Community Media, Sustainability and Crisis

Community Media, Sustainability and Crisis examines how community media responds when existing structures and normal expectations are upended, across a global set of perspectives.
This original collection draws on a truly global set of perspectives, with authors from Asia, Europe, Africa, and both North and South America, who explore a range of ideological, political, economic, and cultural factors that shape how community media projects respond to crises. Contributors analyze how to evaluate the sustainability and operation of community media, using case studies centered on community radio station responses from across a range of geographical settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through broadening focus to discuss community radio with other forms of crisis such as communities rebuilding after earthquakes and natural disasters, the authors describe how community media can be an important resource for community resilience and recovery.

Andrew Ó Baoill is a Lecturer at the School of English, Media and Creative Arts at University of Galway, Ireland. His work focuses on the political economy of the mass media, with a particular interest in the interplay of technological change, regulation and not-for-profit media. He has also published on critical pedagogies for media studies, including on open scholarship. A former station manager in the community radio sector in both Ireland and the United States, he currently produces a monthly radio show, A Critical Ear.
Salvatore Scifo is a Visiting Fellow at the Media School, Faculty of Media, Science and Technology at Bournemouth University, United Kingdom. He has published on British, Italian, and European community media histories, policies and practices. He has served in leadership positions for the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), the UK-based Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) and the Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE).