AudiencScapes

You don’t usually get this many smart suits at a development conference, but
Indigo Trust‘s The Power of Information: New Technologies for Philanthropy and
Development at trendy Kings Place was seeking to bring together money,
technology and the developing world. …

The dynamic media sector in India enjoys unprecedented pluralism. At the same time, the country’s appetite for digital media and the increasing influence of corporations poses new challenges.

Domestic workers and day laborers in Los Angeles are using the tools of journalists to broadcast reports on issues that affect them. The project Mobile Voices/VozMob has created an open-source platform where workers-turned-bloggers publish reports by mobile phone.By Paromita PainMuch is written about low-wage workers and immigrants in the United States. Not as much media is created by low-wage and immigrant workers. An initiative in Los Angeles is giving low-wage workers and other underrepresented communities the tools for reporting the stories of their lives. One recent report shows day laborers passing the time waiting for jobs by singing and entertaining each other.

A handful of community radio stations are gearing up to report news for and by the people, when and if they are ever allowed to broadcast. Despite the fact that the dysfunctional government is dragging its feet on opening Zimbabwe’s airwaves, community radio stations are reporting news and getting it to citizens through alternative means.By Tawanda KaromboHarare, Zimbabwe— Community Radio Harare (CORAH), an independent radio initiative based in the capital city, is pioneering private broadcasting in Zimbabwe despite facing numerous operational constraints. Its biggest obstacle remains the fact that the government will not grant it a broadcast license.

Iraq’s first independent student newspaper is now in its ninth month of publishing. Started by an American journalist, the paper teaches students the principles of unbiased journalism in a country where freedom of the press is still limited.by Paromita PainIn July, Iraq’s first independent student newspaper won an award from the American Associated College Press. For a newspaper that only produced its first issue nine months ago, it was quite an honor. The paper’s faculty adviser, Jackie Spinner, and the editor in chief, Arez Hussen Ahmed, were present at the College Journalism Workshop in Minnesota to receive their award for Seventh Place in Best in Show.

A news service in central India uses mobile phones to overcome barriers like illiteracy and lack of internet access. Reporters file their stories and users listen to them on the phone. CGNet Swara trains people from the tribal populations to become citizen journalists and create a credible and accessible news service.By Paromita PainThe mobile phone revolution in India is actively changing the way people are participating in news production. A new digital news service launched in February of this year employs mobile phones to both receive and broadcast news stories. CGnet Swara, as the project is called, serves residents of Chhattisgarh, a heavily forested state in central India whose tribal populations live primarily off the land.

By Hannah Bowen, Africa project manager, InterMedia (Washington, D.C.)--I recently met with a group of developing-country journalists who were brought here by the Population Reference Bureau to report on the Women Deliver conference and share ideas about how to improve coverage of health issues in their countries. We talked about how they could identify audiences for such issues and reach out to them. I also asked them about their relationship with the development community, prompting a lively discussion about how development groups can do a better job communicating with them. The bottom line: journalists are equally as concerned about being "used" by development organizations as they are by other interest groups, be they politicians or businesses or otherwise.