Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
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GuyStarkey
programmedtorelatenewsorfeaturecontenttoapostcode,theperceivedlo-
cationofanIPaddress,ortheregularpingofamobiledevicetothenearest
mobilephonetransceiver.Therearehyper-localwebsitessetupbylocalenthu-
siastswhoseenthusiasmcanoften,ifnotalways,compensatefortheirlackof
professionaltrainingandtheabsenceofanyformofcontentandstandardsreg-
ulation.Thereisalsoanincreasingtrendtowardstheglocalisationofnational
oreveninternationalmediabrands,tostimulateautomaticre-versioningofcon-
tenttoincludesupplementarymaterialthatisoflimitedinteresttoaudiences
beyondthatspecificcity,townorneighbourhood.Theriseofcommunityradio,
staffedbyvolunteerswithvaryinglevelsoftraining,educationandknowledge
ofwhatmanyhavecometorecogniseasprofessionalstandards,isanimportant
andincreasinglysubstantialelementinthatvariedmedialandscape.Eveninter-
netradio,untroubledbytherigoursoflicensingandsupervisionbyaregulatory
body,mayinsomelocationsbeanadequatesubstituteforthecontributionto
society,howeverlimited,ofregulated,public-servicecommittedcommerciallo-
calradiothatprecededit.Perhapsregulated,locally-engagedlocalradio,withits
localownershipanditslocalcontentproduction,wasessentialinanagewhen
theonlyothersourceofregularlyupdatedlocalinformationandlocaldemo-
craticdebatewasasinglelocalnewspaper.
Ontheotherhand,however,withouttheprofessionalandlegalguarantees
inherentinasystematicallylicensedandregulatedmedium,perhapsthecur-
rentplethoraisitselfinsufficient.Wenotedearlierthecontinuingimportance
ofanalogueradioasapopularmedium,andtheeaseofuseofthissecondary
mediummeansitisstillwidelyconsumedinitspurestform,withoutthepar-
allelwebormobiledevicecontentitoftenenthusiasticallyprovides.Algorith-
micautomationofrelativelyanonymouswebsitesmaynotyetbesufficiently
well-developedandengineeredtoadequatelyservelocalaudiencesinwayswith
whichtheycanreadilyengage.Furthermore,itmaybetainted,deliberatelyor
unknowingly,withabiastowardstheinclusion-orexclusion-ofcertainma-
terial,eitherforcommercialorforideologicalreasons,andcertaininformation
orperspectivesmaynotachievethelevelsofcirculationthataresponsiblyregu-
latedbroadcastermighthaveachievedorthatnotionsofprofessionalismmight
havedemanded.Itisnotasluronthemanydedicatedvolunteersworkingin
communityradio,tosuggestthatthetraining-andeveneducation-theyhave
beenprovidedwithmaynotbesufficienttoraisetheirstandardstotheprofes-
sionalstandardsmanyhopetheywillreplace.Atthecentreofthesedilemmas
liestheaudience,perhapsbewilderedbythevastrangeofchoiceorevennumbed
throughover-provisionintoavoidinglocalcontentaltogether.Howisthein-
experiencedmediaconsumertomakesenseoftheplethora,ifthepreviously
trustedbrandsarebeingdrownedoutbyacacophonyofnewvoices?