Developing Dialogues: Indigenous and Ethnic Community Broadcasting in Australia

By Susan Forde, Michael Meadows and Kerrie Foxwell

The audience-producer boundary has collapsed in indigenous and ethnic community broadcasting, and this is the first comprehensive study globally to chart the rise of its new relationship. Based on studies of radio and television audiences in Australia, the authors argue that community radio and television worldwide represents an essential service for indigenous and ethnic audiences, empowering them at various levels, fostering ‘active citizenry’ and enhancing the processes of democracy. The authors, former journalists, spent months on the road, travelling tens of thousands of kilometers from urban centres to the most remote regions of the Central Desert to ask why they engage with and adapt local broadcast media. They draw on two decades of primary research material taken from face-to-face interviews and focus-group discussions with audiences. Consequently, Developing Dialogues offers international researchers a new social, cultural and historical perspective on the emergence of the unique Australian community broadcasting sector within the context of other global trends. It will appeal to scholars of media and cultural studies, as well as to industry practitioners and policy makers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Intellect Books
• Release date: Apr 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9781841502755

Susan Forde

Professor Susan Forde is director of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, and professor of journalism at Griffith University, Brisbane. She is the author of Challenging the News: The Journalism of Alternative and Community Media (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011); and co-author of Journalism and Climate Crisis: Public Engagement, Media Alternatives (Routledge, 2017) and Developing Dialogues: Indigenous and Ethnic Community Broadcasting in Australia (Intellect and University of Chicago Press, 2009). She has authored more than 50 refereed journal articles and scholarly book chapters on community media, audience research, alternative journalism and media policy. She is founding editor with Professor Chris Atton of the Journal of Alternative and Community Media. She is vice president (research) for the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia and in 2018 is visiting scholar with the Membership Puzzle Project at New York University. She worked as a journalist in both mainstream and alternative/community media sectors before joining academia. Contact: Griffith Centre for Social Cultural Research, Nathan campus, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia.