Community Radio in Bangladesh

The Community radio movement was initiated in Bangladesh in 1998. History says that two simultaneous activities initiated the community radio movement in the country. One is the establishment of Bangladesh NGOs’ Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) and the other is the submission of proposal to establish a community radio in Patuakhali district by Mass Line Media Centre (MMC).

The aims of the community radio as stated in the application submitted by MMC to the Government of Bangladesh was “to bridge the gap between people and the policy makers, create an interactive environment of communication, serve as a platform for debate, exchange of ideas and reactions to plans and projects, preserve cultural identity, enhance emancipation and self-worth and uses as the voice of the voiceless, the mouthpiece of the oppressed and as a tool of development”. Considering the merits of community radio in remote areas, MMC got numerous supports from media people and experts. In the same time, after participating a training program on Development Management in New Delhi, India Mr. A H M Bazlur Rahman of BNNRC designed an advocacy plan for community radio and published a handbook where he described the differences between three tier broadcasting system. Various national and international organisations extended their hands to the movement. Intergovernmental organisations like UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, CEMCA assisted the movement towards a policy on community radio in Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh finally approved Community Radio Policy in May 2008. The policy was formulated with the participation of six high-level government officials from the Ministry of Information and two civil society organizations, Mass-line Media Centre (MMC) and Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC).

Now 14 community radio stations are airing programmes for their communities and it is indeed good news that another 18 radio stations will be functional very soon. Lokobetar can be considered as the first community radio station in Bangladesh.

For details, please read the book: Invisible Waves, Visible Changes; Edited by Ankuran Dutta, Mohammad Sahid Ullah, ARMT South Asia Publications- https://www.armt.in/publications

Cite this article as-

APA
Dutta, A. (2014, December 30). Community Radio in Bangladesh. Community Communications. https://www.comcomm.org/2014/12/community-radio-in-bangladesh.html

MLA
Dutta, Ankuran. "Community Radio in Bangladesh." Community Communications, 30 Dec. 2014, www.comcomm.org/2014/12/community-radio-in-bangladesh.html. Accessed ............