Community radios in the Portuguese-speaking space: mapping the differences of a community empowerment

Abstract

Portuguese-speaking countries are quite heterogeneous at different levels. From geographic to cultural characteristics, from economic to political conditions, there is a great diversity albeit the mutual influence that is still visible. Such diversity is closely related to the different traditions that shape the development of community media in different continents.

A framework to identify and analyse the different goals and missions of community radios in the Portuguese-speaking countries is presented in this study. The main objective is to identify and characterise the different typologies of community radios that can be found in Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Macau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe. This framework draws on the discursive analysis of programmes, in-depth interviews to content producers and systematisation of sociocultural characteristics and media policies. We propose the characterisation of 3 radios from Portugal (1), Brazil (1) and Angola (1) for this presentation, which has an explanatory approach.