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>Here is an article recently posted by MISA, which may be of interest
>>
>>
>>               Copyright 1995 Inter Press Service.
>>          All rights reserved. Distribution via MISANET.
>>
>>                        *** 31-Aug-95 ***
>>
>>
>>MEDIA-SOUTH PACIFIC: Gearing Up Against Outsiders' Onslaught
>>
>>   By Kalinga Seneviratne
>>
>>MELBOURNE, Aug 31 (IPS) - Many South Pacific island broadcasters
>>are bemoaning the entry of foreign media organisations into
>>their  territories, but some local station officials prefer to
>>see the  potential competition as a challenge.
>>
>>   Instead of wasting time worrying about losing their viewers
>>and listeners to the newcomers, a few broadcasters in the
>>region's small nations are busy hatching schemes to give a good
>>fight for audience share.
>>
>>   At the tenth annual assembly of the Pacific Islands
>>Broadcasting Association (PIBA) held here last week, many
>>delegates expressed concern that their governments' new media
>>liberalisation policies would spell doom for the struggling
>>public broadcast systems in the region.
>>
>>   But in the island of Niue, where the population is about
>>2,200, the local public radio station has come up with a model
>>that promises to hold its own against the impending 'foreign
>>invasion'.
>>
>>   At Radio Niue, apparently, the people are given a chance to
>>rule.
>>
>>   ''We operate a fairly open sort of radio system,'' says Radio
>>Niue general manager Hima Douglas. ''At certain times of the
>>day,  we offer our station for community groups to come and
>>broadcast.
>>Then we let them loose in the studio. They broadcast whatever
>>they want to the community. When they leave, we take over.''
>>
>>   Experts at the PIBA meeting note that while satellite
>>television may be hogging attention across the region, a more
>>dangerous development for the South Pacific media is the effect
>>of satellite-driven radio channels on the local stations.
>>
>>   After all, radio is the only medium in the region that could
>>be described as homegrown -- even most of the mainstream
>>newspapers and magazines are foreign-owned.
>>
>>   Most of the radio stations in the South Pacific are
>>government-funded. Because of protectionist media policies, many
>>of these boast of big audience reach, if not outright
>>monopolies.  And while ownership of tv sets is not common in the
>>far-flung islands, most people across the region have radios.
>>
>>   Development experts though warn the island broadcasters
>>against complacency now that their respective countries are
>>opening the media industry to outsiders.
>>
>>   Says Jim Bentley, regional representative of the U.N.
>>Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO): ''If
>>there are 20 to 30 radio channels available cheaply to the
>>Pacific island countries, these ... could have a very powerful
>>effect and they would probably overpower local transmissions.''
>>
>>   Island broadcasters are already feeling downcast over the
>>news  that Radio Fiji, the biggest public radio network in the
>>region  with 11 studios and the South Pacific's largest music
>>library, is  on the brink of closing down.
>>
>>   They say it simply could not compete against ten-year-old
>>radio FM 96, which is part of the Australian-owned
>>communications Fiji Ltd. That also runs the Hindi language radio
>>Navtarang.
>>
>>   John Eller, former general manager of FM 96, says his station
>>realised that more than half of Fiji's population is under 18.
>>By  targetting that particular sector, FM 96 was able to grab a
>>big  chunk of Radio Fiji's listeners.
>>
>>   Radio Navtarang also proved to be a hit in the multi-ethnic
>>country where half of the 780,000 population are descendants of
>>Indian workers who went to Fiji and settled there earlier this
>>century.
>>
>>   Radio Fiji tried to recover its fast-disappearing advertising
>>base by copying the moves of the two stations. By the end of
>>last  year, however, it was about two million dollars in the
>>red. The  turmoil at the station even resulted in its failure to
>>send a  representative at the PIBA meeting here.
>>
>>   But Eller says the problem with Radio Fiji is not because its
>>Australian-owned rivals took away the station's advertising
>>dollars.
>>
>>   Rather, he argues, the public broadcaster chose to clone the
>>successful efforts of both FM 96 and Radio Navtarang instead of
>>working out a strategy to provide an attractive alternative to
>>listeners.
>>
>>   Eller also points out: ''because they were getting government
>>funding, they were able to pull the advertising rates down on
>>radio. If we talked to each other, together we would have pushed
>>the rate up.''
>>
>>   Still, media experts at the conference also observed that
>>many  of the local stations are bound to be outclassed by their
>>more  technologically sophisticated foreign competitors. Island
>>broadcasters readily admit many of their equipment are outdated,
>>dilapidated and have limited transmission capacity.
>>
>>   One of those bracing themselves for a foreign onslaught is
>>the  Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp (SIBC), which faces a
>>formidable challenger after enjoying a two-decade monopoly.
>>
>>   An Australian commercial broadcaster, in collaboration with
>>two local firms, is due to launch the first fm radio station in
>>the Solomon Islands. Says SIBC general manager James Kilua:
>>''this is going to be tough competition for us. We have been
>>broadcasting in mono and this is going to be stereo.''
>>
>>   But some experts say broadcasters like SIBC should not lose
>>heart and adopt the same never-say-die attitude of Radio Niue.
>>
>>   The station's Douglas, who is also PIBA chairman, is the
>>first  to say they would be hard-pressed in duplicating their
>>triumph in  radio in a television venture. But that does not
>>mean they are not going to try doing so.
>>
>>   ''We were the first Pacific Island country to experiment with
>>community radio,'' says Douglas. ''We would also like to
>>introduce community television soon.'' (end/ips/ks/cb/95)
>>
>>
>>*************************************************************
>>      [c] 1995, Inter Press Third World News Agency (IPS)
>>                      All rights reserved
>>
>>May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system
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>><cohen@wmail.misanet.org> or <dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na>.
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>>*************************************************************
>>
>>
>
>David Lush
>Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
>Private Bag 13386
>Windhoek, Namibia
>Tel. +264 61 232975, Fax. 248016
>e-mail: dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na
>

John Barker, Coordinator (Broadcasting)
Media Institute of Southern Africa
Private Bag 13386, Windhoek, NAMIBIA
Tel: +264 61 232975 Fax +264 61 248016
E-mail johnb@ingrid.misa.org.na