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DDP Media Summit 2019

Democracy Development Programme will hold a Media Summit aimed at exploring the role of community media in promoting active citizenship. The two-day event will see different stakeholders coming together to identify challenges faced by the sector and seek long term solutions.

Community media has evolved over the years since it was first established back in the 1990s, with its sole mandate being to diversify media through providing platforms to communities with which community media outlets serve. However, for the past couple of years, the sector has been faced with numerous hiccups, rendering it dysfunctional in different ways.

Through its civil and democratic development work, DDP bring this media summit to provoke conversations relating to the role of community media in promotion of active citizen participation and development.

“This summit will pay specific attention to the level of access that residents in societies have or supposed to have in community radio stations, TV and newspapers in their communities. Access in terms of the prospects that are available to the community to pick diverse and related programs and to have means of feedback to communicate its responses and demands to these production organizations.

Research shows that community media is the only source of media that can focus on local issues affecting communities.

According to Right to Know (R2K), South Africa has over 200 community radio stations and five community TV stations. For those who live outside major cities, community media is the only alternative to the SABC that is often the only source of media that can focus on local issues that affect members of the community.