by Katherine Farnon (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) @ WEMF III, Kuala Lumpur, 10dec07

5. I want to share some of those findings with you today. I have
deliberately picked examples from outside the Asian region to
complement the other speakers on the panel. But I believe that
what we're seeing in Africa, Europe and Latin America is
relevant to the discussion here.
First, there are no two countries at exactly the same stage of
development. And you cannot generalize either. There are
some countries in Africa where little has changed since colonial
days and the government maintains an iron grip on both
broadcasting and telecom.· But there are also countries, like
Benin, for instance, where the government has separated the
regulation of FM licenses from the regulation of content. One
body, the Higher Media Authority gives stations the power to go
on the air. The other called the aDEM, which is independent of
government and which is made up of media professionals,
journalists, publishers and editors has drawn up a code of the
ethics which needs to hang prominently in every station given a·
licence. And if those rules are broken, such as broadcasting
material, which might incite racial hatred, the ODEM can have a
station's license suspended immediately. It's for this reason
that this part of Africa is seen as a media-lab for rule making in
the African context. Of course, no system is perfect, but it is
certainly a step in the right direction.
Media, and especially community media, has played a huge role
in reducing corruption. Election fraud usually happens when the
ballot box is being moved from a regional polling station to a

6. the future role of media in Africa have concentrated on the
~nderplayed the
national networks and rather role that
community stations play in capturing the oral culture in local
languages. We're pleased to see a growing number of initiatives
that will help to not only broadcast programmes in local
languages but also store and catalogue stories from today,so
that they can be put into another context for tomorrow.
Fortunately, technology is helping us here as the cost of mass
storage continues to plummet. But the academic community
has yet to understand the extent to which community media
are building sustainable conversations in society.

7. .~II<ON PRESS RELEASE
World first!
IKON and Radio Netherlands Worldwide build a bridge between
Christians and Muslims
Today, 6 December, Dutch broadcasting companies Radio Netherlands
Worldwide and IKON in Hilversum are launching a world first: the
integral texts of the Bible and the Qu'ran alongside each other on one
website. The site appears in Dutch, English and Arabic at the same time.
The objective of the site is to build a bridge between Muslims and
Christians. The website www.bibleandkoran.net removes the threshold
for anyone to access the two holy books anonymously.
A universal search function makes it possible to search the texts of the holy
books using any word and to compare them. The site shows the frequency of the
word in each of the books and also displays all relevant parts of the text. The
results are surprising. A word such as 'virgin' for example appears 16 times in
the Bible compared to twice in the Qu'ran. To help visitors in their search
through the voluminous books, the site contains a selection of eighteen stories,
which occur both in the Qu'ran and the Bible. This also provides a few surprises;
for example both holy books tell stories about Jezus/Isa, Noach/Noeh,
Maria/Marjam and many others.
Around 150 people connected to this issue are attending a festive mUlti-cultural
and international gathering to launch the website at the Institute for Sound and
Vision in the Media Park in Hilversum. The main speaker, who has flown over
from England, is advisor to the Council of Europe Stephen Whittle. As controller
of editorial policy at the BBC, Mr Whittle has earned his spurs as an advocate for
objective reporting on Christian and Islamic issues.
In a video message, Arabist and philosopher Tariq Ramadam stresses the
international importance of the website for the dialogue between Muslims and
Christians. quot;If we want to promote mutual respect we need knowledge of the
other text, but in a humble way. Every one of us should be committed to get
knowledge from the website.quot; Dutch Integration Minister Ella Vogelaar also
enthusiastically welcomes the initiative of the two broadcasting stations via the
video camera.
EDITORIAL NOTE
Enclosed you'll find a screendump of the website. For more information please contact
Marjolein Klaassen-Hulst, Radio Netherlands Worldwide press officer. T +31 3567242
12, M + 31 651 1563 94, E marjolein.klaassen@rnw.nl