Other Voices: The Struggle for Community Radio in India

Other Voices is a study of an emerging alternative media scene in India in the larger context of the globalisation of mass communication. It explores community radio in India. While the trend globally is toward mergers, acquisitions, and concentration of ownership in fewer and fewer corporate hands, civil society organisations (CSOs) worldwide have been promoting alternative, community-owned media. This study investigates the ideologies and communication practices of various community-based organisations (CBOs) that have been using community radio as a means for empowerment at the grassroots. Adopting the case study method, the authors do an in-depth analysis of four community radio projects in India - in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Jharkhand.

This book documents the struggle for community radio in India in the context of the state's reluctance to open up the airwaves. It explores appropriate frameworks for policy-making, including a comparative study of the policies related to community radio in liberal, democratic countries. It also offers an assessment of the history of broadcasting policy in India, leading up to the announcement of a community radio policy at the end of 2006.