Power rides on radio waves
If knowledge is power, accurate information in the climate of anxiety and rumour circulating in a conflict zone is worth its weight in gold.
Betty Bigombe, a former Ugandan cabinet minister who has been involved in peace negotiations in Northern Uganda for nearly two decades, expressed that sentiment in absentia.
Bigombe’s work carries her around the world. Unfortunately for those attending the international conference Radio Wars: Breaking the Waves of Hate, Turning the Tide Towards Peace, all that globe-trotting separated Bigombe from both her plane and her luggage.
Bigombe emailed her presentation to Frank Chalk (History), whose Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies organized the event with Canada’s Rights & Democracy: The International Centre for Human Rights & Democratic Development.
The conference gathered 15 visiting journalists, peace activists, scholars and representatives from governments and human rights NGOs in countries around the world to discuss just how powerful radio can be. Many of those present underscored that taking control of the airwaves is considered a key strategy in conflict zones.
Relatively little equipment is needed to send a signal over the airwaves. Lena Slachmuijlder, Country Director of Search for Common Ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who directs radio projects promoting peace, commented, “In the Congo, they’re making antennae out of I don’t know what. Transmitters are hanging off of trees.”
Since owning the equipment to hear a broadcast is affordable, and broadcasts can be understood regardless of literacy levels, the medium is extremely effective. That is, in situations where the message can get through. Many participants spoke of attempts by government or self-proclaimed “authorities” to dictate the content of programming.
Finding ways to tell alternate stories or responsibly report on conflicts becomes a challenge for a number of reasons. Concordia graduate and Rhodes Fellow Carol McQueen, working with Canada’s Foreign Affairs Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention Group, spoke of a project she spearheaded to get funding to a Christian community station, Radio Wa, in northern Uganda.
Jaime Little, currently working for the CBC’s northern Quebec service spent a large part of the last three years training women to work as radio journalists in Afghanistan and Chad.
She described the impact of numerous cultural differences — the difficulties of having women and men work in the same office, assumptions about women working outside the home, and computer literacy levels. “Everything just takes much more time.”
All participants agreed that whatever the level of access or training, reaching people with accurate information was impossible unless the product itself was credible and well-produced.
“Never underestimate the power of good music in Africa,” McQueen said. Others agreed.
David Wimhurst, head of public affairs for the UN peacekeeping effort in Haiti, added, “You really have to raise the bar and improve standards. Training is not enough without that kind of incentive to attract an audience by being better.”
While waiting for access to the airwaves, his team has been webcasting news reports, allowing them to reach the Haitian diaspora, as well as those in the country.