Montreal, April 22, 2015. Today, as we celebrate Earth Day throughout every continent, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) calls on its members to act as actors of political, economical, cultural and social changes and lead the discussion on climate change and sustainable development.

Members of the network of AMARC are already doing their part to change the narrative, inform the population and share stories from their communities about the numerous impacts of climate change. In 2014, AMARC associated with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to organize an awareness campaign on family farming, food security. This fruitful partnership led to another campaign on nutrition, food, agriculture and hunger that was launched last fall. Since March 2015, members of AMARC are producing stories for an international audio series entitled Stories from the soils in the context of the International Year of Soils (IYS2015). This series aims to tell the story of the land beneath our feet, sensitize the public about climate change and the importance of soils as essential eco-systems.

Francesco Diasio, AMARC’s Secretary General says: “Community radios are indispensable actors in sustainable development processes. They help develop, sustain and improve of the quality of life of communities, including in rural areas. Considering this, AMARC wishes to continue on this path and encourage community radios to share programmes for its campaigns.”

The programmes are available for download and distribution on AMARC’s website. AMARC encourages its members and the public to disseminate them widely.

AMARC hopes that this year’s international broadcast campaign will generate discussions about marginalized and poor populations’ role in ameliorating their livelihoods, in shaping long-term sustainable community development and to confront the crisis created by climate change. We also hope that this multilingual broadcast campaign will contribute to the discussion on these important issues and will identify practical as well as long-term solutions.

If you wish to share a programme related to Earth Day, please send it along with a short summary and your contact information via We Transfer to secretariat@si.amarc.org. We hope for a strong participation from the network. It’s our turn to lead!

Few days ago, the Norwegian Government published a press release about setting a date for the imminent switch-off of Norway’s FM radio stations in 2017. The Minister of Culture, Thornild Widvey, said:

“Whereas the FM system only had space for five national channels, DAB already offers 22, and there is capacity for almost 20 more. In addition, more than half the population already has access to local radio on DAB, and there is considerable potential for further local channels”.

But today, the Norsk Lokalradioforbund, the association for local radio in Norway, has spred other press release offering different data and opinions:

No FM Switch-Off in Norway 

FM retained for local radio outside four metropolitan areas.  Only community stations will continue in metropolitan areas. DAB radio is far away from a success in the Nordic countries.

Norwegian Minister of Culture has announced that as the terms now have been met i.e. 50 % are “listening digitally” there will be a proposal an FM switch-off 2017. (“Digital listening” includes radio via DVB-T and Internet). However, a few days ago the Government Statistical Bureau reported that listening to DAB radio is 19 % on a daily basis.

This proposal is up for decision in Stortinget (the parliament) later this spring. Still there is a majority for the proposal but opposition is growing. The government coalition partner the Progress Party has been against switching off FM since the first proposal for DAB came up in Stortinget 2011 and now the Green Party is against the switch off.

200 local commercial radio and community radio stations outside the four largest cities can continue on FM. This sector is also being unregulated. The stations are all five year prolonged licenses at no fee. Licensing is a simple registration with the media authority. Requirements on local news and local content will be removed as well as limits on income.

This successful step towards introduction of the DAB system in Norway has been made because of lobbying by the DAB promoting company Digitalradio Norge AS and not by consumer demands on a free market. The plans have been meet by forceful opposition by the local radio sector as this transition plan is regarded as an  obstacle to small-scale radio business 2017 leaving all FM investments consider lost.

This is a sensitive issue as most profiting on the transition are the two foreign-owned radio companies – MTG and SBS – while local radio is Norwegian owned and operated. 23 local stations on FM in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger with suburbs areas will be forced to broadcast only on DAB+ from 2017.

Neighboring countries as Finland has opted out of DAB already 2009 and in Sweden a proposed DAB transition has been widely criticized by the opinion and in a consultation by qualified institutions. A National Audit report April 14 recommend Sweden to retain FM. In Denmark the government has put a proposed FM switch-off on hold.  FM radio will be the dominant system for terrestrial broadcasting for decades to come in the Nordic countries and probably in most countries Europe.

The decision by the government for a fast track to a transition ignores the fact that millions of foreign  motorists visiting Norway annually as tourist or in professional business. This means that most visitors will not be able to listen to national channels as the public radio for emergency alerts, traffic information, etc. as well as local channels in Oslo and three other cities.

FM and online listening will be global standards for radio for decades to come. This will be mainly on mobile devices as smartphones in all countries. “We don’t envisage that the 20 year old DAB system will be a technology implemented for such devices”, says Svein Larsen President of Norwegian Local Radio Association.

For more information:

Contact Mr. Svein Larsen at +47 930 43 400 or svein@lokalradio.no

(Fuente original) – La Red de Radios Comunitarias e Indígenas de AMARC – México condena la agresión criminal perpetrada el martes 14 de abril del presente mes contra Abel Manuel Martínez Raymundo, director de la radio “Sentimiento de la Voz del Pueblo” 96.1FM, ubicada en el barrio San Pedro el Alto del municipio de Santiago Juxtlahuaca, en la región mixteca del Edo. de Oaxaca.

La Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado confirmó el asesinato cometido contra el comunicador, cuando salía de su estación radiofónica y fue interceptado en su vehículo por otro, desde el cual le dispararon.

AMARC-México exige al Estado mexicano la investigación clara, expedita y exhaustiva de estos hechos, a fin de impedir que un nuevo crimen se agregue a los cometidos contra periodistas y comunicadores en condiciones de impunidad. La impunidad es un estímulo para mantener un ambiente de violencia que atenta contra la libertad de expresión.

En relación a este crimen, se ha dado a conocer que la Defensoría de los Derechos Humanos del Pueblo de Oaxaca abrió entre 2013 y 2014, 19 expedientes de queja y 46 cuadernos de antecedentes relacionados con diversas agresiones y amenazas a periodistas, además de una alerta temprana, en 2014, para que las autoridades garantizaran la integridad física y la seguridad jurídica de las y los periodistas, con el fin de proteger su libertad de expresión y, mediante éste, el derecho de acceso a la información del resto de la sociedad.
Cada nueva agresión confirma el juicio crítico de acreditadas organizaciones nacionales e internacionales, en el sentido de que México se ha convertido en uno de los países más peligrosos para el ejercicio del periodismo, poniendo en grave riesgo el derecho de libre expresión y el derecho de información.

Amarc México sostiene que una ciudadanía no informada es inerme ante los abusos de poder y el ataque a sus derechos fundamentales, por lo cual exige al Estado mexicano el esclarecimiento de este nuevo crimen y el castigo a los responsables.

Para  más información:
Héctor Camero Haro
Representante Nacional
representante@amarcmexico.org

Irina Vázquez Zurita
Coordinadora Ejecutiva de la Oficina en México
coordinación.oficina@amarcmexico.org

The Council of Europe has launched–in co-operation with five partner organizations– an Internet platform aimed at protecting journalism and promoting the safety of journalists.

Via the platform, the partner organisations –Article 19, the Association of European Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders– will issue alerts concerning media freedom threats and will bring them to the attention of the Council of Europe institutions.

This platform is designed to facilitate the compilation, processing and dissemination of factual information, verified by the partners, concerning serious physical threats to journalists and other media personnel, threats to the confidentiality of media sources and forms of political or judicial intimidation.

The platform will enable the Council of Europe to highlight serious concerns about media freedom and journalists’ rights, to react more effectively in response to these threats and to initiate a dialogue with the member states concerned on possible remedies and protective measures. The follow-up actions undertaken by the Council of Europe will also be included on the platform.

Across Europe, journalists and other media actors are attacked, harassed, detained and even killed because of their work or reporting. Alarmed by this situation, the Council of Europe together with the partner organisations decided to establish this platform by signing a Memorandum of understanding.

Montreal, April 9, 2015. The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) expresses its grave concern over the arrest of Ahmed Samih, director of Radio Horytna and the Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-violence Studies (AITAS), and the subsequent filing of charges that relate to the operation of Radio Horytna, Egypt’s first Internet radio station. This appears to be politically motivated and intended to further stifle the freedom of expression in Egypt.

Police officers from the Sayyida Zeinab Police Department raided the offices of Radio Horytna on Qasr al-Aini Street, Cairo, on 4 April. The officers searched the premises and removed documents and equipment. The staff of Radio Horytna was questioned about its editorial methods, the content of news reports and whether they were affiliated with political parties or other interest groups. Human rights defender and director of Radio Horytna, Ahmed Samih, was arrested and detained overnight. Samih was subsequently released on bail of EGP 5000 with five charges including the establishment and operation of a communications service without a licence and the broadcasting of audio and visual content without permission of the competent authorities. These charges were brought despite the fact that Radio Horytna has been operating since 2007 and that there is no law in Egypt requiring a licence to operate an Internet radio station.

AMARC calls upon the Egyptian authorities to drop all charges against Ahmed Samih, to desist from any further intimidation or harassment of Radio Horytna and to ensure that the right to freedom of expression, guaranteed in the Egyptian constitution of 2014, is respected, including the freedom to publish audio and visual content on the Internet. AMARC further calls on the Egyptian authorities to end the state monopoly on radio broadcasting and to permit private and civil society organisations to operate FM radio broadcasting services, including community radio, consistent with international norms and standards on media pluralism and freedom of expression in a democratic society.