Radio is still incredibly relevant in 2022!
Today when the world struggles with trust and truth, when there are too many unheard voices and information flow too fast for an ever-decreasing attention span, evaluating which media is directly connected with social participation in local communities is a must.
Radio has been voted the most trusted media in the world in 2021 (SOURCE: Katz analysis of the latest MRI-Simmons COVID-19 Consumer Insights Study). Community radio stations are operated, owned, and influenced by the communities they serve. They are generally nonprofit and provide a mechanism for enabling individuals, groups, and communities to tell their own stories, share experiences and, in a media-rich world, become media creators and contributors.
At Outside media & Knowledge, we care about who gets heard. If we keep hearing the same voices, same perspectives, without equal participation in voicing our concerns, we as a society are not on a good track.
The social benefits of community radios are enormous.
What really differentiates community media from their local commercial counterparts is that they see themselves, from their foundation, as part of the community. They do not just serve the community or reflect the interests of the community, they engage directly with the community and the community engages directly with them – they are inseparable. These are the findings of the Compendium of Stories: Introducing a Social Benefits approach to Community Radio (Researched and compiled by Seán Ó Siochrú and Paul Butler, Nexus Research Cooperative, 2020).
Marginalised groups, diverse groups, and communities craving more inclusion practices NEED community radios to become their platform and fulfil their inclusion potential.
Based on this potential of the community radio, the partnership of organisations across Europe, including Outside Media & Knowledge, has initiated a project to empower community radio organisations and volunteers to become an influential pillar of adult education in the civic engagement of diverse and vulnerable groups. This project is COMM UNITY: Community Radio Empowering Unheard Voices and it will be implemented from 2022 to 2024. We are looking forward to it!
