Democratic and Participatory Potentiality of Community Video in India

Abstract

Community media may be termed as any form of media that is created, managed and controlled by a community or a social group, either its’ existence in a geographic terrain or its’ identity or interest. The nature of community media is different from commercial media or state run media. As media created by a community, there is an implied component of community engagement in the management, production, circulation etc. The community media may be based on different forms of media, such as print, electronic or new media. Community newspapers, community magazines come under community print media. It is perhaps oldest form of community media after traditional folk media. The practice of publishing community newspapers and magazine constitutes one of the most common trends of community engagement in communication for Indian societal architecture. But for community media based on electronic communication, needs special assistance from the policy makers, experts and support agencies. Though community radio is in a vibrant position in the country, but the initiatives on community video or film production are almost in budding stage and are in negligible strata. In India, where 350 million of the country’s 1.2 billion people are illiterate, and 250 million live below the poverty line, community film or video has a delicate role to be played. A small number of community volunteers have been working with a few non-profit organisations in India using video to empower communities to take action around critical issues relevant to their development. Hundreds of rural people have been trained to produce videos for themselves. The International organisations like USAID, UNICEF have been providing assistance to the non-profit organisations such as Video Volunteers, SEWA, Dristi etc to empower rural community by producing videos to create a social platform for themselves.