Abstract: Rwanda after Genocide underwent a series of changes in Media that saw the increase of Radios, Televisions and newspapers. Among radios that came into existence are community radios where according to a research conducted by Rwandan Media High Council in 2014 they are totaled to eleven. However experience from other countries which also have community radios shows that they face some operational problems emanating from forces such as market, cost, regulatory etc. In Rwanda, these community radios started in early 2000. This research therefore intends to find out to what extent market, cost and regulatory forces impact the generation of their content. Three objectives were set: To determine the impact of market forces in generating community radios’ content in Rwanda, to assess the impact of cost forces in generating community radios’ content in Rwanda and finally to examine the impact of regulatory forces in generating community radios’ content in Rwanda. The study adopted descriptive research design with a target population of 40 respondents comprised of 2 Managing Directors of Radio Huguka and Ishingiro Community Radio, 2 Chief Editors, 2 Program Managers, 10 Permanent journalists and 24 volunteer journalists, though the respondents who answered were 37. Census method was used to obtain the sample size from the target population and purposive sampling was applied in selecting Radios to be studied. Data was collected using interviews and questionnaires. After data collection, all data was coded and put in statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) spreadsheet and computed for both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that community radios are not threatened by current mergers and acquisitions of media outlets as they have their loyal audience, loyal partners and that they create their customers within community. However the cost of renting towers is impeding their daily activities because with little money they gain is paid to rent towers and hence decide to cancel some other activities. Findings further indicate that community radios benefit from cooperating with Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) as a content regulator it offers training and accreditation to journalists. The research therefore recommends that the government should provide more incentives to these community radios in order to achieve their target as they face the problem of money due to high costs of renting towers.
Keywords: Media Economics, Community Radio, Content.
Title: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF MEDIA ECONOMICS ON CONTENT GENERATION OF COMMUNITY RADIOS IN RWANDA: A CASE STUDY OF RADIO HUGUKA AND ISHINGIRO COMMUNITY RADIO (2015-2016)
Author: Kalisa Stephen, Prof. Hellen Mberia, Dr. Caroline Nabuzale
International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations
ISSN 2348-7585 (Online)
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