April 12, 2010:

It is time to introduce all (…?) my readers to my next travelling project!

This time Skaarigleden “goes academic” and is ready for take off to Guatemala (with great financial help from Fritt Ord!). As part of my master’s thesis in Journalism at the University of Oslo, where I am focusing on community media and freedom of expression among minorities, I will examine how the indigenous population uses the so-called community radios in their struggle for recognition, right to information and cultural expression. Community radio is not yet recognized in the Guatemalan Telecommunications Law, and NGOs and indigenous organizations are now hoping for political progress, by lobbying for more support and legalization through a new law proposal.

Community media, and in this case community radio (which in this context is not quite comparable with e.g. a local Norwegian radio station) is more and recognized as a powerful tool for a stronger, participatory democracy in fragmented, multicultural societies. Reports and studies show that community radio has proved to be an important social service for minority groups and rural communities, especially in a world with increasing globalization and media homogenization, or where their ancient culture and language is threatened to disappear.

For indigenous groups in Guatemala, who make up more than half of the total population, radio is the only media that provides information to local communities in their own language, as well as providing content that mainstream media ignore. Guatemalan media rarely adress the needs and concerns of indigenous people. Especially for indigenous people living in rural areas where the illiteracy rates are high, community radio is a vital source of information. Read more about their situation e.g here.

The mobilization for a new law proposal has received more attention recently. UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Speech Frank La Rue has also filed a case in Guatemala’s Constitutional Court against the government claiming that the existing telecommunications law is in violation of freedom of expression and speech guaranteed in the Guatemalan Constitution. Read his Op-Ed in Prensa Libre here (in Spanish).

My project will focus on how this kind of indigenous community radio station operates, what challenges the staff meets, what they focus on, and so on. In what way can a small rural radio station work as tool for democratization and development in a fragmented society as Guatemala? As ‘Westerners’, ingrained in our Western journalistic standards and professionalism (with commercialism and media homogenization on top of it all), we might have something to learn from this as well.

But my project is also about getting to know Guatemala and learning more about Latin America. Being a Norwegian – born in a Scandinavian society with a completely different political and historical background – I will try not to fall into the “Western trap” in my analysis and findings. There is so much I don’t know, and so much I probably never will understand. Besides, how my thesis develop depends on what I manage to find and get access to. Not to mention my Spanish skills…

I am curious and excited. And ready to go! You’re more than welcome to follow the progress at SkaariGleden