Who is community in community media

Commonwealth Educational

Media Centre for Asia

Who is a “Community” in

Community Media?

Dr Ankuran DuttaProgramme OfficerCEMCA, New Delhi

Concept of Community Media

Community media is any tool of

communication that is made and

controlled by a community. The

characteristics differentiate community

media from commercial media, state

run media, or public media.

Concept of Community Media

“Community media are characterized by their

accountability to the communities they serve. They

emerge as a result of popular movements that strive to

attain an important space in citizen participation and

demand the right to own and operate free from political or

commercial interference.”- UNESCO

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/community-media/

The Question

Community media is one that is operated:

• in the community,

• for the community,

• about the community and

• by the community.

But, who is a community in community media?

Understanding Community

• What dictionaries define--.

• A group of people living in the same place or having a

particular characteristic in common (OUP)

• Montreal’s Italian community

• the gay community in London

• the scientific community

• A particular area or place considered together with its

inhabitants

• a rural community

• local communities.


• What dictionaries define--.

• A social group of any size whose members reside in a specific

locality, share government, and often have a common cultural

and historical heritage.

• A social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common

characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as

distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it

exists

• Self-organized network of people with common agenda, cause,

or interest, who collaborate by sharing ideas, information, and

other resources.

• Virtual communities consist of participants in online

discussions on topics of mutual concern, or of those who

regularly visit some websites.


“A community is a group that shares a

sufficient commonality of interests such that

its members are motivated to engage in

collective action”

-Brinkerhoff and Azfar 2006

Who is a community?

• A social unit of any size

• Having a particular characteristic in common or

that shares common values

• Having an identity, may be geographical,

political, economic, religious, cultural, or virtual


Defining the term community is a complex concern,

with various diverging perspectives and outlooks.

How can we define the term 'community' in a

simplest yet most comprehensive way?

As we try to understand the term with a slightly

different approach it’s observed ‘community’

comprises of two distinct yet intricately imbibed

phrases- Common and Unity

(Common + Unity = Community)

http://comcomm.blogspot.in/


Commons, simply refers to people or masses

Unity stands for the state or feature of being one, uniformity, being

in accord, harmony with one another or towards a particular

cause.

So, Community is a group of people with unification of some

specific genre, may be geographical, political, economic, cultural,

identity real or virtual.

For example, a Facebook or other social network’s community is

a virtual community. Similarly, the concept 'C3' finds its bases

primarily on geographical community. But it may also be identified

with socio-cultural identity!



References• Community media - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2015, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_media

• Community media | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24,

2015, from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/community-media/

• Community | Define Community at Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2015, from

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/community

• community: definition of community in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). (n.d.). Retrieved January 21,

2015, from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/community

• Dutta, A. (2014, October 12). Community Communications: Defining 'Community'. Retrieved from

http://comcomm.blogspot.in/2014/10/defining-community.html

• Gilani, S. K. (n.d.). Defining Community Media. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from

http://wpmu.mah.se/nmict122group2/defining-community-media/

• Meadows, M., Forde, S., Ewast, J., & Foxwell, K. (n.d.). An audience study of the Australian community

broadcasting sector. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from

http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/239345/Susan-Ford-Community-Media-matters-Exec-Sum-

and-Chapt-1.pdf

• Mrutu, E. K. (n.d.). Development of Community Media. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from

http://sockom.helsinki.fi/commedia/MRUTHU%20COMMUNITY%20MEDIA.doc

• Rancovic, L. (2010, June 11). The Role of Community Media in Development. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from

http://development.thinkaboutit.eu/think3/post/the_role_of_community_media_in_development/

• Various forms of community media. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2015, from

http://www2.amk.fi/digma.fi/eetu/www.amk.fi/opintojaksot/0702010/1204871263088/1204871755653/12048718601

82/1204874765272.html

• What is community? definition and meaning. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2015, from

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/community.html

• Why Community Media? (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://mcom.aimcy.eu/index.php/why-

community-media

Thank You

You may [email protected]

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Blog: comcomm.blogspot.in

Web: www.cemca.org.in

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