2015 CBAA Conference - Academic Research Forum

#CBAAconf: How do we measure the social impact of community media? 2015 CBAA Research forum

Helen Henry, 3rd February 2016
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Community broadcasting was founded on social good principles, including giving voice to underrepresented groups, and revealing local stories. How do we know whether community media organisations are fulfilling these objectives? What are the broader benefits to society when these objectives are met?

At a half-day forum during the 2015 CBAA Conference in Terrigal, researchers, station representatives and peak body representatives came together to discuss the opportunities and difficulties of social impact measurement. The forum provided a timely opportunity for community media practitioners to consider the practical aspects of evaluation as well as the philosophical dimensions of creating social good. 

The forum included a keynote by Professor Jo Barraket, Director of the Swinburne Centre for Social Impact, as well as six research papers from Australia’s leading and emerging community media scholars. 

What we learnt

Jo Barraket led a lively discussion on social impact, asking us to consider longer term progressive social change within a system rather than short term outcomes. Often the impact of measuring social impact can be minimal, not just when it is done inadequately, but also when it is done well. The community media sector should therefore consider the most effective ways to communicate its impact if it is to proceed down the evaluation path. This might mean reducing the number of evaluations – collecting once and using often – as opposed to commissioning repeated evaluations where stations are competing to show the greatest small-scale impact. Research should also show how community media fits within the wider social system through meta-analysis and collaboration with community partners. Finally, we need to be clear as to what point in the system we (community broadcasters) are trying to intervene to create social good in order to best articulate our stories of change.

The research paper panels drilled further into the question of whether there is a universally agreed social good:

  • Heather Anderson (Uni SA) presented a case study of measuring the social impact of radio engagement involving young people of refugee experience.
  • Tanja Dreher (Wollongong) interrogated the concept of participation and presented a case for considering listening in relation to impact.
  • Susan Forde (Griffith) discussed sector training and the value of external perspectives on community media contribution.
  • Juliet Fox (Melbourne Uni) challenged the social impact framework and presented a case for valuing counter-hegemonic resistance through her work on 3CR and East Timor radio.
  • Simon Order (Murdoch) shared his research on older volunteers in the RPH sector, interrogating volunteer motivations from altruism to narcissim.
  • Ellie Rennie discussed the creative workforce and the dynamics of cooperation.

The forum was facilitated by Ellie Rennie and Christina Spurgeon. Forum participants have been invited to submit their papers to a special journal issue of Communication Research and Practice (a journal of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association) on “The Social impact of Community Media” to be published in May 2017. 

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