A voice for the Voiceless 04.Oct.2014 The Enormous Potential of Community Radio Karen A draft broadcasting law due to be tabled during the current session of parliament could see Myanmars airwaves being enriched by community radio stations for the first time. Approval for community stations is mandated under the third tier of broadcast sector reform, after state-owned services and commercial radio, a director of government-owned Myanma Radio and Television, U Ze Yar, told an international media conference in Yangon on September 18. He was speaking in a panel discussion titled Community radio and ethnic voices in which another participant was broadcasting pioneer Naw Hsa Moo, 29, who has been involved in running a pirate station in Kayin State and broadcasting in refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border for nearly 15 years. Naw Hsa Moo, who was born in an unofficial refugee campand has spent a year with a radio station in a remote area of Canada, is advocacy and media coordinator of the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network, a grassroots group based in Chiang Mai. She is passionate about the vital role community radio can play in isolated and marginalised communities. Community radio stations should be established throughout Kayin State and throughout Myanmar, she says. “Radio overcomes barriers of isolation and electricity; It is the most affordable electronic media to broadcast and receive, especially in ethnic areas,”she told the third annual conference on media development in Myanmar. Radio and television broadcasting is limited to state-owned enterprises or those with government approval under the Video and Television Law enacted in 1996 by the then ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council. Six years after the 2008 Constitution guaranteed freedom of expression and non-discrimination based on race, religion, culture, community voices from Myanmars ethnic minority groups remain absent from the airwaves. “Community broadcasting services will play an essential role in bridging the gap between government and local people,”U Ze Yar told the conference, organised by the Myanmar Media Development Thematic Working Group, together with UNESCO, the Ministry of Information and a non-government group, International Media Support. The draft broadcasting law, presented by U Ze Yar at the conference, mandates that at least 20 percent of the frequency spectrum be allotted to non-profit community broadcast services. The stations will be funded by donations from Myanmar and foreign partners and advertising revenue, the draft says. Although the law is yet to be enacted, the government has already granted regional FM licences to private enterprises, said U Ze Yar. However, of the six privately-run stations, most have an entertainment focus, he said. Despite Myanmars nascent radio milieu, Naw Hsa Moos enthusiasm for the medium is contagious. “Let me tell you, any notion that sophisticated technology like TV will replace radio is unfounded, she told the session, attended by scores of journalists, government officials and civil society representatives. Radio is in constant expansion and reaches almost every corner of our planet,”she said. Naw Hsa Moo is co-founder of Karen Student Group Network community radio, which began broadcasting in Mae La, the largest of the Myanmar refugee camps in Thailand, in 2000. The station was launched when KSNG leaders returned from a media workshop in the Philippines with a small radio transmitter, handsets and the idea of broadcasting important information to camp residents. The group installed a 10 watt transmitter, with enough capacity to broadcast to the perimeter of Mae La, which covers less than a square mile (2.58 square kilometres) and is home to more than 40,000 refugees. The success of the initiative prompted engineers in the camp to install more powerful transmitters to reach a wider audience. Radio stations were subsequently established in Mae La, Mae La Oon, Mae Ra Ma Luang, Umpiem and Nu Po camps by KSNG, an education-focussed grassroots organisation with more than 2,000 members along the Thai-Myanmar border. The group received training and funding from the international media NGO, Internews. Naw Hsa Moo said legendary BBC journalist Christopher Gunness, famous in Myanmar for his coverage of the national uprising in 1988, was among her teachers. In Kayin State and the nine camps along the border, communities have historically relied on the Burmese services of the BBC, and weekly 15-minute Karen-language broadcasts from DVB and RFA, said Naw Hsa Moo. However, she said language barriers and reception difficulties in mountainous Kayin State demanded a local response: community-owned transmitters and content. “Many Karen people who cannot speak other languages –or read –rely on our radio stations,”said Naw Hsa Moo. “People cannot leave the camps and have very limited access to news.” When the groups fragile transmitters break down, producers create CDs for camp leaders to play over loudspeakers used for camp announcements. In September the transmitter in Mae La camp broke down and KSNG members needed funding to stay on the air, said Naw Hsa Moo. Since the Thai military coup on May 22 and the subsequent enforcement of restrictions on movement at the camps, residents have been in greater need of accurate information about the political situation and their rights as refugees, she said. In 2010 Naw Hsa Moo co-founded Pwe Lo Radio ? Kayin States first community broadcaster, near Day Pu Noh village in Hpapun Township, northern Kayin State. It is a long journey from Yangon to the transmitter and its radio station. It involves flying to Chiang Mai, driving to the Thai town of Mae Sariang, crossing the Salween River, which runs parallel to the border, and a half-day climb to a mountain peak. The station airs content produced by the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network, which is also available online, as well as live news and music. Producers prepare material on a USB drive in Day Pu Noh, hike up to the station and pass it to the technicians and hosts, said Naw Hsa Moo. Broadcasts are mainly in Sgaw, a Karen language, but Pwo language music is also played, she said. “Community radio is trusted by local people,”Naw Hsa Moo told Mizzima Business Weekly on the sidelines of the conference. “We understand local issues, health, education and livelihoods; we use radio to communicate with each other.” Naw Hsa Moo said a community radio station is being built in Tanintharyi Region and another in Bago Regions Nyaunglebin Township. Funding is an issue, she said, and community groups are trying to muster support. “The stations will apply for licences,”she said. “Pwe Lo Radio is already set up and I dont think we need to apply; I dont think well get in trouble, were not doing anything wrong.” Two state-run MRTV radio stations broadcast in more than ten ethnic languages throughout Myanmar and, starting on November 1, the broadcast times will be extended, said U Ze Yar. For Naw Hsa Moo, more needs to be done to develop the potential of community radio. Every minority ethnic group in Myanmar needs its own community radio station, she said. “The government should allow and support ethnic communities to broadcast on their own stations without restrictions,”she said. “Radio gives a voice to the voiceless, serves as a mouthpiece for the marginalised and is at the heart of democratisation.” More information on the Karen Student Network Group or Karen Environmental and Social Action Network radio and media projects is available from Naw Hsa Moo at hsamoo12@gmail. Written by Portia Larlee
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 22:39:38 +0000
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