied by many of their producers which differentiates them from more formal journals and popular magazines, are designed and distributed to extremely specific niche markets, and normally those associated with youth culture, music, and art.
The spread of cheap compact disc (CD) technology has meant an increase in the use of the CD to supplement the 'zine, and the Internet also has a number of such journals.
'Zines suffer from, and glory in, the copycat nature of their emergence. They come and go, often have a radical approach to society, if not to their particular group, and display an irreverence and street wisdom that more-restrained and mainline journals often attempt to appropriate.
As a result of their immediacy, such 'zines are ideal for communicating a particular point of view or for advertising specific events that take place within a short time of the appearance of the publication. Because of the targeted readership, they offer an opportunity to reach specific audiences.
Information Kiosks
Many countries have tourist bureaus that provide general information about themselves. Some have citizen information desks that offer access to municipal and state information. In countries with advanced computer networks, these staffed kiosks have been replaced by varying levels of interactive touch screen computers offering access to a range of online information.
In South Africa, these computer kiosks were developed together with support from UNESCO to provide voter information from the electoral commission and information about all contestants prepared by themselves. This information is housed in a national museum, and has been placed in a range of stand-alone computer terminals.
In the United Kingdom, a national network system is being put in place that provides travel and community information. Australia is increasingly using such kiosks to carry information about government services, as are some states in the United States of America.
The availability of these kiosks is going to increase, and once in place, access to information is easy to achieve.
Even when computerisation is not available, countries with public information kiosks have a system for distributing information and a range of staff who could receive training especially in the provision of election information.
Community Bulletin Boards
Growth in commercial activity and the number and prevalence of shopping malls in place of town squares has meant that community gathering places must now be sought in a range of places. At these gathering places, many community bulletin boards have been placed, which can advertise jobs and act as exchange systems for bartering of goods and services.
As a result, there is a section of the population that will consult these and other similar notice boards in government offices, shopping centres, and so on.
While it may be beyond the capacity of a centralised education programme to use such diversified systems of communication, careful preparation of material suitable for display and motivation of local volunteers can result in the spread of information quite rapidly across these community boards.
A number of other communication methods are discussed further in Alternative Communications.
