The effectiveness of Sri Lankan regional radio stations in rural citizenry

Abstract

Abstract submitted and selected for e-Asia international conference.

Though the community radio movement in Sri Lanka has been losing its energy and strength, in catering the development needs of the rural community, the regional radio stations which function from various rural villages of Sri Lanka, can play an energetic role in terms of addressing the issues effecting the democratic rights of citizens – rights to know information’s that needs for their empowerment, rights to involve in decision making, rights to participate in governance, right to hold their leaders transparent and accountable and ultimately right to receive an efficient service as citizens.

The first regional radio station Rajarata, started in 1979 in parallel to the Mahaveli community radio. Since then, 8 regional Radio stations are active averagely with over 12 hours of airtime per day. When it comes to Regional radio stations, 12 hours of airtime is relatively a vast time. In Sri Lanka, 99% of the regional radio stations are governed by the Ministry of Media and Information, through Sri Lanka broadcasting corporation which is the National radio in Sri Lanka. From the initial survey it has been observed the regional radio stations play more than 94% of cinema and songs. No programmes are being produced on ICT, Education, Health, rural democracy and governance. The whole purposes of setting this regional level radio stations are keeping the community informed at the village level and give them an opportunity to engage with governance.

This is a new era for development and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. After terrorism being wiped out, enormous actions are taken place in terms of rural development. Times to time local elections are held. New development policies being implemented. In most of the public sector news people are being accommodated. Entire political system is changed and power and supreme authority is practice by very slim number of people. At this juncture, it’s very important to assess the impact of the regional radio stations, effectiveness of the their programmes in terms of maximizing the citizen participation with the process of governance , nature of listener’s behaviors, public participation, access, contents, major constrains, new community programming models used and other important aspects. This research will bring insights to the entire radio industry and the key media stakeholders in order to enrich and empower the service of regional radio stations while analyzing the major challenges.