The World Radio Day 2015 is coming!

13 February is World Radio Day — a day to celebrate radio as a medium; to improve international cooperation between broadcasters; and to encourage major networks and community radio alike to promote access to information, and free, independent and pluralistic media.

UNESCO prepares to celebrate the fourth edition of World Radio Day, to be held on February 13, 2015. The theme for this fourth edition is “Youth and Radio”. It represents an important opportunity to evaluate the contribution of young people in the radio sector with the goal of increasing their participation along three levels:

1. Youth-targeted programming.
2. Programmes including young people at the production level.
3. Finally and most importantly, programming devised and produced by young people.

The organizers have proposed some subthemes that are designed to offer a wide array of opportunities for discussion and to lend themselves to interesting and informative programming:

• The elimination of stereotypes and prejudice in the portrayal of young people in the media.
• Improving the security of young journalists, especially freelancers and fixers in conflict and disaster zones.
• The impact of young people on community radio (education, acculturation, coverage of conflicts not being covered by the wider media, emergency and humanitarian crises, etc).
• The link between the accessibility of information through radio amongst young people and the sustainable development of communities.

You can also consult a list of fifteen ideas for celebrating World Radio Day 2015 to act as a starting point and give you some inspiration about the different ways you can be a part of the celebration.

From AMARC Europe we invite you to send us (before December 30, 2014) any information regarding the events you are organizing for World Radio Day 2015, as well as any examples you may have of engaging radio content produced by youth, for youth. You can send the information to miriam.meda@localhost.

UNESCO is also offering young producers the opportunity to come (at their cost) and broadcast live from UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on February 13, 2015. Should any of the producers you have selected wish to take advantage of this opportunity, please send a proposal to Benoît Hervieu-Léger (b.hervieu-leger@unesco.org) before December 15.

Thank you in advance for your participation!