Abstract
In the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the role of community media in promoting social cohesion and intercultural dialogue passed on 11 February 2009 by the Council of Europe, stations run by religious institutions were explicitly excluded from the community media definition, as being too dependent on the Church. But the reality seems to be far from this definition. In practice, in many countries the religious radio stations officially belong to—or even dominate—this sector. In 2011 a new period began for community broadcasting in Hungary. While most of the former community media broadcasters could not find resources with which to operate, the community media landscape was dramatically overwhelmed by religious broadcasters both on regional and local levels. The legally-recognised third tier of broadcasting in Poland called ‘social broadcasting’ is actively and exclusively used by religious radio—seven stations broadcast locally and one is a powerful nationwide radio station called Radio Maryja. The authors gathered information and points of views from radio experts, organizations and activists living and working in different EU and non-EU states about the place of religious broadcasting in the community media sector. Two case-studies (Hungary and Poland) may be of interest for countries considering the introduction or reorganisation of regulations regarding community broadcasting.
Highlights
In the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the role of community media in promoting social cohesion and intercultural dialogue passed on 11 February 2009 by the Council of Europe, stations run by religious institutions were explicitly excluded from the community media definition, as being too dependent on the Church
This article has been inspired by the unclear situation of religious broadcasting in the community media sector, a growing number of religious broadcasters in the legal framework of community media service in Hungary, as well as the third sector of broadcasting in Poland, known as social broadcasters, which is monopolized by religious stations
The analyses of documents related to community broadcasting in the EU, discussion with media experts and the overview of the situation of religious broadcasting in different countries showed the complexity of the problem of affiliation of religious broadcasting to the community media sector
Summary
In the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the role of community media in promoting social cohesion and intercultural dialogue passed on 11 February 2009 by the Council of Europe, stations run by religious institutions were explicitly excluded from the community media definition, as being too dependent on the Church. Church radios get community broadcasting licences in some countries of the EU. It was a unique chance to collect data about the relation between community media and religious stations in Europe. During this conference several questions were raised: Should we consider religious radios as community broadcasters or different entities? One of the reasons for this is that according to the 2012 mapping made by Community Media Forum Europe, community radio outnumbers other forms of community broadcasting in Europe (CMFE, 2012).
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