World radio day 2012: tuning into a decade of mass medium Europe
As the first unesco-organised ‘world radio day’ takes place on 13 February, we trawl through our archives to see which radio-related news marked EU member states on our citizen media pages over the last ten years. When Poland and Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004, two quite different radio programmes defined their societies: the haughty ‘Radio Maryja’ being a catholic radio programme supporting right-wing ideology in Poland, whilst the happy-go-lucky ‘Radio May’ was a successful bilingual Greek-Turkish Cypriot station. To this day, radio has continued to make political airwaves in Serbia, Hungary and Kosovo. Radio also marks an evolving cultural trend: by 2007 we were listening to pan-European online radio programmes, which led a year later to a music revolution. Read the special edition (Image: (cc) u2canreed/ Flickr)
Hungary: Klubradio’s silence
While the international press talks of a ‘new Europe’ and rating agencies note an upward economic trend in eastern Europe, the wind is blowing in the opposite direction in Hungary. The advance of nationalism doesn’t only undermine democracy, pluralism and the liberty of an entire nation but it also has disastrous effects on the economy
economy, censorship, human rights, viktor orbán, censorship, best of cafebabel.com, media, politics
Fired public radio satirists - 'Berlusconisation France'?
Censor one person and someone else will speak for them. That’s what happened on 1 July in front of La Maison de la Radio in Paris, where disappointed listeners and exasperated France Inter workers protested against the sacking of morning show comedians Stéphane Guillon and Didier Porte. Flashback
silvio berlusconi, european media, freedom of expression, society, strike, paris, nicolas sarkozy, media
Interview: the success of Greek-Turkish Cypriot Radio May
Founder Hassan Kahvecioglu on a radio created in 2004, as Cyprus joined the EU, to encourage the union of the Turkish Cypriot side with Europe
'Prishtinali': urban faces in a raw capital
A capital in transition has ‘bigger’ priorities than music and fashion. Dynamic young patriots use these elements of renewal to bring their city closer to Europe
Radio Maryja: piety and xenophobia on Poland’s short-wave
Poland’s most popular radio station doesn’t just offer information about the bible, but also the world – by portraying the enemy as Jews, foreigners and the European union. The church and the government seem to be powerless against the ‘voice of God’
