This book, Broadcasting, Voice, and Accountability, provides guidelines, tools, and real world examples to help assess and reform the enabling environment for media development that serves public interest goals.

It builds on a growing awareness of the role of media and voice in the promotion of transparent and accountable governance, in the empowerment of people to better exercise their rights and hold leaders to account; and in support of equitable development including improved livelihoods, health, and access to education.

Broadcasting, Voice, and Accountability provides development practitioners with an overview of the key policy and regulatory issues involved in supporting freedom of information and expression and enabling independent public service media. Country examples illustrate how these norms have been institutionalized in various contexts.

MAPUTO, May 2, 2008—The World Bank marked World Press Freedom Day by launching a study outlining conditions under which radio, television and online broadcasting can fulfil a vital role in development by making governments accountable, and giving voice to the world’s poor.

“Huge numbers of people, including those who can’t read, have access to broadcast media,” said Kreszentia Duer, of the World Bank Institute (WBI), who presented the study, Broadcasting, Voice and Accountability, at a conference here on freedom of expression hosted by UNESCO. “In countries with strong oral traditions, community broadcasting can enable people to share information and raise issues with a large audience, and hold government officials to account. This makes broadcasting a powerful tool for enhancing governance and promoting development.”

The 400-page study, subtitled A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law and Regulation, is the result of five years of research by six media experts, including Ms. Duer, Steve Buckley, president of the World Association of Community Broadcasters; Toby Mendel, ARTICLE 19, Global Campaign for Free Expression; Seán Ó Siochrú, founder of the Campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society; Monroe E. Price, of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania; and Marc Raboy, of Canada’s McGill University.

The study reviews broadcasting practices and regulations around the world, and identifies those which produce an “enabling environment” for broadcasting that is free, independent and pluralistic. These characteristics are essential, the report says, for broadcasting to perform an effective role in giving people voice, and ensuring government accountability.

Drawing from their research, the authors propose standards on freedom of expression, access to information, use and misuses of defamation law, content rules and limits to free speech, and the regulation of journalists. The study also offers guidelines on best practice for broadcast regulators, as well as the respective roles of public service, community non-profit, and commercial private sector broadcasters, all of which, it argues, should be present in a healthy media environment. ... (News Release)

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PDF format, 1.4MB, 416Pages.

Broadcasting, Voice, and Accountability: A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law, and Regulation
Steve Buckley, Kreszentia Duer, Toby Mendel, and Sean O'Siochru
With Monroe E. Price and Marc Raboy

ISBN-13: 978-0-8213-7295-1
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The World Bank Group
2008

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About the Authors:

Steve Buckley is Managing Director of CM Solutions, a media enterprise support agency, and President, since 2003, of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters. He is a communications policy expert and media development adviser who has worked with governments, UN agencies, and nongovernmental organizations.

Kreszentia Duer is the New Business Development Leader in the World Bank Institute and manager of its technical assistance program to strengthen policies, institutions, and capacities for Civic Engagement, Empowerment, and Respect for Diversity (CEERD) in developing countries (worldbank.org/ceerd). She has been innovating and has developed and managed World Bank country assistance programs in diverse sectors and regions for thirty years: in community driven development and broader rural and urban development, environment, social development, cultural industries, and intellectual property rights; and through CEERD, has advised and contributed to developments in education, governance and accountability, broadcasting policy and telecommunications, in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Policy Sciences.

Toby Mendel is the Law/Asia Programmes Director, Article 19, Global Campaign for Free Expression. He is the author of numerous books and articles on issues such as broadcasting, the right to information, defamation, and other freedom of expression issues.

Seán Ó Siochrú is Director of NEXUS Research in Dublin, Ireland; Chair of Dublin Community Television; and a spokesperson for the campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS). He has published many books, chapters, and articles on media and communication issues and works with international agencies and nongovernmental organizations across the world.

Monroe E. Price is Director of the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Professor of Law at Cardozo School of Law, and Director of the Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research in London.

Marc Raboy is the Beaverbrook Chair in Ethics, Media and Communications and is a Professor in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He has been a consultant to various international organizations, including the World Bank, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the European Broadcasting Union, and is the author and editor of numerous books and articles on media and communication policy.

FORWARD:

The World Bank has long recognized the role that media play in development. It has done so through advocating the importance of an independent press; providing training for journalists; and offering technical and financial assistance to commercial media organizations through its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). At present, there is an intention to broaden the focus to include broadcast media. With this guide the World Bank Institute seeks to support the development of an independent and diverse broadcasting sector that can contribute to the public interest.

Of paramount importance is the policy, legal, and regulatory framework that influences the shape, content, and social impacts of the broadcasting sector as a whole. This is the subject matter of the current guide. It includes not only protection of basic freedoms of expression, but also issues such as the structure and functioning of regulatory bodies, management of the radio-frequency spectrum, and licensing requirements that enable broadcasting diversity. Good practices from a wide range of countries are included. The enabling environment for broadcasting has significant consequences for governance and accountability: It can enable people in the developing world to become informed and empowered, or not.

Radio broadcasting can be very accessible, even for illiterate and semiliterate people in remote locations. It can influence people’s understanding of their context, interests, and view of themselves. In the many places where listening to the radio is a group activity, its content easily provokes comments and discussion. Often issues that previously could not be discussed become permissible as people refer to what they have heard. The social impacts can be pervasive and profound.

Broadcasting also provides platforms for publicly airing concerns, raising questions with experts on the air, and solving problems. Community radio programs, for example, often involve the whole listening audience in discussing matters important to them, in their local languages. This in turn strengthens people’s ability and confidence in framing and analyzing issues, engaging in informed debate, and pressing local officials for actions.

This process helps people to identify and grasp opportunities, address collective problems, and resist manipulation. It also strengthens people’s resolve to make their government accountable and strengthens their outspokenness against abuses. From Ghana to Indonesia, groups have gone “on the air” and named officials who have stolen public funds or not delivered a longpromised road—and they have seen an active response. Such public condemnation makes officials change their calculus of their prerogatives and their responsibilities.

Broadcasting is a potent vehicle for scaling up and embedding civic engagement in the life of poor constituencies in developing countries—and in the expectations of government officials.

Freedom of information and expression and a robust mix of broadcasting ownership and uses—commonly referred to as commercial, public service, and community broadcasting—are critically important to develop and sustain an informed, engaged society. With this book, we show that improving the enabling environment for the broadcasting sector is important development terrain, where countryspecific analysis and assistance are long overdue.

Rakesh Nangia
Acting Vice President, World Bank Institute, 2001–2007

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