Articles about legislative changes in Germany; inclusion of Community Media in the Active Citizenship legislation in Southern Spain; Media Literacy, etc…

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Chilean Maria Pia Matta, President of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters AMARC and Mireya Manquepillán Mapuche radio broadcaster have been included in the list of “100 Information Heroes”. Endowed with exemplary courage, these “100 heroes” have been nominated for their struggle and contribution to the promotion of the right to communicate as defined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that reads “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” The “100 heroes” put their ideals “towards the promotion of the common good and as such they are a role model to follow.

Maria Pia Matta has extensive experience in promoting and defending freedom of expression in Chile, Latin America and the world and through her work in AMARC she has brought to the fore the social role of community radio in the fulfilment of citizens’ freedom of expression. She led the first observation visit to Mapuche radios and media, which resulted in a set of recommendations by the UN Commission for Racial elimination CERD; also, her work has ensured the Chilean establishment acknowledgement of the role of radio in language revival and in turn the end of the criminalisation of unlicensed community radio. In this RSF also the figure of Mireya Manquepillán for his work at radio Kimche Mapu in the commune of Lanco.

The list of Reporters Without Borders is an acknowledgment and a tribute not only to the 100 people named, famous or unknown, but all journalists, whether or not paid by their work, who daily contribute to enlighten the world and account of reality in all its forms. This initiative aims to demonstrate that the struggle to defend and promote freedom of information goes through intensive support to victims of abuse, but also to erect figures that can serve as reference.

The director of the newly established radio is Mr Ihab Al-Jariri is a well known journalist with the reputation to be on the forefront line for transparency and civil participation. The radio is well equipped and will start broadcasting in May, although for technical tests the signal is already “on air”. The radio and its director have already in place a lot of contacts with other local stations in the West Bank. In order to have a deeper political impact, they are evaluating the possibility to put in place a Palestinian Association of Free Media, gathering together these media outlets with the aim to have a unique voice towards the government and to work for the simplification of the articulated procedures to access to broadcasting licences through the promotion of a new audiovisual and regulatory law. The national association should promote effective networking for information sharing in the country and at the Regional level. Access to information is still a big challenge in Palestine

Palestine civil society is squeezed between all kinds of dichotomies: Israeli occupation and the lack of a truly Palestinian State; Fatah and Hamas; trust and resignation..

Despite the good wills and a vibrant non profit sector, the dialogue between organizations and Palestinian Authority Institutions is almost non existent. Moreover, the limited amount of financial resources and the difficulties related to the daily life represent a strong impediment to cross fertilization activities between organizations themselves. Instead of cooperation, concurrence; instead of synergies, a chemical fractionation.

The lack of dialogue with decision makers and the legislative bodies also makes difficult any kind of political lobby activity. While advocacy activities are on the top of the agendas of CSOs, their concrete follow up through the promotion of political instances is quite limited. This generates a strong frustration among community based organizations and decrease their credibility towards citizens. Being less attractive, the participation is declining and the impact of social campaigns is compressed among limited societal layers.

April 6, 2014. Tthe Union of Journalists in Madrid (Sindicato de Periodistas de Madrid, SPM) renewed half of its Board members and the strategic plan of the union for the next years. The news here are that it is the first time in Spain that an union of journalist integrate in its Board one person dedicated to the community media and its proffesionals.

In most cases, at least in Spain, journalists from mainstream media and people from community media are a bit reluctant to create links and to recognize the work of the others in the field of communication and information. For these reasons, the decision of the members of the SPM is very important for approaching and establishing of common goals which affects the rights of the citizens to participate in the proccess of communication and democracy.

Among the objectives of this new Board are the reinforcement of the defence of the rights and the work of photojournalists and workers from the public media and community media.