Archives:

Spring 2000

Women Refugees
Internet Audio
Presenting the News
Furthering Reconciliation
Community Radio Goes Wild

Women Refugees

The nature of warfare has changed markedly in this century and it is increasingly civilians who are the targets. The impact of this conflict is significantly greater on women and children. Refugee and internally displaced populations are predominantly women and children, accounting for some 80% of the total population. Both refugee women and internally displaced women face burdens of extreme poverty, dispossession and sexual and other forms of violence.

Addressing the needs of refugee women and the impact of this armed conflict have been identified as major priorities by women's human rights activists in the Asia Pacific Region. At the recent Special Session of the UN General Assembly- Beijing Plus Five, Australian women lobbied alongside their colleagues from the region to ensure that these crucial issues were addressed. Women from Australia played an important role in this process and were well supported by the official Australian delegation. Significant gains for Refugee women were achieved through this process. These include a call for the ratification of the statute for the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court, which recognises rape as a war crime and a crime against humanity, the recognition of the role of women in all aspects of the peace process and a call for the recognition of gender mainstreaming in national immigration policies with regard to the granting of asylum to refugees. Although Australia and other refugee receiving countries, including Norway and Canada, have taken some steps towards recognising that gender based violence provides grounds for asylum, this policy continues to be applied on an irregular basis. In the interests of equity for refugee women this gender perspective must be fully integrated into all national immigration laws.

The experience of refugee women in obtaining safe asylum, though often a long and difficult battle, is only part of the story. Once safe asylum has been attained then begins the long slow process of adjusting to life in a new country. Various studies undertaken in Australia (Cox & Martin, Pittaway) into the settlement needs of both migrant and refugee women have identified that women face greater barriers to settlement than do their male counterparts. The experiences of women are often significantly influenced by cultural factors including their role in decision-making process of the family, experience of work, and the care of children and aging relatives, which often falls to women. The experiences of refugee women are further compounded by the circumstances of their flight from their home country; dislocation from friends and family, experiences of violence and torture and long periods lived in fear and uncertainty. However whilst common barriers to settlement, needs and experiences have been identified, it is essential to note that refugee women are far from an homogenous group.

In recent years there have been improvements to the services available to refugee women and their families in Australia. These services include health, torture and trauma services, and an increase in the number of community based organisations conducting programs which both target the needs of refugee women, and recognise their strength and diversity. However, many of these services remain under staffed and underfunded and all too often have difficulty in reaching some of the more isolated members of refugee communities. A particular area of difficulty for refugee families is that of obtaining secure, appropriate and affordable housing. In Sydney, the main arrival destination for many of Australia's new refugees, nothing less than a housing crisis is faced by these groups. Waiting lists for Department of Housing accommodation grow ever longer and private rental is becoming prohibitively expense. As larger and extended family groups arrive in Australia, particularly from the African countries of Somalia and The Sudan, simply locating a dwelling of appropriate size and layout becomes almost impossible. It is not uncommon for families with 8 or more children to be sharing a two bedroom flat.

Other difficulties faced by refugee women include access to appropriate English classes, childcare and employment. During the first two years of settlement, refugee women are over represented in the ranks of the unemployed. Where men may be lucky enough to find work and children will attend school, all too often it is the woman who is left at home, in isolation with limited if any opportunity to improve her English or expand her social networks. It is in response to this isolation that a number of community based organisations have developed programs of English classes, education and training which specifically target the needs of refugee women. These classes are provided in a supportive environment and aim to increase the confidence of the women involved, to expand their social networks and to introduce them to new ides and possibilities. The provision of free childcare to enable participation is an essential component of these classes.

The ethnic and general media can play a critical role in improving the situation of refugee women and their families, both locally and overseas. In order for positive change to occur, the world community must hear and see these stories. As a society, we are challenged to not only ensure that timely and appropriate services are provided to refugee women, but also to extend our compassion, respect and understanding. Women from refugee backgrounds need support and assistance, particularly in the first difficult years of settlement but at the same time their strength and courage and diversity must be recognised.

Linda Bartolomei
Chair - The Australian National Committee on Refugee Women
(02) 9385 1961 Email: ancorw@unsw.edu.au

Linda Bartolomei

Back to top

Internet Audio

Most people have probably heard the terms webcasting, streaming and MP3 in relation to the Internet, but what do these terms mean, and what relevance do they have to ethnic broadcasting ? In this article, we'll briefly explain these technologies and explore their relevance to us as ethnic broadcasters.

For most Ethnic Broadcasters, Internet streaming means the ability to 'tune' into radio stations (and sometimes TV stations) from their home countries. MP3 technology gives Ethnic Broadcasters the ability to access music and interviews in their own language, which is otherwise difficult to obtain in Australia. But what is the difference between streaming and MP3?

It's relatively easy to take audio and convert it into data utilising a personal computer (PC) equipped with a sound card and some audio software. Once the audio has been converted to data, it can be stored as a file or streamed onto the Internet.
MP3
An audio source can be converted to a data file in many different formats. One of the most common formats is a plain old Windows WAV (wave) file. The problem with storing audio in WAV files is that they tend to get rather big - which is a bit of a problem if you want to send your edited interview as an email attachment to your colleague at another station.

There are several ways to store audio in a compressed form, which reduces dramatically the file size without a corresponding reduction in audio quality. The dominating format for storing compressed audio is MP3. One of the reasons for MP3's popularity is that you can easily choose how much compression to apply in relation to the filesize and audio quality you require.

For example, a CD quality stereo 3 minute song can be reduced to about 2 or 3MB with almost no perceptible audio quality drop. A 10 minute interview might go as low as 400KB which is easily emailed as an attachment.

For Ethnic Broadcasters, MP3 allows us to download broadcast quality music, interviews and mini documentaries in a reasonable time - ready to be copied to minidisk or CD. Interestingly, minidisks actually use a compression format similar to MP3 to squeeze a whole CD's worth of audio onto a tiny disc.

Webcasting/Streaming
To listen to a webcast (or audio stream) you use a piece of computer software on your PC such as RealPlayer or MediaPlayer. You connect your computer to a streaming audio server which then starts to stream audio to your machine and it plays 'on the fly'' to you. Normally, your web browser will start the software and establish the connection when you click on a relevant link.

Usually streamed audio is used for live broadcasts. When you connect your computer, you join the broadcast as it's happening. Sometimes you can choose to save the audio file as it's playing so that you can replay it later, but for copyright reasons, most audio streaming servers disable this feature on the client when the connection is made.

There are several flavours of audio streaming, but the 2 most popular are Windows Media Player, and RealNetworks RealPlayer - both of them come bundled with plugins which will allow them to playback stored files in many audio formats (including mp3).
Serving
Setting up your own website for storing or streaming audio (non live) is not as difficult as you might think. For MP3 files, you just upload the file to your site and provide a link so that others may download the file. For non-live streamed audio, you can save the file in a streaming format such as RealNetworks RA format and provide a link. When clicked, the link will open the clients RealPlayer and start playing back the file as it's downloaded.

To provide live streaming, a more complicated arrangement is required. You need access to a live streaming audio server and a machine to encode the live audio and feed it to the server. Obviously the link between the encoding computer and the server needs to be permanent - which in most instances is fairly costly. It's also not cheap to 'lease' time on a streaming audio server.

However, several community stations have managed to get their signal streamed through contra arrangements with local ISP's who run streaming servers.

Gavin Unsworth, 4EB/4ZZZ

Back to top

Presenting the News

News is important. It needs to cover the issues of most concern to your listeners and it needs to cover a range of issues (recognising the diversity of your audience). The news should include home country news, Australian news, international news and local news. News needs to be accurate; hence it needs to be thoroughly prepared. News can be read by a news presenter. It can also include audio pieces (known as stings). Having stings in the news is much more work.

Preparing the news

• Stories should be current and up to date.
• Get the facts straight.
• Cover the '5 W's and the H'
  • What happened?
  • Where did it happen?
  • Who was involved?
  • Why did it happen?
  • When did it happen?
  • How did it happen?
• Research all sides of a story to get the whole picture.
• Follow up on stories that have been reported in earlier programmes.

Issues can be of interest to your listener's community in Australia or about their country of origin. Include national stories in your news if they affect your audience, e.g. GST, changes in migration policy. You can include major community or cultural events in your news e.g. National Multicultural Festival. You might also include local human interest stories or local stories with an interesting twist.

Writing the news

• Items should be short but not at the expense of the story.
• Include all sides to each story equally.
• Make sure the story is accurate.
• Be careful when writing references to time. Take into account when the bulletin will be read.

News presentation

• The story of most importance should be placed first.
• Be careful about running stories together which may seem connected but really are not, e.g. story about racist graffiti at local school followed by one about problems with youth gangs.
• Write similar stories up together as one item to avoid repetition.
• Vary the length of stories to break up the bulletin.
• Back-announce the names of people used in stings.
• Consider including an ID (e.g. 'You're with 3ZZZ, bringing news from Australia and the world to the listeners of Melbourne') to break up longer news bulletins.
• Provide a balance of male and female voices, and people from different cultural backgrounds where the program has a multilingual and multicultural audience.

A newsreader should have a serious tone of voice; not sound emotional; read at a standard tone and pitch of voice - be dry rather than dramatic, but not boring; understand what they are reading about.

Sources of News

• Ethnic News Digest (END) - Internet based News Service http://www.nembc.org.au/news/
• There are many other websites that have news services and newspapers on line.
• Newspapers.
• Press Releases.
• Community Contacts.

NEMBC

Back to top

Furthering Reconciliation

Annie Goldflam addressed the 1999 NEMBC Conference. She responded to the welcome from Ben Taylor, one of the Nyoongar custodians of the land where the conference was being held.

I'd like to begin by acknowledging that I am standing on Nyoongar land and by thanking Ben for welcoming us all to this land, as so many Indigenous Australians have done over the last 211 years.

As a second generation Jewish migrant - my father's nuclear family managed to escape from Nazi Germany, but all but three members of his large extended family were killed in the Holocaust - I am grateful to Indigenous Australians for letting me share this bountiful land with them.

The path has not been easy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders since Europeans arrived. Archaeological records of their presence in Australia go back at least 50 000 years - a huge expanse of time compared to the time when the first non-Indigenous people arrived in Australia, in 1788.

Many of us who are migrants, particularly those from minority groups, share similarities with Indigenous peoples departure from our homelands due to physical danger or lack of opportunities, resettlement difficulties such as the lack of English language skills, equitable access to services, and recognition of our skills and knowledge and racism.

Many of us have had to adjust to a different cultural system and learn to 'fit' into the dominant Anglo-Australian culture. Some have tried to assimilate and others have chosen to clearly maintain their cultural difference. Most of us have ended up somewhere between those extremes, and I think that this choice is a right which we all deserve. Those of us whose cultural background and/or physical appearance have been most dissimilar from that of the dominant cultural group are likely to have experienced more dislocation and exclusion.

Whilst acknowledging these similarities, it is crucial for us to recognise the differences between members of ethnic and Indigenous communities. As distinct from Indigenous Australians, the rest of us are comparatively recent migrants with, at most, 211 years of settlement in Australia. We need to try to understand the oppression that Indigenous peoples have suffered at the hands of many of our ancestors: theft of land, destruction of sacred sites, massacres, spread of disease, rape, slavery, forced removal of light-skinned children, and so the 'sorry' list goes on.

Not all of these events stemmed from cruel motives. Much was based upon ignorance and misguided intent. But the results will continue to be perpetuated from one generation to the next until non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians learn how to work together to break the cycle. Until we acknowledge Australia's true history, I do not believe that our country can become truly reconciled.

Our Prime Minister has refused to say he is sorry for the way that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been treated since European contact. In saying sorry he would not be admitting personal blame. In not saying sorry, he is directly responsible for contributing to, and condoning, racism. Acknowledging Australia's true history in a respectful way is the essence of reconciliation: reciprocal truth telling, respect and social justice. As members of ethnic communities, many of us are no strangers to marginalisation and racism. Let's gain insight from our own experiences and form alliances with Indigenous peoples. Racism, like other forms of bigotry, poisons both perpetrators and their targets.

Unfortunately, some people are so intent on 'fitting into' our society that they buy into racist myths. Think for moment about the earliest things you heard about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and what you expected they might be like before you had the opportunity to find out for yourself. Perhaps some of our negative expectations affected the way we perceived Aboriginal peoples when we did see them, through the sometimes biased lens of the media or in real life.

If we are to further reconciliation we need to learn about Indigenous peoples and their histories (and there are plenty of books, videos and kits based on this topic). We need to learn to recognise the difference between truth and myth and to tell that truth to our friends, colleagues and children, to break the racist cycle. As broadcasters you are in a key position to influence the attitudes and behaviours of the people who listen to your programmes.

Many people ask what one person can do to further reconciliation, particularly if they don't live near or know any Aboriginal people. For those of us who have been marginalised, who have seen others gain privileges at our expense, it may be easier for us to devise strategies for overcoming racism and exclusion directed at Indigenous peoples. For those of us who have been lumped into stereotyped, 'exotica' boxes with labels such as Asian or African, we know how important it is to acknowledge the diversity inherent within and between cultural groups.

As people who understand what is like to be dispossessed and excluded let's make a commitment to participating in healing the hurt and loss of nearly 212 years. The ball's in our court on this issue.

Annie Goldflam is formally of the One World Centre in Perth and now works for the International Women's Development Agency (IWDA) in Melbourne

You can hear the welcome given by Ben Taylor on the NEMBC website http://www.nembc.org.au/conference/speeches_audio.html

Annie Goldflam

Back to top

Community Radio Goes Wild

A vigorous debate has arisen in the community broadcasting sector. A small but vocal minority of broadcasters involved in aspirant and licenced stations have been trumpeting a new direction for community broadcasting. It's a direction that the proponents claim puts maximum emphasis on audience numbers. Further they seem to be saying that community participation and special interest programming are a hindrance to this goal.

The more excitable of these proponents seem to argue that community involvement is a notion of the 'old guard' and that the new 21st century way is 'commercial' success. But for others, taking a community approach is working - their station are financially viable, they have a strong support base and they have listeners. And what's more they are providing unique services and programming to their listeners and communities.

The NEMBC's view is that there are three different sectors of broadcasting - commercial, government and community. If you want to be a commercial broadcaster that's fine - go and buy a commercial radio station - but if you're involved in community broadcasting then there are some important principles that you need to adhere to. Now is an important time to look at some of these principles and how they can be successfully put into action to build a strong and diverse broadcasting sector.

Under the Broadcasting Services Act, a community broadcasting station is a not for profit organisation, whose licence cannot be transferred or sold. The community broadcasting licensee must continue to represent the community of interest it was licenced to serve and have these communities involved in the stations operation and programming. The responsibilities of community broadcasters are then spelt out in greater detail in the Community Broadcasting Codes of Practice.

The media over the last 25 years since community broadcasting became a reality has changed significantly. There's a lot more media with lots more choices. In the ethnic sector, along with community broadcasting, there is SBS TV and radio, the ethnic press, narrowcasters and commercial broadcasters and an increasing non-English language presence on the Internet. As broadcasters we can no longer be assured of listeners just because we are the only Greek language radio programme in Melbourne.

On the other hand though community broadcasting has changed. We now have reasonable facilities, we have access to training and increased programming resources on the Internet, CDs, local organisations and publications. We have a wealth of experience and knowledge about broadcasting and our communities and we have listeners who appreciate what we have to offer.

The way to carve out a role for ourselves in the media is not to chase commercial success. Most stations that have developed grand plans to be successful, by sacrificing community based programming to be totally 'sponsor friendly', have ended in abject failure. They have ended without 'commercial' success and without community support. Building a successful community station requires a long term multi-faceted approach combining

• Building a sense of common purpose within your station that is focused on broadcasting for the diversity of your community. Promote your programming diversity and use it to assist with increasing participation and fundraising
• Identifying programming needs (niches) of your community
• Encouraging broad participation from new and experienced programmers in training
• Building links with your community especially through your programming (eg interviewees, community announcements, coverage of community events, etc)
• A preparedness to try new programming ideas and become involved in joint projects with other community interests
• Building a financial base on this strategy through increased membership, donations, sponsorship and grants
• Improving the management skills and democratic operation of your station

We're not saying that it will be easy. We function in a very competitive environment where there are more and more demands on the goodwill of the community as government services and funding decreases. However the process of building a real community asset that is orientated to providing information, news, services, culture and entertainment to the community is very rewarding. In an increasingly globalised world the need for local communities is becoming more urgent. Community broadcasting is in a unique position to help build that sense of community that so many have lost.

NEMBC