Popular Programming
The Popularisation of Musical Culture in the RAI TV Channels between the Sixties and the Nineties
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Anna Scalfaro
In its first thirty years of activity, RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) popularised art music by designing and producing pedagogical and educational programmes. In 'Specchio sonoro'(1964), musicologist Roman Vlad illustrates the life and works of great composers from the twentieth century (Bartók, Stravinskij etc.), setting them in their historical and cultural context and explaining their style by playing their pieces on the piano. In the following decade, programmes with explicit educational goals, led by expert-lecturers, give way to programmes that are more related to the genre of “investigation”, where in-depth news analysis and the investigation of current dimension prevailed. In 'Tutto è musica' (1980), composer Vittorio Gelmetti attempts an analysis of the ‘musical phaenomenon’ under several perspectives, avoiding qualitative distinctions between genres, periods of time and civilisations. Starting from this latter decade, broadcastings with educational goals tend to use a lesser specific language and to favour the connections between music and other life domains: in 'L’amore è un dardo'(1994), writer Alessandro Baricco illustrates the plot of an opera piece, and enriches his discourse through digressions and free associations with topics from the daily life. The objective of this work is to examine to what extent the gradual shift from the role of the expert to the one of the “enthusiast” (Vlad was a musicologist, Gelmetti was a composer, Baricco was a writer), as well as the shift from using a cultivated and specialised language to more “down to earth” communication methods, has actually resulted into a broadened audience and more effective programmes.
An Appraisal of the Role of Community Radio in the Prevention of HIV/AIDS in Ghana and Implications for Nigeria
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Oluseyi Soremekun
In spite of the huge conventional mass media campaign on HIV prevention in Ghana and its attendant high-level public awareness, there is low level adoption of some preventive measures by the public. This questioned the impact of conventional communication channels and shifted focus to community radio. This study, therefore, is aimed at understanding the role of community radio as a participatory health communication tool in preventing the spread of HIV among rural and semi-urban population in Ghana. The study examined the current state of community radio HIV/AIDS programming in Pokuase and Winneba communities in Ghana; the extent to which knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to HIV/AIDS are influenced by community radio; and identified how community radio can be deployed to strengthen communication and improve HIV preventiion. Based on a sample size of 824 respondents and 12 key informant interviewees, the study confirmed a high-level awareness of HIV epidemic in the sampled communities due to the participatory programming of Radio Emashie, Pokuase and Radio Peace, Winneba. The findings further revealed that community members have adopted certain behaviours such as the use of condoms, faithfulness to partners and limited number of sexual partners in order to prevent HIV infection. Therefore, the study recommended increased funding to strengthen participatory approach to radio programming and increased frequency of HIV-related youth-focused programmes to prevent new infections. The study highlighted the installation of Radio Peace transmitter on Vodafone telecom base-station to ensure uninterrupted broadcast, as a key lesson derived for sustainable community radio operation in Nigeria.
Community-based Media in Disaster Communication - the Case of Lombok Earthquake
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Diyah Indiyati
This paper presents an analysis of how community-based media were used during series of Lombok earthquakes which reach 7.0 Richter magnitude in August to September 2018. The disaster left 564 casualties, 1.866 injured an 216.489 displaced according to National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB). In the event of this natural disaster, the community experienced an information crisis and communication crisis which caused the emergence of disinformation in a form of hoaxes, fake news, and misleading information which triggered panic. In the situation of uncertainty, the use of community based media as an alternative communication media also altered, since the mainstream media could not give adequate information for the society. The communication crisis that occurred in Lombok after the earthquake disaster helped to activate community-based media using a number of social media platforms and news portals. This paper examines community-based media in Lombok as research objects on how the public used them according to its function. Public participation in contributing to the disaster communication in form of citizen journalism has also increased not only in the form of information on the occurrence of earthquakes that repeatedly happened but also information on affected locations, conditions of displacement and alternative transportation routes reach affected areas also shared by the community. This information from the community helped the disaster management process from a number of agencies related to both the government and social institutions.
