Amagezi Murro - Knowledge is Power. A case study on the start-up of a community radio station in Western Uganda.

(1)

AMAGEZI MURRO - KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

A case study on the start-up of a community radio station in

Western Uganda

Heleen D’Haens

10850856

dhaens.heleen@gmail.com

University of Amsterdam

Master in Journalism and Media

August 2016

prof.dr. M.J.P. Deuze

(2)

Preface. A word of thanks.

At the end of my academic career, at least for the time being, there are many people I want to thank.

First, with regard to this project, my gratitude goes out to professor Mark Deuze, for his expertise, his academic guidance, and his pertinent feedback. Thanks to his accommodating and accessible style of supervision, I was able to finish the thesis within a reasonable amount of time, despite combining the writing process with my work in journalism. Furthermore, I thank all the other professors and teachers who crossed my path in the course of the past two years. They have urged me to think critically, which is of invaluable importance, in journalism as well as in life. Second, I am grateful to all the people involved with MMU Radio. To Ivo, Dirk, Jeroen and Eline, who accommodated me with the first stages of this study. To the people at MMU, who gave me the warmest welcome anyone could hope for. I thank Mozes, Andrew, and Gilbert, as well as all the volunteers I have interviewed for their time and their enthusiasm about my presence on campus, and about my research. I hope the conclusions in study will be of value for MMU Radio, a project I know many of you have put your heart and soul into.

Thanks also to Erik, Violet, Steven, John, and the other people I have at some point shared an office with on the beautiful Saaka campus. Not a day went by that I was not offered a cup of tea, some cassava chips, or a peace of delicious chapati. This welcoming atmosphere warmed my heart, and made my time in Fort Portal all the more delightful.

Lastly, and most prominently, I want to thank my family. My parents, my grandparents, and my sisters, for their endless support, both academically and personally. Having lived abroad for two years now, I cherish the moments we spend together even more. Being able to come home to people who are understanding and supportive of all the decisions I make, however ambitious, or even inconvenient, is something that I cannot be more grateful for. Without such a finely-woven safety net in Hofstade, making the jump to Amsterdam would not have been as self-evident and carefree as it was. Every next step I will take, in my career and in personal life, will be thanks to the values that you have taught me, most specifically to the common idea that that keeps influencing all of our very different paths, that nothing is ever too ambitious.

(3)

1 Introduction

This thesis is a part of Beyond Journalism, a research project into various aspects of journalistic start-ups worldwide. It describes MMU Radio, a community radio (CR) station founded in 2014 by the Mountains of the Moon University (MMU) in Fort Portal, in the Rwenzori region in the West of Uganda. The radio project is supported, both financially and logistically, by several Flemish education institutions that collaborate with MMU. As a journalistic start-up, MMU Radio is hardly comparable with many of the other projects studied in Beyond Journalism. It does not have a particularly innovative business plan, nor does it have a radical, new way of looking at journalistic practice. However, it is a very interesting start-up in many other ways. On a micro-level, the start-up of MMU Radio lays bare many of the challenges that media organizations in East Africa struggle with, ranging from financial difficulties to content restrictions as a consequence of limited press freedom.

Calling itself a community radio station, MMU Radio imposes upon itself a number of expectations. Many important institutions in third-world development, including UNESCO, describe CR as an outstanding way to give “ordinary people” access to information, resulting in them “[casting] off their traditional state of apathy and [stimulating] them to mobilize and organize to help themselves” (Fraser and Estrada, “CR Handbook” 1). Judging on the many canvassing folders these organizations have published promoting CR, the medium almost seems to be the Holy Grail in fighting underdevelopment.

The problem with much of the existing literature on CR, is that it all to often focuses on normative restrictions, enforced by leading organizations such as World Association of Community Broadcasters (AMARC) and UNESCO. For example, in the strictest definitions of CR, a station has to be owned by the community itself, and cannot gain profit from advertising. Many scholars (for example Mtimde and Opuku-Mensah) have focused on how CR stations meet these conditions, on how they are organized with regard to management and financing, rather than looking at optimal ways for them to function within society. For a long time, discussions on form overclouded discussions on content. The problem with these normative restrictions, is that they are barely founded in empirical research. That is why in the last decade, a body of literature on CR has emerged that opposes these blind restrictions, and pleads for more empirical studies on CR stations to assess the legitimacy of the restrictions for CR formulated in normative literature (see, for example Fairchild, Conrad, and Berger). According to these authors, it is especially important that these empirical studies take into consideration the local context of every station specifically. Conrad, for example, argues that “conceptualizations of community media being owned by the people, derived from the scholarship of

(5)

communication and development studies, is largely not applicable in East Africa” (“Lost in the shadows…” 156). This study aims to be an addition to the latter, descriptive tradition of literature on CR. Setting the start-up of MMU Radio alongside traditional, normative visions of what CR should be, the study critically questions both those traditional visions, and the structure of MMU Radio itself. A final step in the study is to formulate recommendations for MMU Radio specifically, taking into account the environment and the media landscape in which the station will be operating, in order to increase the project’s chance of being successful, and achieving its goal of informing and emancipating rural communities in Fort Portal.

The paper starts with a theoretical backgrounds section, followed by a description of the research and analysis methodology that has been used. Chapter four is an overview of the research results, followed by a conclusion and recommendations for MMU Radio in chapter five.

(6)

2 Theoretical backgrounds

In this chapter, we set out a theoretical base for discussing the research goals formulated above, covering the themes that are most relevant for the study of the startup of MMU Radio. First, we have a look at existing literature on CR, considering both normative and descriptive approaches of the phenomenon. Second, in order to better understand the impact of a cooperation with Flemish institutions on a journalistic project, we look at the concepts ‘African’ and ‘Western’ journalism. Third, we give a sketch of the media landscape of which MMU Radio is a part, looking at Uganda in general, and at the Rwenzori region specifically.

2.1 Community radio

2.1.1 Towards a definition of community radio In their leading handbook, Fraser and Estrada boil down the notion of CR to the catchy phrase “radio by the people and for the people” (“CR Handbook” 4). That is probably as close as we can get to a single definition of a phenomenon that is as wide-spread and varied as CR, as it includes the two notions often considered essential for a radio station to be considered CR: it is managed by the community, and serves that same community (Ibid.). Producers and the listeners are interchangeable (Opuku-Mensah 165); they are, as Myers calls them, “midwives of rural self-expression” (95). Traditional CR is in this sense essentially different from public and private broadcasting. Public broadcasting, on the one hand, generally refers to a service provided by the state. It is often publically owned, and run independently from the government. Commercial broadcasting, on the other hand, is operated privately, with profit from advertising revenue as its main goal (Mtimde et al. 16; Fraser and Estrada, “CR Handbook” 3). “The key difference [between CR and public/commercial broadcasting]”, Lewis and Booth describe, “is that CR does [not] treat listeners as objects, to be captured for advertisers or to be improved and informed, … [but as] subjects and participants” (8). “CR works in the cultural context of the community it serves [and] deals with local issues in the local language(s)” (Fraser and Estrada, “CR Handbook” 5). CR has been described to have a number of functions, all of which include ‘development’ in some sense of the word (Wanyeki 31). In the first place, the medium works as “a catalyst for building community” (Siemering 373), reflecting and promoting local identity, and creating a diversity of voices and opinions on the air. Moreover, CR encourages open dialogue and democratic process, it promotes social change and development, and fosters good governance and civil society (Fraser and Estrada “CR for Change and Development” 71-2; Siemering 373).

(7)

The notion of ‘community’ in the context of radio has expanded in recent years, from being defined solely in terms of geographical location to “imagined communities” (Goretti 42), i.e. “a group of people who share common characteristics and/or interests” (Mtimde et al. 13; Fraser and Estrada, “CR Handbook” 3-4;). A community can either share a geographical location, or an economic and social life through trade and marketing.

From the above description, it becomes clear that much literature on CR is characterized by a normative approach to the phenomenon. In order to be considered CR by leading organizations such as UNESCO, a station must meet certain criteria, such as being managed by the community itself. However, in recent years, a body of literature has come up, with authors arguing that it is difficult to apply theoretical terms on CR (e.g. ‘radical’, ‘alternative’, ‘citizen’s media’) to actual projects, because they “only [describe] ideal functions, not actual ones” (Fairchild 24; Conrad, “Destructing the notion of community radio” 777). According to Berger, these misunderstandings arise because discussions on media development and participation are often conducted at a distance from the empirical contexts in which they operate (551).

In the next paragraph, we compare different models of CR that occur in practice to the straitjacket of classical, normative literature. 2.1.2 Models for Community Radio Mtimde points out three important aspects that make a radio station a CR station: it is owned and controlled by the community, it makes no profit, and the community actively participates in it (19). In this paragraph, we elaborate on these three defining characteristics. As for financing and ownership, Fraser and Estrada’s definition in the CR Handbook is clear: “[CR stations] must rel[y] mainly on the resources of the community (3). In their view, a CR station is owned by a community under an association, trust or foundation, and does not aim for profit, but only for the benefit of the community (Lumko and Bonin 16; Fraser and Estrada “CR for Change and Development” 70). However, in practice, this form of ownership “has often been [the] greatest weakness … [of CR]” (Ilboudo 43). “The crisis of rural radio”, Opuku-Mensah posits, “lies equally in the overall crisis that the African continent faces: that of a stagnating resource base” (166).

This is why in practice, the distinction between public, commercial and community radio is often less tidy than described in 1.1, both on the level of content (e.g. local commercial stations can air community service programs) and on the level of financing (CR stations might have to rely on advertisement to make ends meet). Moreover, in many cases, traditional views “do not adequately

(8)

reflect the messy reality of CR in empirical contexts, […] where donor pressures often work against the ideals of independence and participation” (Conrad, “Destructing the CR model” 774).

Because of this ‘messiness’, it seems inevitable to broaden the definition of CR. The African Charter on Broadcasting defines a station as CR when “the ownership and management is representative of the community” (qtd. in Da Costa 137). Myers takes CR to mean “small-scale decentralized broadcasting initiatives which are easily accessed by local people, actively encourage their participation in programming, and which include some element of community ownership or membership” (90). Wanyeki even considers corporately owned and managed stations with a community development orientation to be CR (27).

Within this broad definition, Manyozo describes three models for CR stations. The first one is that of the community owned station, which fits Fraser and Estrada’s description of CR. This model is promoted by organizations as the World Association of Community Broadcasters (AMARC) and UNESCO, as they believe it empowers communities marginalized by mainstream media to perform communicative actions (Manyozo 4). The second is the Sutatenza model, named after a project in Colombia. These stations are located in the community, but for sustainability purposes are owned by local organizations or individuals, such as the church or an NGO. According to Manyozo, this model offers a valid alternative to the community owned stations, which increasingly fail to prove sustainable (4). The first two models Manyozo describes meet Mtimde et al.’s requirement that a CR station be ran by the community itself. They should elect the board members, make the policies, manage the station etc. (17). Opuku-Mensah shares this view. She claims that, whatever the specific organization of the station, “what really matters is the institutional structure: Who is in control? Is it democratically managed? Is there a mechanism to make it accountable to those it serves?” (165). The last of Manyozo’s models, however, does not meet this requirement. Campus-based CR stations are owned by educational institutions, not by the community. With students coming from the surrounding communities as presenters, such stations serve both the student community and the surrounding communities. Manyozo does consider these stations to be CR, as “the functional characteristics are more important than the structural indicators being promoted by development organizations” (5).

The biggest problem for most CR stations is financial sustainability. “Managing a successful community station is far more complicated than private radio”, Siemering notes (376). Although the starting cost for a CR station is relatively low (about 3000 USD for the basic equipment (Fraser and

(9)

Estrada 2)), many community media initiatives face problems accessing financial support on a consistent basis (Myers 99; Wanyeki 35). Essential to any normative definition of CR is that a station not be organized to make profit (Mtimde et al. 17). This is important to keep in mind, as most stations in Africa operating on community broadcasting licenses are in fact urban-based commercial stations, oriented toward market interests rather than towards their audiences (Dagron, qtd. in Manyozo 3). This does not mean CR stations cannot get revenues from advertisement at all according to classical definitions. As long as any excess income is ploughed back into a radio project, it can be considered CR. However, the excess cannot be distributed as bonuses among members, volunteers or staff (Mtimde et al. 17; Opuku-Mensah 171). Other forms of funding might include donations, subscription fees, fundraising events, levy, sponsorship, etc. (Mtimde et al. 18).

In a study on CR in South Africa, Berger appropriately cautions against “lifting concepts like media and democracy from western conditions, and applying them unthinkingly to Africa” (“Theorizing the media-democracy relationship…” 21). Before having a more detailed look into the matters of financial sustainability, community participation and ownership at the start-up of MMU Radio in Uganda, we therefore use the remainder of this chapter to look specifically at the media context in Africa, and in Uganda. 2.1.3 Community Radio in Africa The tradition of CR in Africa started with so-called “farm broadcasting”, programming intended for farming constituents (Linje 5). In 1980, UNESCO launched a program to promote it further. This proved a difficult task, as at that time, there was still a state monopoly on broadcasting in most developing countries (Fraser and Estrada, “CR Handbook” 10). Especially in countries with multiple ethnicities and languages, governments felt that having multiple broadcasters would weaken the national identity and add to existing ethnic tensions (Ibid.). This is why perhaps the first ‘real’ CR station in Africa, UNESCO-founded Homa Bay Community Radio in Kenya, was closed down by the government only two years after it started in 1982 (Javuru 3).

However, with the wave of democratization, decentralization processes and market liberalization on the continent in the 80s and especially the 90s, the idea of CR became increasingly popular (Javuru 1). Broadcasting monopolies by the state relaxed, and awareness grew about the benefits of giving information to people otherwise starved of it because of economic, linguistic and cultural factors (Ilboudo 44). In 1985, there were fewer than ten independent stations in all of Africa. By 1998, hundreds had emerged (Mtimde et al. 12).

(10)

Key in the growing popularity of CR in Africa were also technical innovations, notably the the development of cheap transistor receivers in de mid-50s, and of low-powered and cheap FM-transmitters, which became increasingly available in the 70s and 80s (Fraser and Estrada, “CR Handbook” 8; Javuru 1). Once a CR station starts to broadcast, the radio ownership in a community tends to rise fast. The number of radio receivers worldwide continues to expand, to two billion or more today (Fraser and Estrada, “CR handbook” 8). Worldwide, the medium of CR, too, continues to grow (Ibid. 1). In Africa, however, the growth has stalled amidst the boom of private radio stations. Javuru offers as possible explanations the financial uncertainty that comes with the unreliability of donor funding, the unfavorable regulatory environment, the lack of political backing, and the competitive broadcasting market (5; 11-12). On top of the functions of CR described in 2.1.1, the medium has some extra advantages in the specific African context, having to do with the many local languages and cultures spread around the continent. CR offers a cheap way of protecting this heritage, as well as offering an opportunity to standardize the local language and ensuring that people who master only the local language can understand broadcasts (Opuku-Mensah 167; Mtimde et al. 9-10; Chibita 2). Because of this, Ocwich argues that CR stations work best in a localized context (58). The first rural radio stations in Africa traditionally talked about agriculture, but soon an array of other topics, including health, family planning, and cultural issues, and even politics became popular (Ilboudo 43). The emergence of political talk-shows on private radio stations created, often for the first time, an opportunity for ordinary people to challenge the establishment (Chibita 2). But however auspicious the notion of public participation, it is not unproblematic for most African CR stations. Many of them do not possess enough means to conduct audience studies. Hence, sending out surveys to CR station in 17 African countries, Ilboudo found that very few stations can answer even the most basic questions about their audiences (45-46). This has “prevented [CR from] fulfilling its true potential” (Ibid. 43) Studying a South African CR station, Tsarwe found that “the medium long considered as a channel giving ‘voice to the voiceless’, appears almost as distant and problematic for the public as assembly-line news transmission” (qtd. In Kivikuru 68). From these observations, it appears that CR in Africa “is still experiencing growing pains and has not yet come of age” (Da Costa 6).

Apart from issues of public participation, ownership and finances, CR stations are of course also journalistic institutions, dealing with current affairs specific to their community. In order to

(11)

understand the working of CR in Uganda, it is therefore also necessary to look at the concept of ‘African Journalism’ as a whole. This is what we shall do next.

2.2 ‘African Journalism’

2.2.1 Is there such a thing as African journalism?

In a comparative description of African and Western journalism practices, it is first and foremost important to relativize the two terms at hand. Within the existing variety of journalistic approaches, both in the Western world and on the African continent, is impossible to discern one overarching model of journalism that accounts for such a degree of diversity. That being said, however, it would lead us too far to use the “far more sophisticated spectacles” Kivikuru recommends (“From an Echo of the West…” 187). We will use the terms ‘Western journalism’ and ‘African journalism’ here as ideal types, keeping in mind that in reality, these terms are much more complex and diverse Much has been written about the question whether the Western model of libertarian fourth estate journalism is applicable to the African context. Literature displays a continuum of standpoints, going from a universalist view (e.g. Kadhi), which sees journalism as fundamentally similar in the West and in the global South, interpreting differences as the result of challenging conditions, insufficient training, lack of opportunities, etc. (Waisbord, “Remaking ‘area studies’…” 31-32), to a particularistic position (e.g. Blankenberg, Shaw), which thinks journalism in the global South is and should be different from the West. The particularistic view sees journalism as “a Western category loaded with problematic Enlightenment premises about democracy, rationality, information, citizenship, objectivity and truth” (Waisbord, “Remaking ‘area studies’…” 32).

As a medium, Skjerdal proposes to see journalism “as operating in the interplay between particulars and universals within each cultural […] context” (“Between Journalism Universals…” 29). He argues that “a specific cultural practice like public journalism may fail if exported uncritically into a context that does not share the historic and cultural preconditions, but the same journalism practice may still have a shared set of values that can be identified and successfully adopted across cultures” (Ibid. 30). The answer to the question whether there is such a thing as African journalism, then, is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’: there are certain values that transcend journalistic practices across cultures, but we also have to keep in mind the socio-political conditions that define journalistic practices within the particular cultures of the African continent (Ibid. 30).

(12)

What, then, are the particularities of ‘African Journalism’? Countless efforts have been made to describe this concept, mainly by scholars “bemoaning the lack of Africanness in African journalism” (Kasoma 64), out of discontent with the African tendency to imitate the professional norms of the West. De Beer describes how “generations of journalism students in English-speaking African countries have become entrapped in ‘the American way of doing things’” (213), Nyamnjoh calls African journalism “bandwagonism, where mimicry is the order of the day, as the emphasis is less on thinking than on doing, less on leading than on being led” (“Journalism in Africa…” 37). However, despite many attempts, no academic consensus has been reached on a paradigm for African journalism as opposed to the Western model. Skjerdal subdivides the differing attempts to describe African journalism into to three streams, c.q. ‘journalism for social change’, ‘communal journalism’ and ‘journalism based on oral discourse’. While mutually divergent, these streams have in common that they differ from the Western, libertarian model of journalism on two dimensions: a socio-historical one (i.e. the degree to which a journalism model claims to respond to specific social and historical conditions), and a professional one (i.e. the degree to which the journalistic role is preferred to be exclusive or inclusive) (Skjerdal 638). From the figure below, it becomes clear that Western journalism stands out as more universal and more professionally oriented than the African models (Ibid. 648). Figure 1: Western versus African journalism according to Skjerdal Based on literature, we can expect the journalistic practices and values at an African CR station to share certain features with the Western model of journalism, but – based on the above – we can certainly expect some characteristics specific to the local, cultural context in which the station is set.

(13)

In order to understand that local context, as a last preparatory step before we turn to the results of this study, we look at the media situation in Uganda as a whole, and then zoom in on the Rwenzori region specifically.

2.3 The Ugandan Media Landscape

2.3.1 A Short History The history of the media landscape in Uganda is closely related to the country’s turbulent political history. Radio broadcasting was introduced under the British colonial regime in the 50s. After independence in the early 1960s, media were exclusively controlled by the government. There was only one government radio station and one TV station, and the few papers that emerged were not comparable to the government-owned one. The main goal of these media was to popularize the notion of nation building (Javuru 3; Chibita 4). In general, there were no attempts to involve rural communities in the communication process (Ojiambo 131). Many Ugandans were excluded from it: Uganda has an estimated 30 to 35 languages and dialects, and no common language other than English, which is spoken only by a relatively small percentage of the population (Chibita 4).

Until 1966, when Milton Obote came to power, Uganda had “a reasonable degree of press freedom” (Gawaya 35). However, with Obote, this relative freedom was soon abandoned: he imposed laws enabeling him to deport foreign journalists, confiscate equipment, close down publications and to arrest and detain journalists (Ojiambo 131; Chibita 5). The situation got even worse after the infamous dictator Idi Amin took over in 1971. The newspaper Argus, for example, was nationalized and, as part of the Ministry of Information, took on a purely propagandist identity (Gawaya 35). Many journalists quit their job, or played safe (Chibita 5). By the time Amin lost power in 1979, radio equipment across the country was in a “dilapidated state” (Ibid.).

The government monopoly on media lasted until the 90s, when liberalization lead to the opening up of broadcasting space, with private, public and community media coexisting (Javuru 3; Goretti 46). The newly found pluralism resulted in an explosion of private FM radio stations: in the first decade after liberalization, the government licensed almost one hundred of them (Chibita 6). By 2008, two thousand licenses had been given out (Javuru 3). Several players, including businessmen, non-governmental organizations, churches, foreign donors and Ugandans living abroad, jump into the fray to start or fund FM stations (Ocwich 7).

(14)

2.3.2 Legislation and Press Freedom under president Yoweri Museveni Museveni has been in power since his National Resistance Movement (NRM) won a a guerilla war in 1986. In his early years, he did not seem to be bothered by satirical media coverage, and he allowed a degree of press freedom unseen in Uganda. But throughout the years, as Museveni felt less and less confident about his political position, he has demonstrated a very wobbly parcours in his relationship with free press. Referring to this inconsistent attitude, the British newspaper The Independent dubs Museveni “simultaneously the strongest promoter of press freedom and its biggest threat”: “He has jailed and prosecuted as many journalists as he has dined with. He has contributed to the creation of an atmosphere of free expression and also contributed to the one of fear, intimidation and self censorship that now pervades Ugandan media. […] He was central in the liberalization of the media and equally central in closing down radio stations that did not agree with him” (Mucoori). However, the Ugandan media legislation does not entirely depend on Museveni’s caprices. Article 29 (1) (a) in the 1995 constitution reads that “every person shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, which … include[s] freedom of the press and other media.” Despite the critique that the protection of journalists is not specifically mentioned (Robins 132), this legislation is generally considered progressive (Chibita 11; Maractho 12).

Apart from the constitution, since 2013, broadcast media in Uganda is governed by the Uganda Communications Act, a merger of the Uganda Communications Commission Act (1997) and the Electronic Media Act (2000). Concerns about this law involve the power of regulators, the appointment of board members, and the independence and autonomy of the regulator, among others (Maractho 13).

But these are not the only laws in place governing broadcast media in Uganda. Maractho notes that the Museveni government increasingly falls back on supplementary legislation with “chilling effects for journalists”, to pre-empt ‘misbehavior’ by the media and society (13). The result, she describes, is “a fluid legal regime and a plethora of laws, riddled with gaps, governing media and weakening media institutions, with implications for broadcast media development” (Maractho 14)

For example, in 2009, following a two-day riot, the government suspended the licenses of three radio stations broadcasting in the vernacular and banned open air broadcasting (Javuru 6; Human Rights Watch 14). Most recently, during the 2016 presidential elections, Museveni had social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp blocked. On the television station NBC, he specified that he did it to prevent people from “misusing these pathways” by “telling lies”. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports the arrest of at least 14 journalists in the wake of the election, trying to cover a meeting from opposition candidate Kizza Besigye.

(15)

2.3.3 Community Radio in Uganda

The National Broadcasting Policy in Uganda does recognise the role of community media, encouraging inclusiveness and involvement of local communities (Javuru 6). However, the African Media Barometer, published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, still describes the situation in Uganda as “a vague policy and legal environment”, “exposing [community broadcasters] to various forms of interference by the state” (8). Human Rights Watch notes that “particularly radio journalists working in local languages focused on rural populations face frequent challenges in freely reporting on issues deemed sensitive by local authorities loyal to the ruling party” (2). Yet community media, because of low levels of literacy and education amongst the population, are indispensible in Uganda. National media mainly use English, thus excluding a large portion of the population (Goretti 43). According to Human Rights Watch, the vast majority of Ugandans receive their news from local language radio stations in rural areas (13).

Not many studies have been done on the effects of CR on general development in rural Uganda. Part of the reason for this is that development is an ambiguous notion, a tangle of different factors that are difficult to disentwine. It is challenging to do a study on the effect of a radio station on the development of a community, while ruling out other factors that could have had an impact. Moreover, development is a slow process, difficult to descry within a short period of time. A comprehensive study on the effect of CR would have to span a period of many years, maybe even decades. As the rise of FM stations in Uganda is still fairly recent, research of this scale has not been carried out.

However, there have been some smaller-scaled studies, that do give an image of the importance and the impact of community FM stations in rural regions in Uganda. The 2004 National Electronic Media Performance Study by the Uganda Broadcasting Council (UBC) found that CR stations “have the potential to take care of unique features of specific communities” (UBC 59), as they produce “local content” in the “local language”, giving community members the chance to contribute to programs relevant to their specific needs.

A particularly interesting background for the study at hand is the master’s thesis of Denis Ocwich, who studied the effect of three CR stations on rural communities in the Lira region, in the North of Uganda. Using respondent interviews and focus groups, Ocwich found that most of the major programs on these stations conform to different parameters of development. This does not only entail awareness about themes like agriculture and health, but also “the broadening of people’s horizon of access to information” (Ocwich 57).

(16)

FM radios across Uganda help to meet rural people’s needs for information, education, and entertainment (UBC 59). In this study, however, we do not look at community radio on a national scale. We focus on one station in the Rwenzori region, in the West of the country. In the last part of this theoretical background section, we therefore zoom in on the media situation in that particular region. 2.3.4 The Media Situation in the Rwenzori Region The Rwenzori region, a region with a population of over two million in the West of Uganda, provides a good example of the kind of rural environment CR stations in Africa tend to reach. The town of Fort Portal, central in the region, currently has ten radio stations, one of which (KRM FC) calls itself a CR station. KRM FC went on air in 2014, and has since then created an audience of mostly farmers across the region. The communities in the Rwenzori region form a fertile soil for radio stations. According to a 2013 survey by the local Mountains of the Moon University, over over 91% of the population owns a radio, and 96% has access to one (Anderson and McKeown 37). 87.6% of radio owners listen to it on a daily basis. Television ownership is significantly less widespread, with only 6.3% (Ibid. 10). Apart from radio, people get their information mostly by word of mouth, or via the church or the mosque (Ibid. 10). The communities mostly consist of farmers (75.2%), followed by shop owners (16%). Rutooro is the most widely used language (42.3%), English comes third with 27.7%. Several other languages are also used to a lesser extent (Ibid. 8). It is within this context that the Mountains of the Moon University, a non-profit community university, in cooperation with their long-time partner the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR), and the Flemish colleges of HoWest and Thomas More, decided to establish a CR station. In chapter 4, we look at different aspects of this start-up, in the light of what we have already discussed about CR in general, journalistic practices in Africa, and the Ugandan media situation in particular. Before that, in chapter 3, we elaborate on the specific choice for MMU Radio as a case study, the process of data gathering, and the method of analysis.

(17)

3 Methods of Research

3.1 Case Selection

This thesis is part of Beyond Journalism, an overarching research project into various aspects of journalistic start-ups worldwide. As such, the study looks into different aspects of the start-up of MMU Radio.

The choice of a CR station in Uganda was motivated firstly by the author’s personal interest in the East African media situation. The choice for MMU Radio in particular was inspired both by practical considerations and by factors concerning content. Through personal contacts and the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR), it was possible to get access to the people in charge of MMU Radio, as well as the MMU university council, ensuring cooperation and full consent to interview and use documents from all partners involved in the radio project. Furthermore, the use of English as the medium of communication at Mountains of the Moon University in general, and at the radio station in particular, made it a more convenient choice then many other CR stations in the region, which mostly use local languages, both for internal communication and broadcasting. Despite being inspired partly by practical factors, the choice for MMU Radio as a case study was far from random. While MMU Radio can in many aspects be considered a typical CR Station, two features distinguish the station from other CR stations described in academic literature, making it a particularly interesting case study. However holistic the original research set-up of this study, focus has come to lay on these specific aspects of the journalistic start-up throughout the research process.

Firstly, MMU Radio belongs to Mountains of the Moon University. It is not owned, nor governed by the community itself. As most normative literature does not consider the campus-based radio stations as CR pur sang (cf. 1.2), not much has been written on the advantages and disadvantages of the university as an operating base for community communication.

The university ownership of MMU Radio is atypical in the sense that MMU itself is a so-called ‘community university’, owned and governed by representatives of the communities in the Rwenzori region. Although the community is not directly involved in the radio management, it is, in turn, involved in the overall university management. Since MMU Radio does in many respects meet the prerequisites for a CR station, it is worth comparing the MMU model to more traditional instances of CR described in literature.

The second aspect that makes MMU Radio an interesting case study has more to do with journalistic content. The station is not only sponsored, but also journalistically inspired by the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR). Volunteers at the station, many of whom already worked as reporters or presenters elsewhere in the Rwenzori region, were given journalism workshops by Flemish news

(18)

reporters as a preparation for their work at MMU Radio. From a journalism studies perspective, the relationship between African and European journalistic values adds an extra dimension to the study of MMU Radio.

3.2 Research Approach

The treatment of the research goals set out in the introduction of this thesis does not lay so much in the outcome of the research process, as in the multiple, complex reasons of that outcome. To grasp the complexity of the matter, it was necessary to “emphasize words rather than quantification in the collection and analysis of data” (Bryman 380). It was chosen to work with qualitative data, which lends itself best to “describe, explore and explain complex phenomena, concepts and processes (Koetsenruijter and Van Hout 19).

For gathering the data, the method of the case study was used. In a case study, general observations and conclusions on a subject (in this case CR) are derived from the analysis of just one instance of that subject. Rather than dealing with isolated factors, case studies are holistic in their set-up (Denscombe 53). The value of a case study is that “it offers the opportunity to explain why certain outcomes might happen – more than just find out what those outcomes are” (Ibid.). As the aim with any case study is to “illuminate the general by looking at the particular”, it is important that the case selected be a ‘representative’, ‘typical’ or ‘extreme’ example of a certain organization or phenomenon (Denscombe 112). After data was gathered using the case study approach, it was then analyzed using the method of grounded theory. Like the case study, grounded theory is aimed at using induction to generate theory trough studying the specific. However, grounded theory has a broader scope than the case study. Whereas case studies focus on just one instance of the thing that is being investigated, grounded theory in its purest form has no such limitation. The method has been defined as “theory that was derived from data, systematically gathered and analyzed through the research process, [in which] data collection, analysis, and eventual theory stand in close relationship to one another” (Strauss and Corbin 12). Since Glaser and Strauss coined the term grounded theory in 1967, it has come to mean slightly different things to different people (Denscombe 106). “To some writers it is a distinct method or approach to qualitative research in its own right; to others, it is an approach to the generation of theory” (Bryman 387). In this study, we use the second, wider approach to grounded theory.

According to Denscombe, grounded theory is particularly well suited to the needs of four kinds of research. Firstly, it fits the needs of qualitative rather than quantitative research. Secondly, it is

(19)

suitable for exploratory research, i.e. research into a topic that has only been given superficial attention in literature. Thirdly, the grounded theory approach is suitable for studies of human interaction, particularly studies in which the researcher wants to investigate the participant’s point of view in a situation. Lastly, the approach is well-suited for small-scale research (Denscombe 109-10). As the study at hand fits all of the above descriptions to some extent, the choice for grounded theory as an approach for data analysis came quite natural. We will expand on the analysis of the data in 3.4, after explaining which data was used for this study, and how it was gathered.

3.3 Data Gathering

In order to gain insight into the complex opinions, experiences and standpoints of the people involved with the start-up of MMU Radio, it was chosen to gather data mainly through in-depth one-to-one interviews. The interviews were semi-structured, meaning the interviewer had an interview guide of issues to be addressed and questions to be answered, but gave the interviewee “a great deal of leeway to reply” (Bryman 471). Denscombe describes how semi-structured and unstructured interviews are on a continuum, and in practice often “slide back and forth along the scale” (Denscombe 175.) This was the case in the present research process, too. Although grounded theory prescribes researchers to approach a topic “without a rigid set of ideas that shape what they focus upon during the investigation”, “an open mind is not a blank mind” (Denscombe 108). As Denscombe points out, “there is likely to be more benefit from [an] interview if [the interviewer] is well informed about the topic” (181). Therefore, a literature study was conducted before the interviewing phase. However, to maintain the sense of a “voyage of discovery” (Denscombe 108), the interviews were approached with an “open mind”, leaving flexibility for interviewees to expand on issues they deemed important to elaborate on (Denscombe 175). Throughout the interviewing process, “existing knowledge and concepts [were] treated as ‘provisional’ and open to question” (Ibid. 111). A list of the interviewees and their functions can be found in appendix 1. The biggest part of the research was done in the months of March and April 2016, when 13 interviews were held in Fort Portal, Uganda. Appendix 2 shows the interview guide that was used for these conversations. All of them lasted between 25 and 60 minutes, and were conducted in English, which, for most interviewees, was (close to) a mother tongue. In Belgium, interviews were conducted with two people in charge of the VLIR-MMU cooperation. The interview guide used for these conversations can be found in appendix 3.

(20)

Compared to the Netherlands as an academic environment, doing research in Uganda has its pros and cons. It takes time getting acquainted with certain cultural customs. For example, an appointment for an interview in Uganda is never set in stone. It happened more than once in the research period that an interviewee did not turn up to a previously set meeting. On the other hand, people in Fort Portal were easily attainable, and without exception I found all the participants to this study enthusiastic about taking part in it. All of the interviewees in Fort Portal took a lot of time to answer the questions, never being irritated or even slightly bothered if the interview took longer than anticipated.

Interviews were not the only way of gathering data for this study. Case studies invite and encourage the researcher to use more than one type of data as part of the investigation (Denscombe 54). In order to make the case study of MMU Radio more accurate as well as provide a fuller picture of its start-up, it was decided to triangulate the data gathered from the interviews with a thorough qualitative content analysis of documents relevant to MMU Radio’s start-up. All documents were kindly provided both by VLIR and MMU executives of the radio project. They include, among others, the station’s business plan and concept drafts for the station. A full list of the documents used for this study can be found in appendix 4.

3.4 Data Analysis

Qualitative research is always interpretative (Koetsenruijter 22). In this study, the data was analyzed and interpreted following the principles of grounded theory. The approach is inductive and bottom-up, meaning specific observations lead to more general theoretical conclusions. “Concepts and theories [were] developed out of the data through a persistent process of comparing the ideas with existing data, and improving the existing concepts and theories by checking them against new data collected specifically for the purpose” (Denscombe 108).

In order to analyze the data, all interviews, documents and transcriptions first needed to be prepared and organized. Only by organizing, categorizing and structuring the data, does a qualitative researcher get insight into social processes (Koetsenruijter 22). For this study, audio recordings of interviews were manually transcribed. The raw data was then systematically coded, using tags corresponding to recurring themes in both the documents and the interviews. This process is described by Lindlof as “a creative process”, in which “the researcher […] scans and samples data-texts, looking for commonalities and differences, and begins to formulate categories” (224).

In grounded theory, “unlike qualitative research that requires data to fit into preconceived standardized codes, the researcher’s interpretations of data shapes his or her emergent codes”

(21)

(Charmaz 515). As data analyzing continued, tags were frequently reformulated and redefined. This so-called process of analytic coding was used to “discover the … general principles underlying [the start-up process]”, which could then be used “to provide a clear understanding [of the research object]”, c.q. MMU Radio (Denscombe 114).

In a second round of analysis, attention was put on the relationships between the codes that had been established before. This process is described by Denscombe as ‘axial coding’, as it “shifts the analysis towards the identification of key (axial) components” (115). Eventually, the focus of the study remained on the key components, the “core codes” that emerged from the open and axial coding processes. It is these key components that are used to discuss the research goals set out in the introduction. They will all be described in detail in the next chapter, which is the result section of this study.

(22)

4 Research results and discussion

4.1 The start of MMU Radio: ideas, dreams and ambitions

The idea for a radio station at the Mountains of the Moon campus arose in 2012, around a conference table in Belgium. Academics from Flemish institutions involved in the collaboration with Mountains of the Moon University tried to come up with an efficient way to disseminate the research results of the relatively young university among the farmer’s communities in the districts around campus.

The idea was picked up by the Ugandan project coordinators in Fort Portal. In 2013, they collaborated with the local NGO Sustainable Agriculture Trainers Network (SATNET) to carry out a community survey across five districts, interviewing at least 15 people in 30 different community groups. Apart from basic information on the interviewee, the questions were mainly focused on finding out what people in the region would expect from a university radio station, and what the benefits could be for the communities. In the report of this study, there is no mention of any potential negative effects a radio station might have. From 2013 to 2015, a number of technically grounded students and staff from the Flemish colleges of Thomas More, in Mechelen, and HoWest, in Kortrijk, spent several months at the MMU campus to build the radio station. Technical material, such as the transmitter, microphones, and computers, were imported from Belgium. All this material was brand new, as the Ugandan government does not allow second-hand it-equipment into the country to prevent Western organizations from dumping their out-of-date hardware under the cloak of charity. The studio was built up in a white cargo container, as this was the most economical option. It was delivered in 2015, built on the side of a grassy hill at the Saaka campus of Mountains of the Moon University, about seven kilometers out of the town center of Fort Portal. According to the original planning, MMU Radio should have started broadcasting in September 2015. However, this planning was thrown upside down by unforeseen difficulties. For one thing, the Ugandan Broadcasting Committee (UBC) gave MMU Radio a broadcasting license, but not the FM frequency that is supposed to go with it. They only allotted the frequency in January 2016, half a year after giving out the license itself. Without a frequency, the radio station could not go on air. After that, MMU Radio had problems with their transmitter, which did not function properly. As this is an expensive apparatus, the university management could not replace it, and they had to wait for a specialized engineer to repair it. This happened in April 2016. As the research period for this study came to an end, the first tests were being run with the radio equipment, with plans to effectively go on air within the next weeks.

(23)

The research results of this thesis, therefore, are an exploration of the pre-start-up phase of MMU Radio, rather than the actual start-up, which happened only after the research period. However, since the preparations to start broadcasting (training volunteers, making a program schedule, making a business plan, etc.) had been done more than six months before the time of research, decisions with regard to both content and governance had already been made final. The different aspects of MMU’s start-up described in this chapter reflect these decisions, as well as the dreams, ideas and ambitions that the people involved with MMU Radio, both in Belgium and in Uganda, have in mind in starting up their station. This chapter looks the three most interesting aspects of the start-up of MMU Radio, comparing the findings with existing literature on CR. We follow the build-up of the theoretical framework in chapter 2, respectively tackling issues involving MMU’s status as a CR station (4.2), African versus Western approaches to journalism (4.3), and MMU Radio as a part of the Ugandan media landscape (4.4).

4.2 Community Radio?

In Uganda, as in many African countries, the Communications Commission (UCC) gives out specific licenses for CR stations. A CR license is cheaper then a commercial one, but it has stronger restrictions with regard to both finances and content. As for financial restrictions, advertisement rates have to be lower than with commercial radio stations, making it easier for local entrepreneurs to advertise. Also, only 25% of advertising income can come from a single sponsor. For other radio stations in the country, it is not uncommon to be fully sponsored by one person (often a politician) or company. As regards the content, CR stations are charged with enforcing an ethical code of broadcasting, and have to focus on development-oriented programs (Ocwich 7).

MMU Radio acquired their CR license in September 2015. However, the license is not all-dominating in deciding whether or not the station can in fact be considered CR from a normative perspective. Javuru notes that, in the whole of East Africa, “the application and practice of community radio principles is remarkably inconsistent”, and that “many stations are CR in name only.” (7). In fact, they are “urban-based commercial stations, oriented toward market interests” (Gumucio-Dagron, qtd. in Manyozo 3). In this section, we assess to what extent MMU Radio can be considered a CR radio in a more normative interpretation of the term, as set out in the theoretical background. We look at aspects of MMU Radio that deviate from classical definitions, and at the advantages or disadvantages of those

(24)

deviations. We base our discussion on three themes that form the base of almost definition of CR: financing (4.2.2), management (4.2.3), and journalistic content (4.2.4). In order to view these themes in the right context, we first have a look at the community MMU Radio targets. 4.2.1 Who does MMU Radio target? The MMU Radio studio is situated on the university campus of Mountains of the Moon University, just outside of Fort Portal, in the Rwenzori region. Its target audience is twofold: on the one hand, the station is meant for the university community, both students and staff. On the other hand, MMU Radio targets communities in the rural outskirts of Fort Portal, mostly consisting of farmers. This is the most important target audience, says project manager Andrew Mugenyi: “Specifically, in line with the project, we are targeting farmers. Farmers, specifically farmers. […] That’s already now our primary target, easy.”

However, the ambitions of MMU Radio reach further than the communities around Fort Portal alone. In the station’s project proposal, written by the university’s Planning and Development Unit, it is described that “the community radio station will cover six districts across the region”, paying particular attention “towards incorporating the diverse cultures and languages that exist in the region, such as broadcasting news in the six local languages, while also bringing people together using a common language”.

The intended audience of the station is thus quite broad. It is based on geographic location (the Rwenzori region), rather than shared economic or social interests, targeting the uneducated population as well as the university community. The furthest district is around 120 km away from the MMU campus. The latest census, in 2002, estimated the population of the Rwenzori region around 1.7 million, projecting it to exceed two million by 2005 (Farmer Employment in the Rwenzori Region). A large local audience does not need to be a problem for a CR station: a station’s audience “can spread horizontally to cover as little as a village, or as much as an entire nation” (Conrad, “Lost in the shadows…” 32). However, in the case of MMU, the degree of diversity in their target audience with regard to language and culture will likely bring about challenges, both in matters of management and in content. After all, being a CR station requires the whole community’s involvement, which can be hampered by language barriers. In his study on CR in the Lira region in Northern Uganda, Ocwich concludes that “the closer the radio is to the audience, the easier it is for the social and environmental needs of the masses to be considered during program production and feedback” (58).

(25)

In the following paragraphs, we discuss the role of the community in different aspects of the start-up of MMU Radio. Based on these results, we then discuss to which extent the station can be considered a CR station by the standards set in academic literature.

4.2.2 The financial model of MMU Radio

For many CR stations, financial sustainability a big challenge. MMU Radio is no exception. In their business plan, they describe different ways of generating income as soon as the station goes on air. First, MMU Radio will engage in “traditional forms of advertising, partnering with stakeholders such as […] the business community, development partners and the government”. In keeping with the Ugandan legal regulations for CR, no more than 25% of the advertising revenue should come from a single advertiser. Furthermore, MMU wants to organize promotional events, as well as seek financial support from the university in the form of loans, which the station intends to pay back as soon as they start making money. Also, MMU Radio also wants to ask donations from the national and international audiences they plan to get via internet. The last way MMU plans to make money, is to seek funding from traditional funders of CR stations, such as NGO’s. The exact distribution between different forms of income at MMU Radio, has not yet been decided. Taking everything into consideration, it seems like donor-funding and advertising will become the main sources of income for the station, as soon as it goes on air.

This model of financing is common in East Africa, but not unambiguously efficient. “One consequence of donor-driven rural and community broadcasting initiatives is the lack of sufficient canvassing of grassroots support during conceptualization of such projects”, Manyozo notes (9). In a study on six CR stations in East Africa, Conrad concludes that “rather than engendering meaningful participation in media-making, […] donor funding has caused some communities to assume recipient roles in the communication process” (“Destructing the community radio model” 785). There is a consensus in normative literature that CR stations should not be organized to make profit, and that any excess income should be ploughed back into the radio project. It should not be distributed among members, volunteers, or staff (Mtimde et al. 17; Opuku-Mensah 171). For the period of time right after the start-up, this will indeed be the case for MMU Radio. Although most of the necessary starting material (a container as a studio, a transmitter, computers, microphones, etc.) was donated by the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR), MMU Radio still struggles with finances. Because of the ambition to reach a wide target audience, the equipment needs of MMU Radio are more elaborate then the 3000 USD worth of basic material Fraser and Estrada

(26)

describe in their CR Handbook (2). According to the business plan, in order to compete with commercial radio stations in town, a lot of extra, expensive equipment is needed. “Like right now, you can see: we only have just one studio. For instance, we should be having two. So that in the event anything happens on the on air studio, maybe you can temporally shift to the other. (…) So maybe in the beginning, whatever we make, shall be to reinvest in the radio.” – Gilbert Matsiko, manager However, as time progresses and the station generates more income, MMU considers also using their profit for other purposes. First, they want to provide staff with a stipend for work and transportation costs. The use of – mostly inexperienced – volunteers poses a problem for many CR stations: in order to be competitive, they have to make programs that live up to the local standard, and are income-worthy elsewhere (Wanyeki 33). MMU manager Gilbert Matsiko thinks a stipend is important to keep volunteers motivated: “100% voluntary work does not work, especially in an African or a Ugandan context”. In the business plan, this is further explained: “Given the nature of the radio work and the location of the radio studio [7 km out of town], it would be unfeasible to admit staff on 100 % voluntary work. Some form of financial motivation needs to be considered, otherwise these volunteers will soon run weary and give up and this will jeopardize our goals and efforts of running a feasible community radio station.”

In a comparative study on CR in five countries around the world (not including Uganda), Girard concludes that “while volunteers are universally found in community radio, there is no ideal ratio of [paid] staff to volunteers” (15). In the case of MMU, of the eight volunteers who were interviewed, three indicate that they do hope to be paid after a while. The other five say they will keep working at the radio, whether they get paid or not. Their motivation to work as a volunteer is partly based on the contacts they can make at the university, and partly on the experience they can acquire at the radio station.

This image is confirmed in literature on CR in Africa. Due to limited funding, trained CR practitioners are often lured away to paid jobs in private broadcasting (Myers, “Community Radio and Development”, qtd. in Javuru 8). In a UNESCO report, Mendel mentions inexperienced staff “among the most notable challenges faced by the community radio sector in Africa” (31). He notes that, in many stations “the impact of overall human resource deficiencies is felt and reflected in the high levels of staff turnover, which are unmatched by adequate replacements that would guarantee continuation of professional and quality programming” (Ibid.). According to Javuru, “this spells a death knell for the sector, that is caught in a state of perpetual beginnings” (8). MMU, too, struggles with this challenge. Since they trained their volunteers in the summer of 2015, two of them went to work for other stations in town, where they now get a salary. Of course in

(27)

the case of MMU, the departure of the volunteers was partly reasoned by the fact that the station did not go on air in September, as planned. Since then, volunteers have been waiting to start their activities. But even when on air, there is a possibility of volunteers leaving MMU Radio for stations where they can earn some money. Youth unemployment in the region is high, and there are many other, commercial radio stations in town. Providing radio staff with a salary can prevent drop outs in the future. Another potential advantage of paying workers, is that it might make the station come across as more professional. This can help attracting advertisers. Bosch describes that, for many South African CR stations, the inability to cooperate with big advertisers is linked to a perception of “the product being of poorer quality than other sectors of broadcasting” (“Community radio continues…” 93). As a result, she notices, many stations become more music-driven in an attempt to sound more professional, “but losing their distinctiveness in the process” (Ibid.).

In summary, with regard to the financial model, it seems that MMU Radio will become a hybrid between a commercial radio station and a CR station. The ways in which the station intents to generate income are all in line with what literature describes to be legitimate for CR, although it is debated whether revenues from advertisements and donations have a positive effect on the station’s effectiveness for the community.

In any case, it is necessary to wait until MMU Radio goes on air, in order to really assess whether or not the station lives up to its status as CR. The idea to pay volunteer workers is not in line with normative literature, although there are several good arguments in favor of providing staff with a stipend. In the next paragraph, we consider the station’s management structure. 4.2.3 The management of MMU Radio The management of MMU Radio is in the hands of Gilbert Matsiko, a radio professional who was hired by MMU’s university board. Matsiko combines his master’s degree in journalism from the Uganda Christian University in Kampala with a part-time position as MMU Radio’s manager. He has a lot of experience in the Fort Portal media landscape, having worked as a deejay and presenter at radio stations in and around the town for 13 years. Matsiko is in charge of almost every aspect of MMU Radio, from journalistic content to financial and staff management.

According to the concept plan for MMU Radio, “[the station] is integrated into the university’s existing organizational structure”. The manager oversees the day to day operations and decisions, whereas the governance is overseen by the university Board of Directors, which consists of 9 elected community members “who represent the various districts, religions, businesses and associations across the region”.

(28)

However, in practice, the board of directors is not closely involved with MMU Radio. Especially in terms of content, Gilbert Matsiko is free to make his own decisions. The manager designed the entire programming schedule himself. Financial matters, on the other hand, all have to pass by the university top (the chancellor and vice-chancellor), as MMU does not have any budget to spare and carefully considers every Ugandan Shilling spent. The use of a professional manager for a CR station conflicts with Mtimde’s condition that such stations be owned and controlled by the community itself. As the university Board of Directors is barely involved in the radio management, MMU Radio does not meet Meyers’ condition that it “should include some element of community ownership or membership” (90), either. People in the communities around the university can tune in on MMU Radio, but have very little say in how the station is run. As things stand now, as far as management is concerned, MMU Radio cannot be called a CR station in the traditional sense of the term. The radio station is meant for the community, but not initiated by the community. The MMU management is aware of this limitation. They have plans to change the top-down management structure in the future, Gilbert Matsiko explains: “A fully-fledged community radio many times is founded by the community. […] So, even for this very one, at the moment it is starting in the pocket of the university. But, in order for us to serve the purpose of the communities, after we take off, we are going to form committees, whereby we will get members of the outside community, communities outside the university, to be part of overseeing how the whole project runs, so that the community feels that they are part and parcel of the project.” Why, then, did MMU not decide to put together such a committee right at the start of the project, giving community members the chance to also have a say in the start-up phase of the station? Project leader Andrew Mugenyi gives two explanations for this choice. First: “The communities they have a lot of what we call community-based organizations, CBO’s. But the problem with these CBO’s is they lack a lot of capacity, so therefore they become briefcase organizations, right? Therefore, they are not able to accomplish what they are formed to accomplish. Which is… improving life quality? Yeah, which is improving life. […] Somebody says I have a CBO, no? Something like that. But he’s carrying it in the what? In the bag.” The second reason Mugenyi gives not to have involved community members from the start, is that MMU wants to use its experience as a community-owned university, to prevent the radio from becoming a personal project.

Amagezi Murro - Knowledge is Power. A case study on the start-up of a community radio station in Western Uganda.