Opening a digital Window to the History of Cyprus

This article was first published on page 16 of The Cyprus Weekly (8 February 2013).

Allow me to start with a few questions: What is the relationship between medieval Cyprus and media? How can centuries-old historical artefacts be brought to life by modern technology? Can a creative interpretation of cultural heritage help cultivate a vision of a common future in Cyprus? At a small gathering at the Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC) on Saturday 26 January, celebrating over two year’s work on, the Cyprus Artefacts Treasure (CAT) media education project , the answers were clear in our minds.

A little bit of background to start with. In October 2011, and under the auspices of the International Children’s Film Festival of Cyprus, or ICFFCY for short, the participants in CAT 1 got together in a group comprised of 20 Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot children from Paphos and Famagusta as well as 10 adults. What we wanted was to respond to the Brussels Declaration, adopted in January 2011 under the Belgian Presidency of the European Union, which called for, amongst others, the development and promotion of “pedagogies adapted to each audience, to all ages of life, to varying social and cultural backgrounds”. And what better way to learn about the creative use of media than through the lens of history and culture!

There is often criticism of so-called ‘bicommunal’ projects for not affecting significant changes, but we beg to differ. Because we knew what we wanted to do! Our bicommunal group of eager young Cypriots and enthusiastic educators met regularly over a period of 6 months during the CAT 1 and worked on 5 animation films which illustrated each in its own unique way, a little bit of Cypriot artefacts from the Ayia Irini collection. All of a sudden through the eyes of the children emerged a blend of creativity and history that brought to life a world long forgotten, consigned for the most part to history textbooks, encyclopaedias, and dusty museum displays. In that time we also published two educational booklets about Cypriot artefacts prepared jointly by ICFFCY and the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research (AHDR).

The excitement got the better of us! In May 2012 we launched the CAT 2 with the aim of building on the success of CAT 1, and to strengthen the bonds between our two partners, the Famagusta Cultural Association and Paphos Antamosis organisation. We realised that culture and media really could be used as a vehicle for promoting a shared understanding of both past and present, for promoting trust and dialogue, and for nurturing reconciliation. This time we were focusing on medieval Cypriot artefacts.

We traversed the island visiting medieval archaeological, from St Hilarion all the way to Paphos Castle. The work was not always easy of course – there is the issue of language that we had work with, and the very obvious impact of the division of the island. But where there is a will, there is a way. And our group leaders and volunteers worked tirelessly, with a smile on their face and with tremendous energy to keep the momentum of CAT going. In the process we managed to involve not only the children but also their parents, with people experiencing the ‘other’s’ reality, which was an equally rewarding experience.

Whether there will be a CAT 3 remains to be seen. But if there are parents and teachers out there who would like to become involved with our work, or would just like to find out more information about CAT, please visit our website http://www.icffcy-cat.com.

The CAT was supported by the Bicommunal Support Programme of the US Embassy in Cyprus and organised by ICFFCY in collaboration with Mağusa Kültür Derneği in Famagusta and Antamosis in Paphos.

Archana Kapoor at CCMC for event tonight!

The CCMC team is privileged to have a community media activist in our midst today – Archana Kapoor, who will be speaking at a public talk on community radio in India tonight at CCMC, 6pm. (For directions to CCMC click here.) Here’s a link to the invitation and see below for a sneak peak of the interview we are recording with Archana – look out for more soon and see you all tonight!

Community Media activist Archana Kapoor at CCMC this Monday 28 January

The Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC) is hosting a prominent community media activist from India as part of its ongoing advocacy campaign for the recognition of this sector in Cyprus. Entitled ‘Community Media: Giving Voice to the Voiceless’ this public talk followed by discussion will feature a keynote speech by Archana Kapoor, a filmmaker, author and activist. Ms Kapoor is also the publisher of Hardnews magazine, an independent political monthly in India, and founder of the NGO SMART that works with marginalised communities in India. Two years ago Kapoor launched a community radio station in an impoverished rural community outside Delhi. The radio station went on to win a National Award from the Government of India in 2012. Kapoor is also on the governing board of the Community Radio Association, an organisation established in order to promote and lobby for the community radio movement. The event will be followed by a reception. Look forward to seeing you there! Download your invitation here.

Momentum for Change: 14 Years of Community Broadcasting in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) has launched its latest publication Momentum for Change: Community Radio in Bangladesh – Voice of the Rural People.

Momentum for Change celebrates the 14-year struggle to open up the community broadcasting in Bangladesh, giving emphasis on its vital role in giving voice to the voiceless and aiming to help to bridge the information gap for rural Bangladesh.

There are currently 14 Community Radio Stations on-air in the country aiming to ensure empowerment and right to information for rural communities. Altogether these stations are broadcasting up to 120 hours of programming per day on information, education, local entertainment and development motivation activities. Around 536 youth & youth-women are now working with those stations throughout the country as rural broadcasters.

The work of BRNNC is an inspiration to all Community Media advocates across the globe, and we here at CCMC, are looking forward to learning about success stories from Bangladesh and other countries where Community Media is taking root!

Anna Lindh Foundation to hold media debate ahead of Mediterranean Forum

The Anna Lindh Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue (ALF) an organisation which promotes knowledge, mutual respect and intercultural dialogue between the people of the Euro-Mediterranean region, working through a network of more than 3,000 civil society organisations in 43 countries, is holding the third Preparatory Meeting of the Anna Lindh Forum 2013 from 28 February to 1 March in Barcelona, Spain. The theme of the meeting will be ‘Media facing tensions and transitions in the Mediterranean’.

The meeting is a preparatory event of the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Forum 2013, which will be a landmark gathering of 1,000 leading civil society actors and policy makers following the Arab Awakening and the crisis in Europe. The Euro-Med Media Meeting will shape the Forum’s media track debating and developing actions aimed at supporting journalists in facing the challenges of the new social and cultural landscape which is emerging in the region.

The Meeting will be co-organised with the ALF Head of the Spanish Network, the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) and the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean with the media partnership of France 24, RFI and Radio Monté Carlo Doualiya.

The event will gather participants from ALF Networks, existing regional platforms/networks, experts and grassroots level representatives working on media related issues. Twenty participants will be identified through the call for participation, and around 30 experts from the field of media will be invited from the host country and the other Euromed countries.

The deadline for application is Thursday 10 January 2012 (00:00 Egypt Time – GMT+2).

EC Active Ageing Photo and Film Competition Winners Announced

The winning photo “Ageless Joy” by Salih Bahceci

C3A, the Cyprus Third Age Association was one of the winners of the 2012 DigiMe digital photo and video competition, sponsored by the Representation of the European Commission in Cyprus and taking as its theme the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. C3A received an honourable mention – and a 100 euro voucher for electronic gadgets – for a series of photographs showing the group’s educational activities which, as the judges said, illustrated vividly Active Ageing in Action.

The overall winner in the photo category was “Ageless Joy”, taken by Salih Bahçeci, a student of digital media at London Metropolitan University, while the short clip “An ordinary life of my grandparents” by Andreas Psaltis, a final year pupil at the Grammar School, Nicosia, won the video prize. The two category winners each received an iPad.

There were also honourable mentions for Elly Rousou for the photo entitled ‘Youth has no Age’, and for Yetin Arslan with ‘Fairy-tale Cycle’.

EllyRousou received an honourable mention for “Youth Has No Age”

Speaking at the prize-giving ceremony held at the Home for Cooperation in Nicosia’s Buffer Zone, the Head of Representation of the European Commission in Cyprus George Markopouliotis said:

“This is the second year of the DigiMe digital video and photo competition. We at the Representation are happy to support this online event and we do hope that it will carry on with the same success for a few more years to come. Our intention was to to raise awareness of the contribution that older people make to society and I think that the entries to the competition do this quite admirably. It is also clear that these issues, like the environment and climate change in last year’s competition, are obviously of concern to all communities in Cyprus – two-thirds of this year’s entries come from Greek Cypriots and approximately one-third from the Turkish Cypriot community.”

Entries in the DigiMe competition are not judged on artistic merit alone but also on relevance and, crucially, on the impact they have online. This impact, the buzz, which this year’s entries have generated, has been considerable. There were more than 100 entries in all which attracted nearly 3,000 votes on the DigiMe website, more than 2,000 YouTube views and nearly 4,000 likes and comments on Facebook.

The DigiMe competition is managed on behalf of the Representation of the European Commission in Cyprus by the NGO Support Centre and the Cyprus Community Media Centre.

You can see all the entries at the DigiMe website: http://www.digime.org.cy

The future of Community Media in Central and Eastern Europe: Access, Independence and Rights

This press release was issued by AMARC Europe in Budapest on 13 November 2012.

For more information, contact Francesco Diasio, Regional Coordinator of AMARC Europe – fradiasio@gmail.com

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Community radio representatives, academics and regulators from 20 Western, Central and Eastern Europe countries gathered in Budapest for the International Forum “Public Policies and Media Pluralism. The future of Community Radio in Central and East Europe” in order to discuss the current state of media pluralism in the region.

The community media sector operates unevenly across Europe: while there is significant activity in some Member States, it barely exists in others. The lack of clear definitions and guidelines for community media is leading to confusion and disingenuous media landscapes that are not pluralistic. For media pluralism to exist, there must be active and sustainable media institutions and access to licensing across all sectors, including public, commercial and community media broadcasting.

Associative and community radios are all essential actors supporting human rights and promoting active citizenship. Communication rights, including access to information and freedom of expression, are at the heart of democratic societies. An essential component of this is the right to freely communicate via platforms that are independent from government or commercial pressures.

Forum participants expressed the fact that technological innovation and digital media transformations do not themselves guarantee diversity or quality information. New media environments must not be organized in ways that generate new or reinforce existing exclusions and inequalities.

Participants also reaffirmed the need for political frameworks and public policies to guarantee truly independent regulatory authorities as a prerequisite to democratic media landscapes. Independent regulatory authorities must support the principle of equal treatment in the attribution of electromagnetic spectrum, resources and broadcast licensing. Spectrum is a public good and must be allocated with public interest objectives in mind and not merely market-driven approaches.

Further, participants share the position that a major obstacle towards the further development and sustainability of community media is the need for enabling political and media environments that support community-based media, as well as the existence of strong civil societies.

Participants expressed concern about the situation in Hungary where the number of genuine community radio stations is decreasing at an alarming rate and the new media laws appear to place obligations on the sector that threaten its future. The Hungarian community radio sector has been a model for Central and Eastern Europe and should be supported.

For these reasons, the participants of the International Forum call on the governments of Central and Eastern Europe to acknowledge and recognize associative and community radios as a distinct media sector, ensuring equal treatment to this sector in access to the audiovisual spectrum while appreciating the distinctiveness of community radio.

Governments need to legally secure the independence of regulatory authorities, and implement the standards for community media as adopted by the European Union and the Council of Europe.

The public forum was an initiative of AMARC Europe (World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters), in partnership with the Center for Media & Communication Studies of Central European University and the Hungarian Federation of Free Radios.

Cyprus Community Media Centre EOI – Studio

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR

Technical expertise in supporting the development of a multimedia studio (design and technical specifications)

The Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC) is seeking to commission specialised services to assist with the design and installation of a multimedia studio for the premises located in the UN Buffer Zone/Ledra Palace Grounds Nicosia.

Potential technical experts are hereby invited to submit their Expressions of Interest (EOI) in providing the following types of services:

• The design of a multimedia studio
• Development of technical specifications for installation of a multimedia studio and/or refurbishment of existing spaces into studios

Suppliers interested in qualifying should submit their Expression of Interest along with the following documents:

• Detailed description of previous experience and/or CV
• Detailed description of relevant past experience in studio design and/or refurbishment/installation
• Reference list of major clients in the past three years

The Expression of Interest and accompanying documents must be received no later than 29 November 2012, 16:00hrs at the following address: Cyprus Community Media Centre, P.O. Box 24359, Nicosia CY 1703

or

info@cypruscommunitymedia.org

Please clearly mark postal submissions and electronic submissions indicating:

Cyprus Community Media Centre EOI-Studio

Expressions of Interest received after the above deadline will not be considered. CCMC reserves the right to accept or reject any Expression of Interest.

Mapping Community Media in Europe

CCMC has quite a few claims to fame, but if we are not mistaken the idea of mapping the Community Media landscape in Europe for the first time was born in Nicosia during the first annual CMFE Conference last November. The project aimed to create a complete picture of the European Community Media sphere so as to inform policy decisions for institutions such as the European Union and the Council of Europe.

A survey was created by the Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) with the help of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) and its members as well as some national federations, targeting 49 countries, with data now available for 39 of them.

According to the data collected by CMFE, “in January 2012 there were 2237 community radio stations and 521 community television stations in Europe. Most stations are located in EU member countries especially in France, Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom, Denmark, Spain, Germany and Sweden. Only 122 radio and 9 television stations are located in countries outside the EU … In 17 countries (including four non-EU countries) the community media sector is regulated in the media law and as such this third media sector is recognized. In some European countries the community media sector is supported by government funding. Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands have substantial funding systems for both community radio and television. Belgium, Italy, Norway and Switzerland to a lesser extent. In France community radio is financed up to 40% by government funding.”

The next task for CMFE will be to rate each European country in order to enhance the development of community radio and community television in Europe, and we look forward to working with them on creating a more enabling environment for Community Media in Cyprus.

Συμμετοχη του Κεντρου Κοινοτικων Μεσων Επικοινωνιας στην ημεριδα «Παιδεια για τα Μεσα Μαζικης Ενημερωσης»

 

To Κέντρο Κοινοτικών Μέσων Επικοινωνίας (CCMC) θα συμμετάσχει στην ημερίδα ενημέρωσης με θέμα «Παιδεία για τα Μ.Μ.Ε. και προώθηση των επιπέδων της Παιδείας για τα Μέσα στην Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία».

Η ημερίδα, που συνδιοργανώνεται από την Αρχή Ραδιοτηλεόρασης Κύπρου και το Υπουργείο Παιδείας και Πολιτισμού, θα διεξαχθεί την Τετάρτη 10 Οκτωβρίου στις 09:30 π.μ. στη Δημοσιογραφική Εστία στη Λευκωσία.

Η παρέμβαση του CCMC θα ξεκινήσει στος 11:00 π.μ. με θέμα «Οι πολίτες παράγουν Μέσα. Μια άλλη πτυχή της Παιδείας για τα Μέσα», και θα επικεντρώνεται στην ίδια την παραγωγή Μέσων και πώς αυτή δομείται στο πλαίσιο της Παιδείας για τα Μέσα (Media Literacy), καθώς και στον ρόλο και την σημασία των Κοινοτικών Μέσων Επικοινωνίας (Community Media) στην Παιδεία για τα Μέσα.

Με βάση Οδηγία της Ευρωπαϊκής Επιτροπής το θέμα Παιδεία για τα Μέσα Μαζικής Ενημέρωσης έχει ανατεθεί στην Αρχή Ραδιοτηλεόρασης της κάθε χώρας-μέλους της Ε.Ε. Η Αρχή Ραδιοτηλεόρασης Κύπρου προχώρησε στη σύσταση ειδικής επιτροπής για σκοπούς προγραμματισμού σειράς δράσεων που αφορούν στο κεφάλαιο «Παιδεία για τα Μέσα», και η ημερίδα αποτελεί σύσταση της ειδικής αυτής επιτροπής.

Η ημερίδα, σύμφωνα με δελτίο τύπου που εξέδωσε η Αρχή Ραδιοτηλεόρασης, αποσκοπεί «στην ενημέρωση των εμπλεκόμενων φορέων στο θέμα της Παιδείας για τα Μ.Μ.Ε. και σε συζήτηση και ανταλλαγή απόψεων για το πώς οι ίδιοι βλέπουν το δικό τους ρόλο στην ευρύτερη προσπάθεια προώθησης των μορφών και των επιπέδων της Παιδείας για τα Μέσα στη Δημοκρατία προς όφελος του κοινωνικού συνόλου».