Alternative Media: Policy Issues

Legislation, Regulation, and Policy

Government policies on free speech, education, and cultural participation are crucial. Direct censorship, together with laws on defamation, libel, lèse-majesté, obscenity, indecency, business secrets, copyrights, government secrets, cybersecurity, terrorism, and shield laws for politicians, may all be used to hamper or completely shut down alternative media. Governmental funding and licensing policies are also used to exercise control.

On the other hand, alternative media are also affected by progressive terrorism legislation, regulation relating to online anonymity, and governmental policies relating to Indigenous peoples; [Page 34]immigration; religion; disabilities; women; sexual minorities; gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) people; environmental issues; labor issues; or local and national education and development. Where such policies foster access to affordable technologies and telecommunications infrastructures, as well as to technical and critical media skills, they tend to offer opportunities for alternative media making. Also, as a rule of thumb, the better the overall health of the media system (including journalism ethics, cultural diversity, public service regulation, and measures against ownership concentration), the easier it is for alternative media to frame their issues, involve more people long term, and create alternative and counter-publics that can affect social and political changes.

Community Radio

Community radio stations have fought to be decriminalized and for access to public funding ever since the commercial and public enclosures of the airwaves in the early 20th century. Many countries still prosecute nonlicensed broadcasters, while offering no legal way to establish a noncommercial or nongovernmental station. Others, like Japan, now allow noncommercial broadcasters to apply for licenses but have no dedicated policy for them, forcing them to compete with commercial broadcasters for licenses, audiences, and funding. In countries that actively aim to foster community and Indigenous radio, such as Australia, South Africa, and many others, these media can reach large audiences and involve great numbers of people in media making. Yet the devil is in the details: License categories, limits on commercial time, whether there is public funding and how it is administered, who sits on the board of regulatory agencies, how channels are allocated, and how unlicensed stations are treated are hotly contested even in supportive environments.

More radical projects often prefer a hands-off policy: little regulation (even if it means no support) and more toleration. Countries where broadcast laws are rarely enforced, such as Israel, may have a thriving “pirate” sector, including a broad array of political, religious, and quasi-commercial stations.

Some conditions framing alternative media are regulated by multiple actors, from local to global. For example, media education policies may be handled by different ministries and agencies, the police, local governments, school districts, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), media corporations, professional training institutions, or even the computer industry. Policies on development media may come from intergovernmental organizations like UNESCO or the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization, local or national governments, or NGOs.

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