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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | SW Radio Africa and the challenges of operating a Zimbabwean exile radio station in London |
Author: | Batist, Danielle |
Year: | 2010 |
Periodical: | Journal of African Media Studies (ISSN 1751-7974) |
Volume: | 2 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 155-171 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Zimbabwe Great Britain |
Subjects: | radio diasporas exile Internet |
Abstract: | The political situation in Zimbabwe in the 2000s has made it difficult for independent media to operate from inside the country. This article explores how the Zimbabwean station SW Radio Africa operates as an exile radio station in London. In contrast to most diasporic media, SW Radio Africa broadcasts from the diaspora back into the homeland via the shortwave. This article demonstrates how the station's journalists combine old media such as radio with the use of new media technologies like mobile phones and the Internet in order to reach both new and existing audiences in Zimbabwe and in the diaspora. The article highlights the range of constraints that SW Radio Africa staff members face in their daily work, including safety, threats, dependency on donor funding and challenges in consulting official government and opposition sources. It argues that SW Radio Africa journalists describe their own role in the context of the crisis as both journalist and activist. Their personal involvement in the Zimbabwean crisis makes them feel part of an ongoing struggle that they cannot and do not want to abandon until independent media can operate freely from Zimbabwe. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |