community media for peace-building, conflict resolution and reconciliation: a roadmap to develop a...

7/25/2019 Community Media for Peace-building, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation: A Roadmap to Develop a Bi-Commu

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Community Media for Peace-building, Conflict Resolution andReconciliation: A Roadmap to Develop a Bi-Community Radio Station in

Cyprus

Vaia Doudaki, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus

andNico Carpentier, Loughborough University, United Kingdom / Vrije Universiteit

Brussel (VUB), Belgium

1. Introduction

Community media are described as those that serve the community, by providingnews and information relevant to the needs of its members, while promoting accessand participation of the latter (Jankowski, 2002). Community media are also regardedas the third voice in comparison with or in opposition to the state and the privatecommercial media, fostering the voice of the ordinary people and of civil society(Carpentier, Lie and Servaes, 2003). Also, by encouraging the expression ofminorities and marginalized groups they are claimed to build alternative newsagendas to those of the mainstream media, which demonstrate a structural bias(McNair, 1998) in favour of the elites. In addition, their capacity to foster diversity,intercultural dialogue and tolerance has made community media privileged partnersin peace-building, conflict resolution and reconciliation (Rodriguez, 2011).

Purpose of the present study is to examine the role a community media organizationcan play in Cyprus, and to develop a roadmap for action research into the

establishment of such a community media organization. It is explored whethercommunity media could give voice to and promote the dialogue between themembers of the Greek-Cypriot and the Turkish-Cypriot community, and incombination with the generation of diverse and alternative representations of theCyprus problem.

Examining the characteristics community media should have in Cyprus to meet thispurpose and to better serve the particularities of the island, the idea of a bi-community radio station based in Nicosia, the capital city that unites and divides atthe same time the two communities, is promoted. As a technology, radio is capable inreaching large groups of people and is frequently used in Cyprus, whereas one of its

main advantages over other technologies is its familiarity, immediacy and materiality,which are crucial elements in peace-building processes. At the same time, theeffectiveness and reach of a bi-community radio station can be enhanced by newtechnologies that support (inter)connectedness, sharing and expression of opinion,and have the dynamics to help re-establish an environment of co-existence based onlinguistic, religious and cultural diversity of the two communities.

Since its crucial for the success of such an endeavour to gain the support,involvement and commitment of the two communities, it is considered important togenerate a dialogue-driven coalition of Cypriot stakeholders in the process, whichwould set the foundations for a community radio station that would be both

sustainable (Internews, 2009) and participatory-democratic.


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2. Community media: theory and practice

2.1 The basic principles of community media

Like all other types of media organizations, community media (CM) group a wide

variety of media organizational structures and practices. But despite their differences,community media share a number of key characteristics, which distinguish them fromother types of media organizations like public service or commercial media.Especially their close connection to civil society and their strong commitment toparticipation and democracy, in both their internal decision-making process and theircontent production practices, are important distinguishing characteristics thatestablish community media as the third media type, distinct from public service andcommercial media.

These distinguishing features can for instance be found in the working definition ofcommunity radio adopted by AMARC-Europe, the European branch of the World

Association of Community Radio Broadcasters1. Attempting to avoid a prescriptivedefinition, AMARC-Europe (1994: 4) labels a community radio station as a non-profit station, currently broadcasting, which offers a service to the community inwhich it is located, or to which it broadcasts, while promoting the participation of thiscommunity in the radio. Also in the academic literature, we can find these distinctivecharacteristics. For instance, Howley (2005: 2) defines community media as:grassroots or locally oriented media access initiatives predicated on a profoundsense of dissatisfaction with mainstream media form and content, dedicated to theprinciples of free expression and participatory democracy, and committed toenhancing community relations and promoting community solidarity. Tabing (2002:9) defines community media as operated in the community, for the community, aboutthe community and by the community, and a more recent study commissioned bythe European Parliament defines community media as media that are non profit andowned by or accountable to the community that they seek to serve. community mediaare open to participation in programme making and management by members of thecommunity (KEA, 2007: 1).

Community media are media organizations, but can take many different forms andcan use various technological platforms (print, radio, TV, web-based or mixed).Another main characteristic is that they are usually operated by (and/or accountableto) a community (which can be a community of interest, a geographical community or

an ethnic-linguistic community) and are characterized by the more maximalistparticipation of that community in all processes of the organization. They have beendescribed through a variety of concepts, including citizens media, participatorymedia, alternative media, associative media, free media, autonomous media,rhizomatic media, radical media, civil society media and open media. Each of theseconcepts is based on different political, cultural and social orientations and focuseson certain aspects of community media (Servaes, 1999: 259). However, the termcommunity media is widely accepted to describe such plurality. Partially because ofdiversity, the number of community media is difficult to capture. One indicator is themembership of AMARC, which has around 4000 members. In some countries,

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The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters is usually referred to by its Frenchacronym AMARC, or the Association Mondiale des Radio diffuseurs Communautaires. The AMARCwebsite can be found at http://www.amarc.org.


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community media are very successful. Meadows et al. (2007) mention the existenceof more than 400 community media in Australia only. In Columbia, there are morethan 600 community radio and more than 500 community television stations licensed2(Rodriguez, 2011: 28) Community media have also been officially acknowledged asthe third media sector (for example, in the UK, the Netherlands, Hungary, but also in

Australia and many Latin American and African countries).

In recent years the research interest in community media has greatly increased andseveral publications on the subject have appeared, including: Hintz, 2000; Downinget al., 2001; Rodriguez, 2001, 2011; Halleck, 2002; Atton, 2002; Couldry and Curran,2003; Howley, 2005; Jankowski and Prehn, 2002; Rennie, 2006; Bailey, Cammaertsand Carpentier, 2008 and Coyer, Dowmunt and Fountain, 2008; Cammaerts, 2009;Peissl and Tremetzberger, 2010; Reguero Jimnez and Scifo, 2010. Even morerecently, European policy-makers have recognized the role and value of communitymedia. In a report on Community Media in Europe, adopted in 2008, the EuropeanParliament noted that community media fulfil a broad yet largely unacknowledged

role in the media landscape, particularly as a source of local content, and encourageinnovation, creativity and diversity of content (European Parliament, 2008). In theEuropean Parliaments Resolution of 25 September 2008 on Community Media inEuropethat followed after the publication of the Community Media in Europereport,community media are endorsed as an effective means of strengthening cultural andlinguistic diversity, social inclusion and local identity. The resolution also stressesthat community media promote intercultural dialogue by educating the generalpublic, combating negative stereotypes and correcting the ideas put forward by themass media regarding communities within society threatened with exclusion, and themember states are advised to give legal recognition to community media as adistinct group alongside commercial and public media where such recognition is stilllacking.Furthermore, in 2008 the Council of Europe also commissioned a report onthe state of community media in Europe, and its Committee of Ministers issued adeclaration in 2009. In this Declaration on The Role of Community Media inPromoting Social Cohesion and Intercultural Dialogue, the Council of Europe (2009)emphasizes the role of community media in guaranteeing free expression ofopinions and ideas and in contributing to effective participation in democraticprocesses by many groups and individuals.

The social gain stemming from community media activities includes enhancedparticipation in the media system itself, and through community media in society, the

strengthening of media independence and pluralism and increased opportunities formedia literacy. Community media offer platforms for civic engagement andopportunities for citizens to play an active role in community life as they act as acatalyst of a diversity of activists, artists and civil society organizations. Communitymedia thus activate citizenship and have been called a significant component ofparticipatory democracy (KEA, 2007: 5). Moreover, community media are seen tostrengthen community identities and social cohesion but also inter-communityexchange across ethnic, linguistic and cultural frontiers (Fraser and RestrepoEstrada, 2001: 18). The different aspects of the relationship between participation,pluralism and community media can be illustrated by looking at the four differentapproaches used in the literature for the study of community media (as discussed in

2These numbers are complicated by the tendency of non-community media to hold community medialicenses.


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Carpentier, Servaes and Lie, 2003; Bailey, Cammaerts and Carpentier, 2007).

The community approach focuses on access by and participation of thecommunity; the opportunity given to ordinary people to have their voicesheard; and the empowerment of community members through valuing their

skills and views. The alternative approachstresses that these media have alternative ways of

organising (often using a more horizontal democratic structure), carryalternative discourses and representations, and make use of alternativeformats and genres. They are seen as independent from market and state.Participation and pluralism are accomplished through the mechanism of self-representing this multiplicity of alternative voices.

The civil society approach incorporates aspects of civil society theory (e.g.Walzer, 1998). Civil society agendas are concerned with enabling citizens tobe active in one of many (micro-)spheres relevant to everyday life, to exerttheir rights to communicate, and facilitating macro-participation of differentsocietal groups through participation in public debate and self-representationin public spaces.

Finally, the rhizomatic approachuses Deleuze and Guattaris (1987) metaphorto focus on three aspects: community medias elusiveness, theirinterconnections (amongst each other and [mainly] with civil society) and thelinkages with market and state. Community media act as meeting points andcatalysts for a variety of organizations and movements and, like rhizomes,they tend to cut across borders and build linkages between pre-existing gaps.

However, those interconnections also uncover a number of difficulties that community

media face and which point to core challenges to these community media: The development and sustainment of relationships with the community. The development and sustainment of internal democracy. Financial instability and vulnerability. The unawareness of the varied democratic functions of community media in

media policy. The threat caused by a media landscape that is characterized by increasing

concentration and homogenization. The blurring of the rigid boundaries between civil society, state and market

producing fierce internal ideological conflicts, the threat of co-option by state or

market and the loss of the community medias independence.

These challenges refer to a set of core concerns within the community media sector,namely effectiveness and sustainability. Moreover, these challenges also exemplifythe need for caution towards a too celebratory approach on community media.Community media do not provide with catch-all solutions for all societal problems,although they can play a significant role in strengthening the democratic tissue of asociety, and (as the following part will argue) contributing to peace-building, conflictresolution and reconciliation.


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2.2. Community media, diversity, intercultural dialogue and conflict resolution

The participatory nature of community media also facilitates their societal role asproducers of both internal and external diversity. As Fraser and Restrepo Estrada

(2001: 18) remark (in relation to community radio), [c]ommunity radio, through itsopenness to participation to all sectors and all people in a community/ies, creates adiversity of voices and opinions on the air. Community media are not homogeneousorganizations serving a homogeneous community, but allow a diversity of people toproduce media content which relates to a variety of societal groups and sub-communities, mixing minority and majority cultures, ethnicities and languages often inthe same community media (Barlow, 1988; Sussman and Estes, 2005; Reed andHanson, 2006; Baker, 2007; Ren and Antonius, 2009).

In order to deal with this complexity, different strategies have been developed to thinkthe relationship between the community media organization and its community. In

some cases, an expansion of the concept of community has been proposed, movingaway from the more traditional definitions of community as locality or ethnicity. Oneexample here is Lewiss (1993: 13) position that community should not beexclusively defined geographically, as communities can cross geographic localities. Aless mediacentric approach tackles this issue by pointing to the diversity ofcommunities that a community media organization can serve. For instance, Santanaand Carpentier (2010) show the wide variety of activist, ethic-linguistic, subculturaland art communities that are being served by two Belgian community / alternativeradio stations. Here, a considerable number of authors argue that community mediafacilitate a dialogue between these sub-communities or segments of society(Siemering, 2000; Forde et al., 2002; Martin and Wilmore, 2010; Gaynor and O'Brien,2011).

Community medias ability to integrate a diversity of non-professional producersembedded in a diversity of (sub-)communities, which generates in turn a variety ofvoices to be heard (or read, or viewed), enabled through their participatory-democratic ideology, also ideally positions community media as facilitators ofintercultural dialogue and tolerance. Here, the explicit commitment of communitymedia towards democratic values, which renders them different from open accessmedia, provides a protective environment for this diversity of voices. Internally,community media can act as physical meeting places for different social groups, and

externally, as platforms for these different voices. To use Papoutsaki et al. s(2008:201) words: Increased dialogue, collaboration, and respect for others ideas becomeelements in community building and social cohesion. A similar argument is used bythe Council of Europe in its 2009 Declaration: Conscious that in todays radicallychanged media landscape, community media can play an important role, notably bypromoting social cohesion, intercultural dialogue and tolerance, as well as byfostering community engagement and democratic participation at local and regionallevel.

Obviously, this capacity to stimulate intercultural dialogue is not to be taken forgranted, as it very much depends on the embeddedness of the media organizational

culture in a participatory-democratic ideology, and as it is for instance complicated bylinguistic differences. Moreover, organizing dialogue within a context of diversity


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generates many thresholds and difficulties. One significant problem is generated bythe risk of non-democratic voices and actors entering and damaging these realmsdevoted to democracy and participation. At the same time an equal number ofcreative democratic practices have been developed to deal with these challenges.For instance, having to deal with many different languages inhibits dialogue, but a

wide variety of techniques has been developed by organizations like the Swiss radioschool Klip+klang, which has been experimenting with organizing multi-linguisticdialogues, in close collaboration with Swiss community radio stations like the Zurich-based Radio Lora.

One example is the Cross-Radio project, a cultural information network that connectstwelve radio stations and independent organisations, mostly from cities in formerYugoslavia (Ljubljana, Maribor, Sarajevo, Mostar, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin,Sombor, Skopje), with an extension to Zurich and Basel in Switzerland. The networkprovides a platform for cross border exchange of information related to art andculture, and enhances cultural dialogue in the region. Its program is multi-lingual.

According to the participants, the multi-lingual principle is of extreme importance, forpromoting the cultural and linguistic diversity of ex-Yugoslav regions. One of the aimsof Cross-Radio is to help in the redevelopment of the necessary common ground onwhich to create a more promising vision of a shared, multicultural future. Cross-Radio as a community radio supports the idea of multiculturalism of belonging notonlyand exclusivelyto the nation-state but to different multicultures. This is the roleand importance of Cross-Radio in the former Yugoslav region not only to offermulticultural perspectives but also to encourage the articulation of common multi-identities that used to be vivacious, powerful, and respectful of the cultural diversity ofthe former Yugoslavia. (Plansak and Volcic, 2010: 83).

This capacity to foster diversity, intercultural dialogue and tolerance has madecommunity media privileged partners in peace-building, conflict resolution andreconciliation projects. In contrast to the more general and widely recognizedcapacity to stimulate intercultural dialogue, there is much less (academic) researchinto the more specific role of community media to strengthen peace-building, conflictresolution and reconciliation (a gap this paper explicitly aims to address3), althoughthere are many particular projects, mainly located in the global South. In one of therare publications, Anheier and Raj Isar (2007: 323-324) suggest that communitymedia can play a mediating role in conflicts. Also Rodriguez (2000: 147, 2011)attributes a central role to community media4 in peace-building efforts and conflict

resolution. In a ground-breaking research project in the Colombian Magdalena Medioregion, researchers from four universities and a regional network of community radiostations joined forces and provided rare evidence for this central role of communitymedia in a struggle for peace (Cadavid and Moreno Martnez, 2009; see alsoRodriguez, 2011). One of Rodriguezs(2011: 255) key conclusions of her analysis ofColombian community media activities stresses the performance of peace-building:Instead of transmitting messages about peacebuilding to audiences, Columbiancitizens media involve audiences in, and subject audiences to, the felt, embodiedexperience of peace.

The lack of attention from researchers does not imply that no community media

3A few exceptions are listed in Rodriguez (2011: 20).4Rodriguez calls them citizens media.


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projects aimed at peace-building and conflict resolution have been organized.Different international institutions have been instrumental in supporting peace-building activities of community and especially UNESCO (with its Community MediaProgramme) has been at the forefront of these initiatives. In their Mainstreaming theCulture of Peace report, UNESCO (2002) included one part on community media.

Also, earlier, in the report for the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative onAfrica, Matoko and Boafo (1998: 17) pointed out that [c]ommunity mediaorganizations strengthen a communitys identity, culture and history, encourageparticipation in decision-making processes and help to create a peacefulenvironment. As there are many constraints that these community media have toface, they continued that efforts will be made to remedy these problems bysupporting the efforts of non-governmental organizations to create such [community]media outlets (1998: 17). In addition, AMARC has been actively promoting thecapacity of community media to support peace-building, especially through itswomens network(s). But not all initiatives have been sustainable, for instance the UNpeacekeeping radio stations have been critiqued for combining the lack ofsustainability with the lack of local embeddedness: Before setting up its own radiostations, the UN should first consider partnerships with credible and capable localmedia outlets, such as nonpartisan public broadcasters or community radio networks,if such institutions exist (Orme, 2010: 10).

3. A bi-community radio station in Cyprus

3.1 The political and media context in Cyprus

Cyprus has been geographically and ethnically divided since 1974 when Turkeyinvaded the north and occupied 38% of the island, after decades of inter-communaltensions and violence. Since then, the two major communities, the Greek-Cypriot andthe Turkish-Cypriot have been living in two different parts of the country: the officiallyrecognized by the international community Republic of Cyprus in the South and theTurkish-held auto-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the North,recognized only by Turkey. The majority of the population on the island is GreekOrthodox (78%), with 18% of Muslims, and an overall 4% of Maronites, ArmenianApostolics, Catholics, etc, and the official languages are Greek and Turkish. In 2006the population was estimated at 780,000 in the south and around 200,000 in thenorth.

During the past decades there have been ongoing negotiations for a peace solution.The last peace plan proposed by the UN for the reunification of the island in 2004,known as the Annan Plan, in the form of a federation of two constituent states, wasrejected by referendum in the Greek Cypriot community and accepted in the TurkishCypriot community. As it had to be accepted by both communities in order to beapplied, the island remains divided up today.

3.1.1 The media in Cyprus

The media in Cyprus share a lot in common with the media in other South Europeanand Mediterranean countries, and reflect, or are intertwined with the Cyprus Problem.

Cyprus attained independence in 1960, being until then a British colony. The


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resulting delayed democratization and development of liberal institutions, asmanifested in many countries of southern Europe, is connected with a strong role ofthe state in society, a strong role of political parties once the transition to democracyis achieved, and a continuing importance of clientelism (Hallin and Mancini, 2004).

As Hallin and Mancini (2004: 135-136) define it, [c]lientelism is a pattern of socialorganization in which access to resources is controlled by patrons and delivered toclients in exchange for deference and various kinds of support. [] In clientelisticsystems, information is treated as a private resource, not shared publicly. It is asymptom of a political culture that is relatively cynical about the notion of a generalpublic interest transcending particular interests (Hallin and Mancini, 2004: 138).Even though in recent years clientelism has weakened, as unfavourable to thestructures of a free market economy, it continues to weigh on the organization ofmedia and journalistic practices in Cyprus, historically connected to the slowerdevelopment of the journalistic professionalization, having also a negative effect onthe autonomy of the journalists.

Another characteristic of the Cypriot media is their links (especially of televisionstations) to those of Greece and Turkey. There are relays of Greek and Turkishstations across the island, a number of channels from Turkey transmit directly toCyprus, whereas most of the local stations take part of their program from Greek andTurkish television stations. It cannot be neglected that the Greek and Turkish Cypriotcommunities share a lot with Greece and Turkey respectively, not only in terms oflanguage, religion and cultural proximity, but also in coordinated political agendasconcerning the Cyprus Problem. These two countries have, in their turn, a longhistory of conflict and tension between them, with Cyprus being one of the issues ofconflict.

There is also high concentration of broadcast and print media per capita both in thenorth and in the south, something that in theory could indicate a high degree ofpluralism. However, the high concentration of media is accentuated by the Cyprusproblem: The Cypriot media mirror the island's political division, with both parts of theisland operating their own press and broadcasters (Vassiliadou, 2007).

Like in other Mediterranean countries, in Cyprus also, there is a strong focus of themedia on political life and a tradition in commentary-oriented or advocacy journalism,combined with close ties between the media (especially the newspapers) and the

political parties. And even though the partisan press is declining (in the TurkishCypriot community it is still alive), newspapers refrain from adopting a clearideologically neutral editorial line, especially as ideology in connection to positions onthe Cyprus Problem is still indicative of their identity (Christophorou, Sahin andPavlou, 2010: 6). Since journalism cannot always be differentiated from politicalactivism, its autonomy is often limited, with poorly developed professionalization ofjournalists and weak self-regulation as characteristics of the profession (Mancini,2005; Papathanassopoulos, 2004).

3.1.2 Media, nation representations and the Cyprus Problem

Not paradoxically, the Cyprus Problem is the main topic of discourse in the media onboth parts of the island. Apart from the preponderance of the issue and its systematic


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priming in the news agendas of most media, a common reality both on the North andthe South is a rather similar way of coverage, not on the perspectives and positions,as they often oppose each other, but on the practices resulting in the construction oftheir respective mediated reality (Christophorou, Sahin and Pavlou, 2010). Inaddition, the way Greek and Turkish media cover news about each other and present

the Cyprus Problem is largely reproduced in Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriotmedia as well, as it regards agenda-setting, rhetoric, framing and interpretation of thepresented issues.

When the media reports on the Cyprus Problem, there is little or nodifferentiation on either side; stereotypical phrases, expressions, and theposition that our side is the good one who strives for a solution, its theothers who are negative, characterize both media. The selection of news andvoices on most issues, i.e., who is given access and whose views arepresented, is similar in both the Greek and the Turkish Cypriot media(Christophorou, Sahin and Pavlou, 2010: 7).

Also, as Bailie and Azgin (2008: 57) note, the Cypriot media embrace a conflict-centered approach to peace efforts by shaping news that contributes to the increasedmystification of the conflict and to a retrenching of divisive attitudes, sympathetic to acementing of division. The shaping takes place indirectly through the selection ofquotes from elite sources that re-present dominant points of view from within eachcommunity.

Bailie and Azgin, agree with Wolfsfeld (2004), that the dominant criteria for editorialdecision making, that of immediacy, drama, simplicity and ethnocentrism, alsopreeminent in Cypriot media practices, are far from favourable towards a peace orconciliatory oriented coverage of the Cyprus problem. In the same direction, on heranalysis about the coverage of the Imia/Kardak Greek-Turkish crisis and thedepiction of the other, Kostarella (2007: 30) points that the editorials of the Greeknewspapers studied appeared emotional and aggressive, with lack of argumentationand focus on provoking strong sentiments, while the framing of Turkey was episodicand event dependent.

Studies on news values and newsroom practices have long shown that conflict,negativity and crisis are inherently considered newsworthy, whereas specific eventsand actions are preferred over processes, in favor of simplicity, and long-term

policies and complex issues are conveniently reduced in two-sided dispute (Epstein,1973; Tuchman, 1973; McManus, 1994; Harcup and O'Neill, 2001; Soloski, 1989).Intertwined with newsworthiness is the news gathering process. As the mainstreammedia rely heavily on official sources, that is mainly members of the major elites ofsociety (political, economical, cultural, etc.) for news gathering (Gans, 1979;Berkowitz, 1997; Ericson, Baranek and Chan, 1989) they demonstrate a structuralbias(McNair, 1998) in favour of these elites, not only as it regards the agenda of thepublic issues, but also the framing and interpretation of the latter.

Especially in the coverage of news of national politics there are rarely systematicallydivergent agendas and definitions between the media and the official state policies.

According to Tili (2006: 23), Greece and Greece-related issues tend to beconstructed in the Turkish media in a rather nationalistic way whereas changes in


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the style and content of the Turkish media reports on Greek-Turkish relations weremainly due to changes in the policy of the Turkish government and state officials andhow they currently engage with Greece [] The way that something is defined asnews and the way it should be reported are strongly influenced by the top officials ofTurkey when Turkish media report about Greece.

As Nossek (2004: 343) remarks, when a foreign news item is defined as ours thenjournalists professional practices become subordinate to national loyalty; when anitem is theirs, journalistic professionalism comes into its own. Thus, [] there is aninverse relation between professional news values and the national identity of thejournalist [] the more national the report is, the less professional it will be .

This last point brings into focus the notion of national identity and the role of themedia in its construction and preservation. The Cyprus Problem is inextricablyintertwined with the discourse on national identity. According to Anderson (2006: 3),[n]ation-ness is the most universally legitimate value in the political life of our time

and media function as guards of the nation state idea (in multiple levels) and as mainmechanisms in the construction and legitimation of national identity. Anderson (2006:37-46) argues that the nation is a construction enabled through the print media,which generated a sense of simultaneity and created the possibility of imaginedcommunities.

National identity can be seen as a specific form of collective identity that is sustainedby a dual process: one of inclusion that provides a boundary around us an d one ofexclusion that distinguishes us from them (Schlesinger, 1991: 300). According toKostarella (2007: 26), collective imagination depends on a dialectic opposition toanother identity, with the media serving this binary oppositional scheme of usversus them in national identity building.

The media in Greece and Turkey, as Ozgunes and Terzis (2000: 408) note , areused to reinforce the myth of the unitary state, on one hand by emphasizing thesimilarities among the members of the nation, and on the other hand by creating afear of the other. Under this prism, the systematic use of stereotypes and negativerepresentations of the other by the Greek media has been used as a commonframework for approaching and explaining Greek-Turkish relations (Kostarella, 2007:23).

Through the demonization of the other and the restriction of the possibilities ofrecognizing internal complexity and plurality [] the Greek mass media havebeen reinforcing the binary divisions between good and bad which p revail inpopular consciousness and in the nationalistic imaginary [.]. In this contextthe other is perceived as the aggregate of internal and external opposition, inthe form of an imaginary enemy. Internal dissidents and political adversariesare therefore transformed into national enemies(Tsagarousianou, 1997: 278-279).

In Cyprus, nationalistic discourse through the media develops in similar patterns,accentuated by the unresolved division of the island. Anastasiou (2002: 588-589),

building on the work of Ellul (1973: 34-38) argues that [i]n Cyprus, the nationalistpropaganda that has been either consciously or indirectly assembled and


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disseminated over the years by the means of mass communication has transformedthe experiences, perceptions, and interpretations rooted in the history of the conflict,from scattered suggestive tendencies, from implicit and individual references, tocollectivized, crystallized stereotypes and explicit meanings that in turn have come tointegrate and condition public culture.

An analysis of the programme of three radio stations on the north part of Cyprus in2010 showed that they do not favour unification with the Republic of Cyprus, eventhough it is, according to the author, currently highly popular with the majority of thepopulation, promoting thus discourses that do not reflect the peoples sentiment(Way, 2011a: 29): To this end, stations recontextualise events to promote twodifferent discourses of national identity, one that is Turkish and one that is based onan independent Turkish Cyprus (Way, 2011b: 15).

At the same time, the Cyprus problem is affecting the practice of journalism, puttingforward questions about the role of the journalist. Not rarely, in areas and countries

where there is conflict, issues of objectivity and fairness are juxtaposed to those ofproviding service to the public/country. As Blsi (2004: 9) argues: [a]ctors on onesside who question their countrys position and propose alternative forms of conflictresolution are condemned and [o]ften they are denounced as disloyal.

There is a consensus in the Cypriot political scene, in society and largely in themedia that if someone is very open and conciliatory towards the other she/he may bedetrimental to the interests of the community, hence to the public interest. Under thisburden, journalists in Cyprus engage in censorship and self-censorship practices(Sofokleous, 2008: 170; Vassiliadou, 2007: 211).

According to the study of Christophorou, Sahin and Pavlou (2010: 7), focussing onthe way the Annan Plan was presented by the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriotmedia: [w]ith the passage of time, intra- and inter-community polarization appears tohave deepened, with a blame-game directed by some not only against the otherside but also against those with different views as well. Any view diverging from theofficial line was sometimes seen as damaging and undermining the communityscause to the benefit of the enemies; also, responsibility for unfavourabledevelopments in ones own community was attributed to those with views differentfrom the official view.

3.2 The potential contribution of a bi-community radio station in Cyprus to thepeace process

In the case of multi-community countries, as in Cyprus, the difficulty of identifying withthe nation state and create a unique national identity is greater. In suchenvironments, the media often engage in nationalistic discourse also as a result oftheir lack of interest or inability of putting into context issues of (national) identityoutside the logic and rhetoric of the (well defined and clear) nation state. Creatingmulti-community national spheres is arduous, not consistent with the commercialnature of mainstream media, and incompatible with the dilemmatic, oppositional andunconciliatory rhetoric both political actors and media espouse in national politics.

Given the capacity of community media to enhance communication, to organize


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dialogue, to contribute to peace-building, conflict resolution and reconciliation, withinand amongst communities, the establishment of bi-community media in Cyprus,serving both the Greek-Cypriot and the Turkish-Cypriot community could contribute inthe above task. As Plansak and Volcic (2010: 81) note [c]ommunity radio serves acommunity, where community[] is not imposed from the top down but is an entity

shaped by its members, who dialectically frame its identity. It is exactly thisdialectical framing of identitythat the mainstream media are incapable or unwilling toserve, and which community media by principle and through practice foster andpromote.

Considering the type of a community medium that would better meet this purposeand serve the particularities of the island, the idea of a bi-community radio stationbased in Nicosia, the capital city that unites and divides at the same time the twocommunities, is promoted. As a technology, radio is capable in reaching large groupsof people and is frequently used in Cyprus. As data from World Internet ProjectCyprus 2010 suggest, Greek Cypriots listen to the radio 13-14 hours weekly

(Demertzis et al., 2010)5. Moreover, radio is reasonably easy and cheap to produce,in comparison, for example, to television. The main advantage of radio over othertechnologies is its familiarity, immediacy and materiality, which are crucial elementsin peace-building processes. Producing radio broadcasts has a physical-materialdimension (e.g. radio studios) which allows bringing people together, whoseconversions can be captured immediately, because radio receivers are wide-spreadand again easy to operate. Also the organizational nature of a community radiostation matters, as their organizational cultures can be seen as cherishing aparticipatory culture at the levels of both production and management, which rendersthese organizations centres of expertise based on the considerable amount ofknowledge on the practical organization of participatory processes and on ways toovercome the many problems these processes encompass (Carpentier, 2011: 228).

Besides, as discussed earlier in this paper, there are examples of community radiostations in multiethnic regions and countries of conflict and post-conflict that work toremedy the damage division and war caused in coexistence of groups andcommunities previously based on linguistic, religious and cultural diversity.

3.2.1 A bi-community radio station facilitated by new media technologies

Although this paper advocates the choice for establishing a community radio station

in Cyprus, it cannot be ignored that traditionalmedia operate in a more and moreconverged environment and culture and incorporate or work with new mediatechnologies and practices. The effectiveness and reach of a bi-community radiostation can be enhanced by new technologies that support (inter)connectedness,sharing and expression of opinion, and would be supported by an online presence.

The potential and dynamics of new tools of communications have been provenbeneficial for the purposes of community media. As the UNESCO Community MediaCentres programme illustrates, the internet has been used in combination withcommunity media. This hybrid approach, combining community radio andtelecentres, is built on an integration of both technologies, allowing for cross-

5At the time of writing no data was available for the north of Cyprus.


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fertilization between them. As was mentioned in the (positive) 2006 UNESCOevaluation: The addition of Internet connectivity and other information technologytools to an established community radio station or the addition of radio broadcastingcapabilities to a telecentre, can help the established facility to significantly increaseits contributions to community development [...] (UNESCO, 2006: 21).

As it would be crucial for the success of a bi-community radio station to overcomeboth cultural, mental, as well as physical barriers, the culture of (the democraticversions of) online communities developed on the internet, that transcend the fixedboundaries of geography and allow for the development of alternative spaces outsideand beyond specific borders (Jones, 1997; Preece and Maloney-Krichmar, 2003;Porter, 2004) could be beneficially combined with the long tradition of communitymedia participation and the community media movements explicit commitmenttowards democratic values (including peace). Moreover, some people from bothcommunities might be hesitant at first to have physical presence in a bi-communityradio located in Nicosia (to physically cross the borders), but might be less reluctant

to use mobile and internet facilities and tools (sms, twitter, emails, blogs, etc) toexpress their commitment towards peace and reconciliation, share their content, andprovide ideas. Furthermore, an internet presence might also engage people fromgeographically remote areas or from abroad, as many Cypriots live abroad. Inaddition, young people, who, at least in theory, would be a driving force of acommunity radio station, frequently use new media and mobile technologies to fulfiltheir communicational needs (Livingstone, 2002; Prensky, 2001; Jones et al, 2010),as part of a multiplatform palette(Demertzis et al., 2010; Gross, 2004). Although thelevels of participation are often limited in the case of new technologies, for instanceby the corporate ownership of many participatory platforms (Dahlgren, 2011), youngpeople still experience the practice of active participation and citizenship largelythrough the (mediated) use of these new technologies. They see themselves asproducers and disseminators of information through the use of mobile technologiesand the internet, in a digitally social networked and converged environment andculture.

These dynamics can be used beneficially by a community radio station that is invitingpeople to participate, create content and express opinions through a diversity ofchannels they are accustomed to and most comfortable with, bringing along their ownskills, knowledge, literacies and sharing them with the other members of the (radio)community. As the two communities of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots live

largely isolated and the contemporary image they have of each other is mainlythrough the mainstream media, a bi-community radio station can work towardsrebuilding bridges of multilingual and multiethnic communication and cooperation.This bi-community radio station will need to have an organisational structure, withobjectives explicitly committed to participation, democratisation, peace-building,conflict resolution and reconciliation. This organisational structure will also have togain a physical base in the divided capital of the island, so that it will bring peoplefrom the two communities physically together. It will further be strengthened by theimplementation of new technologies, within the community medias democraticframework, to overcome physical and mental barriers that have been built all theseyears of division, to help re-establish an environment of co-existence based on

linguistic, religious and cultural diversity of the two communities.


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4. The need for stakeholder research and societal support

A crucial mistake to avoid in the establishment of a community media organizationwould be its quick and top-down implementation, which would lack the support,commitment and psychological ownership of the two communities. For this reason, a

fairly stretched-out consultation and negotiation process will need to be organized, inorder to establish a community radio station that will prove to be both sustainable(see, e.g. Internews, 2009) and participatory-democratic. As neither the participatory-democratic nature, nor the sustainability of a community media organization can beassumed, the establishment of a bi-community radio station will also require atraining period to familiarize the stakeholder-coalition with community mediasorganizational participatory-democratic culture, structures and management.

In many cases, the establishment of community media organizations grew out of(parts of) specific communities. Although this endogenous creation (to use a conceptfrom Ayedun-Aluma, 2011) is not without its problems either, the situatedness of

community media in their communities is considered crucial for their success. InAyedun-Alumas (2011: 64) words, the cultural and social origins of the mediatechnologies being defined as community media matter to a very high degree. Thisraises structural issues for interventionist projects that aim to establish communitymedia organizations, as the risk exists that they create purely exogenous mediaorganizations, which are based on exogenous definitions of communities and theimposition of narrow based solutions to the cultural communication [] (Opubor,2000: 13, quoted in Ayedun-Aluma, 2011: 64). The number of problems that theseexogenous media organizations have to face is considerable, and the consequencesmight be severe. Ayedun-Aluma (2011: 64) mentions the problems of incapacitationof the host community, maladaptation of the media, and possible rejection of themedia by the community.

This does not imply that any intervention in a community, with the aim of establishinga community media organization, is necessarily doomed to fail. It does create therequirement for the interventionist strategies to take these potential problems intoaccount. In practice this means that members of the communities first of all need tobe informed about the nature and potential of community media, allowing them toconsciously decide on entering the interventionist project (or not). Secondly, this alsoimplies that the process of establishment needs to be participatory in itself, aiming forhigh levels of community involvement in the community media construction at the

financial, organizational-structural, human resources, journalistic-editorial, politicaland cultural level. This also positions the process facilitators in a specific way, asthey need to protect the community ownership, while still offering expertise andguidance (on community media structures and cultures) and protecting thesustainability of the project. Finally, given the complexity of these participatoryinterventions, there is also a high need for a reflexive component, that supports andcorrects the intervention.

4.1 Action research

One method that combines these requirements is action research. This type of

research has been defined by Reason and Bradbury (2001: 1), in The Handbook ofAction Researchas seeking: [...] to bring together action and reflection, theory and


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practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues ofpressing concern to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual personsand their communities. A similar approach to action theory can be found in Dickensand Watkins (1999: 127) description of action research, which consists of cycles ofplanning, acting, reflecting or evaluating, and then taking further action.

Action research is a broad concept, and as Dickens and Watkins (1999: 127) remark,it remains an umbrella term for a shower of activities to foster change on the group,organizational, and even societal levels. In her overview, Sundin (2010) mentions aseries of variations, such as grounded action research, insider action research,educational action research, but also participatory action research (PAR). PAR,strongly associated with Fals-Borda, relies on (an) empathic researcher(s) to enablecommunities to define their own research questions, to lead the research and todevelop their own solutions for change (Mertens, 2008: 182 see also Fals-Bordaand Rahman, 1991; McTaggart, 1997; Brydon-Miller et al., 2004; Kindon et al., 2007;Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, 2010). Fals-Borda (1998: 161) especially emphasizes the

radical-political nature of participation as always radically conceived as a struggleagainst political and economic exclusion from exercising control over publicresources.

One crucial concept in (participatory) action research that will be used here, is thenotion of the stakeholder. This concept emerged from (social) marketing discourse inthe 1960s, and gained popularity by the work of Freeman (1984: VI) who defined it as"any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of theorganisation's objective." Later, the stakeholder concept became defined in a muchbroader way, and different categories, such as "organisational, economic, andsocietal stakeholders" (Werther and Chandler, 2006: 4) were developed. Moreover,the participatory dimension of stakeholdership became emphasized, as the relationsbetween an organization and its stakeholders are seen to be "interactive, mutuallyengaged and responsive relationships that establish the very context of doingmodern business, and create the groundwork for transparency and accountability"(Andriof et al., 2002: 9). Similarly, Morsing and Schultz (2006: 325) stress theimportance of bringing the notions "of participation, dialogue and involvement to thecentre of stakeholder theory, with a clear inspiration (and aspiration) from democraticideals."

4.2 A roadmap for research into Cypriot stakeholders and their position

towards community media

Following the logics of (participatory) action research, there is a need to combineintervention with reflection. The interventionist, practice-driven component obviouslyneeds to be aimed at the facilitation of establishment of a bi-community radio station.As sustainable community media are based on grassroots processes (and notimplemented in a top-down fashion) this requires a carefully elaborated processaimed at generating societal and stakeholder support. For this reason, a variety ofpolitical, legal, academic, civil society (including NGOs and cultural organizations)and journalist stakeholders will need to be identified and consulted on the possibilityand desirability of establishing a community radio station, and on what Rodriguez

(2011: 233) calls the complex communication needs of real communities.


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As no pre-established model of community radio should be implemented, but a seriesof models should be developed and discussed with stakeholders, a second stage willneed to consist of the development of a number of scenarios (combining communitymedia models with public service and journalistic approaches in varying degrees).These scenarios will need again to be consulted with all stakeholders, which will

allow fleshing out support, and establishing a coalition of stakeholders supportivetowards the realization of a bi-community radio station and explicitly committed toparticipation, democratisation, peace-building, conflict resolution and reconciliation.

In the third phase, representatives of this coalition of stakeholders will need to betrained to achieve the necessary skills to establish and sustain a radio station.Tentatively, these trainings would need to consist of 1)community medias democraticand participatory principles, 2)community media management and 3)programmingstrategies, including multi-linguistic programming, 4)financial planning and gatheringresources. Also trainings to produce content are required, (again tentatively)including 5)radio production, 6)journalistic practice in general and 7)focussed on

conflict resolution, 8)intercultural/intercommunity dialogue, and 9)internet and mobilephone support for community media.

Here, it should be kept in mind that the produced community media content6shouldnot be exclusively focus on news and information distribution, but that a wide varietyof fictional and non-fictional formats should be used. Also a propagandistic approachto peace-building and participation should be avoided. As Rodriguez (2011: 255)formulates it: the idea is not to persuade people of the value of mediation, nortransmit mediation skills. Instead, [the idea is to create] communication spaces wheremedia producers, participations, and their audiences [can] actually experiencemediation.

In the final phase, the representatives of this coalition of stakeholders will then needto be assisted by experts in drafting the financial, organizational and editorial plans,again maximizing community ownership.

The second component of action research, the realization of a bi-community radiostation consists of an academic, reflection-driven approach, which allowsincorporating analytical phases. These analytical phases will not only facilitate (in linewith the tradition of action research) to reflect upon and correct the process ofestablishing a bi-community radio station, but will also allow to report on the process

and to disseminate the knowledge that has been accumulated throughout theprocess.

In sum, the research objectives could be summarized as follows:

1. To identify Cypriot stakeholders and their positions in relation to a bi-community radio station in Nicosia, and to analyse the perceived thresholdsand opportunities in relation to such a community radio station.

2. To develop a series of scenarios for the structure of a bi-community radiostation in the divided capital city of Cyprus, at the financial, organizational-structural, human resources, journalistic-editorial, political and cultural level.

6The radio programmes produced during the content production workshops should be made availableas podcasts, giving early visibility to the project.


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These scenarios will be based on the positions of the Cypriot stakeholders,enriched by 1)the academic community media literature, 2)specific communitymedia practices, 3)the academic literature on public service and journalism,and 4)public service media and journalistic practice.

3. To consult Cypriot stakeholders on the developed scenarios through a series

of interviews and focus groups in order to establish the level of support for thedeveloped scenarios and to establish a stakeholder-coalition seeking toimplement a bi-community radio station.

4. To organize trainings for the representatives of the stakeholder-coalition.5. To publish a selection of the content of the training sessions (as podcasts) on

a website.6. To provide assistance to the stakeholder-coalition to draft the financial,

organizational and editorial plans.

5. Concluding remarks

As argued in this paper, the Cypriot mainstream media do not foster reconciliationbetween the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot community. On the contrary, theyembrace a conflict-centered approach to peace efforts and help in the deepening ofintra- and inter-community polarization, serving the binary oppositional scheme of usversus them in national identity building. Through their representational politics theykeep the wounds of a 40 (and more) year old (cultural) trauma open. In constructingsymbolic barriers between populations (how different they may be), they contribute tothe continuation of conflict and violence in Cyprus.

From a more humanist perspective we want to defend a societal model based ondialogue, tolerance, human rights and other democratic values, looking for whatunites people, and less for what divides them. Within this societal model, it becomescrucial to avoid the reduction of individuals to one (national) identity. In contrast, thereis a need to acknowledge and celebrate Cypriot diversity, and to come to terms withthe memory of pain, war and conflict, without forgetting it. In this context, given thecapacity of community media to enhance communication, to promote dialogue, andto contribute to conflict resolution, within and amongst communities, theestablishment of bi-community media organization in Cyprus, serving both the Greek-Cypriot and the Turkish-Cypriot community (in all their diversities) could offeralternative spaces of cultural and political dialogue and participation, fostering(re)conciliation. As within community media the multiple identities of the community

are not imposed from the top down but are shaped collectively by its members, thesemedia organizations allow for environments of coexisting multicultural perspectiveswithin the realm of democracy, encouraging the articulation of common multi-identities and supporting the idea of multiculturalism of belonging not only andexclusively to the nation-state but to different multicultures (Plansak and Volcic,2010: 83).

Establishing such a bi-community media organization is far from easy, and requires aslow process to ensure community ownership. One of the choices to be madeconcerns which media technology will form the main basis of this media organization.Easiness of radio to produce and to reach large groups, its familiarity, immediacy and

materiality, as well as existing examples of community radio stations in multiethnicregions and countries of conflict and post-conflict, are amongst the reasons that we


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like to promote the idea of a bi-community radio station as the type of communitymedium that would better adapt to the Cypriot reality. A bi-community radio stationbased in Nicosia could help bringing people from the two communities, whichcurrently live largely isolated, physically together, rebuilding bridges of multilingualand multiethnic communication and cooperation. At the same time, the choice for

radio should not be exclusive. The community radio stations scope could beenhanced by the implementation of new technologies, which would strengthen theoutreach and dialogical possibilities of the radio station.

However, any attempt for any kind of medium for and by the community lacking thesupport, commitment and psychological ownership of the community/ies addressedto or involved, is doomed to fail. Also, any attempt to swiftly impose a model isequally problematic. For these reasons we think that the form of organisation andstructure of such a medium should be the product of a dialogue-driven coalition ofCypriot stakeholders, allowing the Cypriot communities, facilitated through actionresearch (as described in this roadmap) to construct their own community radio

station.

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