School of Mass Communication (KSMC), KIIT Deemed to be University conducted its Subject Expert Engagement programme on the topic “Alternative to what?-A critical discourse analysis of Australian community radio content” on 28th August 2021. The talk was delivered by Dr. Bridget Backhaus, Lecturer, School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University, Australia on the Zoom platform.
In her talk, Dr. Backhaus explained the use of community radio in Australia, the underpinning theories, target audience, community identity, funding of community radios and more. She briefly touched upon topics like radio repertoires, creep of commercialization, and community radio engagement, while highlighting the similarities of Australian community radio stations. She said, “Community radios that make people feel they are just like us are more popular”. It emphasized that radio stations that included relatable humour and cultural aspects in their content connected to listeners on a personal level and were hence, more popular. She further agreed that there is a lot more research to be done on community radio, especially on topics that question its workings and objectives.
A question-and-answer session followed the talk, wherein Prof. Mohammad Sahid Ullah, Mr. Aniruddha Jena, Ms. Chinmoyee Deka and others asked many engaging questions concerning prison community radios, comparison between Australian and Indian community radios, cultural context of community radios and more.
The session provided interesting insights into the workings of Australian community radio, generating interest and perspectives among the budding media students. It was attended by more than 40 participants, including Prof. Sahid Ullah from University of Chittagong, Dr. Aparna Khanna from Lady Irwin College (University of Delhi) and Dr. S. Arulselvan from Pondicherry University.
The session was moderated by Ms. Aprajita Singhal, a 3rd year student of KSMC. On the occasion, Dr. Bidu Bhusan Dash, Course Coordinator, KSMC unveiled the 2nd issue of KSMC Gazette (https://issuu.com/smckiit/docs/ksmc_gazette_issue_2), a fortnightly by the students of the school, in the presence of Dr. Backhaus, Ms. Nitali Johori, Chief Editor of the KSMC Gazette and others. Ms. Singhal proposed the vote of thanks.