The audience-producer boundary has collapsed in indigenous and ethnic community broadcasting, and this is the first comprehensive study globally to chart the rise of its new relationship. Based on studies of radio and television audiences in Australia, the authors argue that community radio and television worldwide represents an essential service for indigenous and ethnic audiences, empowering them at various levels, fostering 'active citizenry' and enhancing the processes of democracy. The authors, former journalists, spent months on the road, travelling tens of thousands of kilometers from urban centres to the most remote regions of the Central Desert to ask why they engage with and adapt local broadcast media. They draw on two decades of primary research material taken from face-to-face interviews and focus-group discussions with audiences. Consequently, Developing Dialogues offers international researchers a new social, cultural and historical perspective on the emergence of the unique Australian community broadcasting sector within the context of other global trends. It will appeal to scholars of media and cultural studies, as well as to industry practitioners and policy makers.

Susan Forde is professor of journalism at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. She has authored or co-authored three books and more than fifty journal articles and book chapters on media and journalism, with a focus on community-based media, alternative media, alternative forms of journalism and social movement media. She is founding editor with professor Chris Atton of the Journal of Alternative & Community Media. She currently leads national and internationally funded projects about specialist community-run media for multicultural, Indigenous and local communities. She worked as a journalist in both mainstream and alternative/community media sectors before joining academia.

Contact: Griffith Centre for Social Cultural Research, Nathan campus, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia.