The communal in school and indigenous radios: evidences from the North of Argentina

BELOTTI FRANCESCA Y SIARES EMILSE

Radio Journal

Intellect Ltd.

Año: 2017

2040-1388

The Argentinian Law 26.522 on Audiovisual Communication Services (currently under reform) aimed at democratizing media arena by recognizing multiple actors such as community broadcasters, school radios and indigenous media, among others. According to the legal classification, community broadcasters were regulated as private nonprofit media, despite having specific objectives, programming, organizational logic and economic conditions. Conversely, school and indigenous radios merged into the public sector, despite they may act as community media. The paper compares results arising from two researches carried out in the northern Argentina through in-depth interviews with key informants of two indigenous radios and two school radios. The theoretical framework mainly lies on the literature about community, alternative and popular communication. Results show that communities participate in such media foundation or management and that media content deals with cultural and political issues related to their interests or needs. Indeed, emerging features allow considering such broadcasters as community media.