RadioExpert has launched a scientific research project to measure the reasons why citizens particpate in community broadcasting in Austria. In cooperation with various stakeholders, the project will survey the thousands of producers creating content for the Austrian community radio and televisions. For more information: http://diss-website.webnode.com/

Die Werte und Prioritäten der Gemeinschaft Rundfunk Teilnehmer als Reflexion von Medienrecht und Medienpolitik

Why do citizens participate in community media? How do they identify themselves in the context of political, social, cultural and economic typologies?  This project will examine the composition of Austrian community broadcasters in the context of varying agenda typologies, values, priorities and attributes as reported by participants in the community media sector. It seeks to accomplish this goal by testing this hypothesis:

Media Law in Austria is genereally in alignment with the values, priorities and typologies deemed important by community media participants.

A web-based survey instrument will seek answers from approximately 3000 active participants in Austrian community media, then quantitative methods including frequency distributions, correlations, and cluster analyses will be employed to process the results, address the research questions, and test the hypothesis.

The research seeks to produce results that might add to the body of knowledge about why people value community media in Austria, how they resemble and/or differ from their counterparts elsewhere in the world, and what those conclusions might contribute to the debate about community media development in the neighboring Czech Republic.