AudiencScapes

In the past several years, aid donors and others focused on improving lives in developing countries have been touting social media's ability to empower citizens to foment social change.  Two recent high-profile examples are the “Arab Spring” and popular unrest in China, where social media clearly played roles.  But what about places such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where access to social media remains very limited, if not absent altogether? Caldwell Bishop reports from a recent event on the upcoming elections in Congo............

by Bai-Bai Sesay18 March 2010(Freetown, Sierra Leone)--Community radio stations are widespread in post-civil war Sierra Leone. But they face financial and logistical challenges, while some observers voice concern about whether they are playing a constructive role in the national political discourse and can remain free of partisan meddling. Finances and politics are often related issues, as strapped stations may be more vulnerable to influence by those who would like to use them as a mouthpiece to push a particular political agenda. National ReachIsaac Massaquoi, head of the department of Mass Communications at the University of Sierra Leone and a community radio pioneer, said roughly 30 of these stations operate in all of the country's 12 political and administrative districts.