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                                        Introduction




          In the foothills of the Himalayas, 100 kilometers north of the birthplace
          of the Buddha, is the Nepali village of Madanpokhara. It is a long walk
          from the nearest road. A dirt track winds up the hillside and into the
          village, passing homes and small outbuildings, temples and teahouses,
          workshops and stores. Beyond the village center a narrow path leads
          through the woods to the hilltop, where a white brick building sits
          close to a tall red mast. This is the home of Radio Madanpokhara.
          Inside is a simple radio studio, powered by solar batteries and a
          backup generator. A team of local producers, broadcasting in Nepali
          and other local languages, mobilize community participation in pro-
          gramming that is informative and educational as well as entertaining.
          Radio Madanpokhara broadcasts across a rural agricultural commu-
          nity in which few people have access to electricity or a telephone. Yet
          almost every household now has a radio receiver, and the radio, with
          its network of listener clubs and district correspondents, has become
          the principal means of local communication and discussion of local
          development. According to an independent listener survey,1 Radio
          Madanpokhara, on the air since April 2000, contributes to improved
          agricultural techniques and a reduction in social discrimination, raises
          awareness of the rights of women, and improves access to news and in-
          formation. It is also a voice for peace, dialogue, and democracy in the
          face of conflict and political turmoil.
               Radio Madanpokhara is just one of thousands of broadcast services
          worldwide whose contribution to development is both measurable and
          significant and whose emergence has been a product of political reform

          1
            Guragain, Prospects for Promoting Equality, Development and Social Justice through FM Radio
          (Kathmandu: MS Nepal--Danish Association for International Co-operation, 2005).
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             2   Introduction

             and of democratic social change. This guide, Broadcasting, Voice, and
             Accountability: A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law, and Regulation,
             was written to illuminate the issues and their impact on civic society
             such as this. The growth of media, giving a voice to excluded people in
             most countries and in all regions of the world, and the media's emerg-
             ing influence in the global struggle against poverty and social injustice,
             stimulated the production of this guide. A free, independent, and plu-
             ralistic media environment, offering the means and incentives for the
             widest participation, can have a profound influence on people's oppor-
             tunities to access information and services, to understand and be able to
             exercise their rights, to participate in decisions that affect their lives, and
             to hold to account those in positions of power and responsibility. This is
             reflected in a growing recognition, in the context of international devel-
             opment, of the central importance of effective and inclusive communi-
             cations systems.
                  The broadcast media, radio and television, have a unique and
             particular role to play both in enhancing governance and account-
             ability and in giving voice to poor and marginalized communities. In
             addition to traditional means of expression, "voice" in this context
             means the capacity, opportunity, and resources of diverse segments
             of society to signal government as to their needs and their perception
             of the quality of governance, to have their views represented in main-
             stream media, and to develop their own media. Broadcast media, as
             we argue later, are especially relevant and accessible to remote com-
             munities, cultural and linguistic minorities, the very poor and illiter-
             ate people. Policies, laws, regulations, and other public actions that
             govern the broadcast media are central to their ability to play that
             role, and they form the main focus of this guide.
                  The guide maps out a public interest approach to fostering free,
             independent, and pluralistic broadcast media. Its objective is to pro-
             vide guidance on how to design a policy, legal, and regulatory frame-
             work that can contribute to the achievement of public interest goals
             such as transparency of government and accountability to the people,
             enhanced quality of and participation in public debate, and increased
             opportunities for marginalized groups to develop and articulate their
             views. The guide draws from the experiences of a wide range of
             countries in all regions of the world and is illustrated extensively by
             country-level examples of policies, laws, and regulations.
                  The guide is intended as a tool for media reform particularly in de-
             veloping and transitional democracies. At the same time, it should be
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                                                                                    Introduction    3

          useful anywhere people aspire to a deeper democracy. Building democ-
          racy is a process, often long-term, and promoting free, pluralistic, and
          independent media should be a central part of it. It should not be left
          until after the legal system has been transformed or democratic
          attitudes are in place; rather, it should be part and parcel of efforts to re-
          form the social and institutional system and to build democracy in all
          of its aspects. As such, while the guide may not be immediately appli-
          cable in dictatorships or war zones,2 it can help inform strategies in
          countries--such as those in transition or recovering from conflict--
          where democratic foundations are being set in place.
               The guide adopts a normative approach--it is about good
          practice--but two further observations should be made concerning
          its application. The first is that the media and communications envi-
          ronment is dynamic, almost everywhere undergoing rapid change.
          The second is that vast disparities exist not only in the state of media
          development but also in the pace of change, and these disparities ex-
          ist both between countries and between different groups of people
          within countries. Thus the tools themselves do not and cannot offer a
          "one-size-fits-all" solution and must be regularly reviewed to respond
          to a changing environment.
               Part I offers an overview of the rationale for a public interest
          approach and its role in enhancing governance, development, and
          "voice." The focus on broadcasting is explained and justified on the
          basis of its reach and its enduring importance in people's lives. The
          different broadcasting sectors are described, along with their main
          trends and characteristics. Part I then turns to a regional review of
          broadcasting characteristics and trends and concludes by summariz-
          ing the evidence for an emerging paradigm in broadcasting policy
          and regulation.
               The good practice guidelines are set out in Parts II and III. These
          are not designed to be read end-to-end but to be consulted selectively
          for issues of interest. To facilitate this navigation, good practices are
          organized under clear headings that identify and describe features of
          the policy, legal, and regulatory environment that are critically
          important for media development in the public interest. While recog-
          nizing that reform necessarily involves social, political, and institu-
          tional processes of change that take time and require adaptation to

          2
          For further discussion on this point see Putzel and van der Zwan, Why Templates for Media
          Development Do Not Work in Crisis States (London: Crisis States Research Centre, LSE, 2005).
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             4   Introduction

             local circumstances and interests, these topics provide a framework
             that can help guide evaluations of the status quo and provide options
             for reforms.
                  Part II examines the general enabling environment for media and
             communications, including standards of freedom of expression and
             access to information, the use and misuse of defamation law, and gen-
             eral content rules that apply to all media, including print media and
             journalists.
                  Part III is dedicated specifically to broadcasting, including the role
             of regulatory bodies, broadcast content rules, the distinctive sectors
             commonly referred to as public service, community nonprofit, and
             commercial private sector broadcasting, as well as the regulation of
             broadcast spectrum and channels.
                  After short introductions to Part II and to Part III, each chapter is
             prefaced by a good practice checklist. The elements of good practice
             are elaborated and explained in the narrative and supported by coun-
             try examples that illustrate their implementation. These chapters
             form the core of this guide and offer a tool kit for those involved in
             analysis, advocacy, and policy making for media and communica-
             tions reform.
                  The final section of the guide presents a research agenda that is in-
             tended to address the lack of relevant and systematic data and infor-
             mation on broadcasting encountered during the process of researching
             and compiling this guide. It concludes by presenting some options and
             practical opportunities for development assistance to support a more
             coherent approach to reforming broadcasting in the public interest.