For additional
information, Jim suggests you check out these Community Media Organizations:
AMARC The World
Association of Community Radio Broadcasters
(English language site, all AMARC info is available in English, French and
Spanish)
Jim has attended all but the very first of the AMARC
int’l conferences, including:
Vancouver, Canada, 1986
Managua, Nicaragua, 1988
Dublin, Ireland, 1990
Oaxtepec, Mexico, 1992
Dakar, Senegal 1995
Milan, Italy, 1999 and
February 2003
in Kathmandú, Nepal
9 is
expected to convene in the last quarter of 2006.
“Austin Airwaves”
is PREDICTING (11/04) that the next AMARC
will held in South America,
probably in Bolivia, Argentina or Peru.
NFCB 
American NGO dealing with
non-commercial, community radio stations and issues.
http://www.nfcb.org/index.jsp
Alliance
for Community Media 
American NGO dealing with cable “access”
television stations, issues and folks. Publishes Community Media Review.
http://www.alliancecm.org/
http://communitymediareview.org/
Freeplay
Foundation
http://www.freeplayfoundation.org/
The
Freeplay Foundation is unlike any other non-profit humanitarian organization in
the world. Its sole mission is to enable sustained delivery of radio
information and education to the most vulnerable
populations via self-powered radios.
Working mostly in Africa, where affordable
energy is scarce or non-existent, the Freeplay Foundation collaborates with
professionals in education, health, agriculture, peacemaking, and voter
education - all sectors where radio can play a vital or even life-saving
role.
Jim
represented Freeplay at the AMARC 8 conference in Kathmandu and has been trained
as one of Freeplay’s “Guys on the
Ground.”
WANTOK ENTERPRISES LTD www.wantokent.com “Radio in a Suitcase”
Grunthal,
Manitoba, Canada (204) 434-6423
“To make it feasible for every group/organization in the world to own, operate
and maintain their own community broadcast station regardless of their
socio-economic conditions.” Jim met the
Wantok folks at the AMARC8 conference in Kathmandu, Nepal
in Feb., 2003. This is a great group bringing independently operated radio to literally
millions of folks in the developing world.
Freedom House: Providing Global Human Rights Training and Support
Freedom House is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization,
providing a clear voice for democracy and freedom around the world. Through a
vast array of international programs and publications, Freedom House is working
to advance the remarkable worldwide expansion of political and economic freedom
Publishers
of the annual “Freedom of the Press, A Global Survey
of Media Independence.” In 2003, Freedom
House completed installation of a million dollar printing plant in Bishkek,
Kyrgystan, allowing opposition papers a facility to print their
publications…even during election times.
It should be noted that Kyrgystan recently slipped from “partially
free” to “not free” in the FH ranking of press freedoms. All five of
the ‘stans of the FSU are now listed as “not free.”
Jim met with FH officials in
Bishkek in November, 2003.