Broadcasting is the unidirectional provision of information to a community or audience. It is essential for many forms of civic engagement. Over the course of the 20th century, the term "broadcasting" was often applied to radio and television, usually to state-run or commercially-owned outlets.
As the price of technology comes down, broadcasting has taken new forms in developing countries.
One example is community radio, broadcast from simple stations (sometimes the equivalent of a laptop computer) to small communities in minority languages. Other examples include uses of television for public service, such as programming to help educate and prevent HIV/AIDS in rural communities in India. Community broadcasting for educational services has reached astonishing numbers of people who never before had access to local media, or the ability to speak through that local media. But the case studies here show that broadcast project in development contexts frequently runs into economic difficulties after donor money moves on to different projects.
