Gaynor, Niamh and O'Brien, Anne
(2014)
Community Radio in Ireland: “Defeudalising” the
Public Sphere?
Javnost - The Public, 18 (3).
pp. 23-28.
ISSN 1854-8377
Abstract
The growth in interest and research in community
radio worldwide over the last few decades is a welcome
development. While, as noted by Jankowski (2003), a fi rst
generation of research has been largely empirical in nature,
describing and analysing the organisation and operation
of stations in diff erent contexts, more recently a second
generation of work has begun to emerge which aims at
grounding empirical studies within broader theoretical
frameworks, most notably those relating to democracy
and the public sphere. The specifi c components of the
public sphere remain somewhat underdeveloped in these
studies however. This article aims to contribute to this
literature through an examination of community radio in
Ireland within a framework drawn from evolving work of
Habermas and associated deliberative, social and media
theorists. The article, drawing on a detailed study of four
community stations in Ireland, identifi es elements of community
radio which contribute towards a “defeudalisation”
of the public sphere as well as highlighting challenges in
this regard. Although situated within a specifi c context,
with Irish community radio operating within a comparable
regulatory environment to both that in Australia and the
United Kingdom, the article draws lessons of specifi c interest
to researchers and activists in these domains, as well as
off ering a framework of use to community radio researchers
interested in examining the sector’s contribution to the
re-animation of the public sphere more globally.
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