Airing important issues in Peru

José Ignacio, Peru [CAFOD]

José Ignacio works for the World Association of Radio Communication (AMARC) which helps community radio stations ensure important issues are discussed

"Radio is still the Cinderella of the communications story – although it is the medium that reaches most people," says José Ignacio, a priest-turned-broadcaster in Lima, Peru.

For many people in Latin America who cannot read or write, radio is an important means of communication.

Yet many of the community radio stations have little access to information on important issues, and their programmes are little different from those run by commercial radio stations.

He has worked with CAFOD for 12 years, since he set up the Lima office for the World Association of Radio Communication (AMARC) in 1992 and started a network of women radio producers and journalists.

Using the internet

Ignacio's current focus is on using the internet to strengthen community radio stations and make sure important issues get discussed.

"Many community stations have limited sources of information or don’t have the staff or funding they need. So they buy a newspaper, do some research on the internet and use music provided by the record companies," he says.

"I met a woman in Bolivia who ran a radio magazine programme for women. She had a copy of Cosmopolitan on her bookshelf. This was where she got her information for the show.

"But today we have the internet, which is a wonderful vehicle for exchanging information."

Ignacio and colleages encourage broadcasters and others to share ideas on the net, creating a portal where radio producers from anywhere in the world can find good quality content to feed into their programmes.

The group sends a daily radioclip to 3,000 subscribers. The clips are no more than five minutes long and deal with human rights topics, such as the environment, citizenship, human rights and gender, or culture.

Radio can be used to inform farmers in remote areas of new agricultural techniques. [Annie Bungeroth]

They use dramatisation and humour to bring dry subjects to life. "Communication is about passions and emotions, not just abstract ideas," Ignacio explains.

Some stations simply broadcast the clips, others use them as a catalyst to start a debate or stimulate discussion with their audience.

Some translate the accompanying text into minority and indigenous languages, providing a key means of sharing information with often excluded groups.

Gender equality

Gender equality is a topic that frequently gets an airing. "The Catholic Church is one of the most male-dominated institutions in the world. Is it then any wonder that Catholic radio stations reflect this in some way?

"Raising awareness of gender issues is a big challenge as it’s a relatively new area, especially for us men."

Ignacio also helped set up a network of women radio producers and journalists to exchange information and ideas.

Ignacio runs workshops throughout Latin America and the Caribbean – mostly with community radio stations in poor areas.

Some workshops bring together people from commercial and community, political and public stations.

"The combination can be really interesting," says Ignacio. "Often we think in black and white – the commercial stations are bad, the others are good. But it isn’t like that. Many commercial stations are doing a great job, better than some of the community radios."

Faith

Ignacio is strongly motivated by his faith, and his strong desire for social change: "A word I have always liked very much is ‘compassion’… to have shared passions, to be interested in others, to suffer or be happy because of what happens to other people."

He is optimistic about the opportunities offered by global communications media such as the internet.

"Globalisation is dangerous when what is being globalised is a single way of thinking, a single economy and a single empire. What we should globalise is compassion, solidarity and hope.

"Never before have we been able to see and feel what is happening in the world as we can today. There is an expression 'what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve'. Today we do see, on television, in books, at the theatre, by meeting and talking to people. The world has become very small.

"This type of globalisation is good as it helps us realise that our world is not the only one, nor the best.

"When you help someone in Sudan, you are not helping a stranger but your own brother or sister. And not just symbolically. If you were to take the blood, the DNA, of this boy or girl in Sudan, or Guatemala, or India, it would be your own DNA, your family, your race. The difference is minimal.

"To discover this through globalisation is a great treasure."

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