Community radio as a platform for development communication in Ghana

Abstract

AbstractThe paper’s aim is to demonstrate the relevance of applying the core principles of Community radio (CR) as a basis for CR’s drive for a democratically participant approach of communication, which can facilitate development communication. In a democratic society, the participation of people in decision-making processes is important. However, in Ghana people’s participation in decision-making processes seems inadequate. Community participation in the management of resources and discourses about people’s general well-being can be more meaningful if people are empowered to communicate. Since the wind of democratization blew across Africa in 1990s, government monopoly over the media is somewhat relaxed. In this context, the emergence of CR movement in Ghana is important. However, until identified gaps in efforts geared towards making CR an enabler for communities to participate in development in collaboration with stakeholders are plugged, the power of CR to engender community development would seem intangible. In this regard, a critical review of documents on CR’s contributions to development is relevant. This paper’s general contention is that despite the over two decades of the presence of CR in Ghana, some fundamental principles of CR are hardly applied to enable CR facilitate participatory communication in Ghana. This has implications for the realization of the rationale for which community radio stations are established.

Keywords

• community radio
• development communication
• principles of community radio
• democratic participant theory
• Ghana