Eleanor Borjas, ERIC-Radio Progreso journalist. delivers a newscast in Tegucigalpa. Photo: ERIC-Radio Progreso
On World Radio Day, February 13, Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) highlights the critical role that radio plays in providing people, especially those in marginalized communities and remote areas, with vital information and a broad platform to share their concerns.
CJI is proud of its partnership with ERIC-Radio Progreso, a Jesuit human rights centre and radio station that supports Honduran community organizations through multimedia communications, training, research and advocacy in land rights, social justice, and human rights.
ERIC-Radio Progreso’s community radio stations and their correspondents conduct interviews, analysis and debates on important issues related to democracy, human rights, violence, gender-based violence, ecology, and Indigenous territories. The radio programs help guarantee the Honduran people’s right to fair and truthful information, that helps them make informed decisions.
ERIC-Radio Progreso journalist Inmer Gerardo Chevez and social media promoter Juan Carlos George conduct a live report on the impact of Hurricanes Eta and Lota in El Progreso, Yoro, in 2020. Photo: ERIC-Radio Progreso
ERIC-Radio Progreso, which is now one of the top five radio stations in Honduras, also conducts training on political formation, ecological justice and human rights, and citizenship, to better equip civil society organizations in advocating for social change.
UNESCO proclaimed World Radio Day in 2011, recognizing its role as “a powerful medium for celebrating humanity in all its diversity and a platform for democratic discourse.” The UN General Assembly adopted it a year later and designated February 13, the date when the UN radio was launched in 1946, as the day to commemorate it.
“In an era marked by the dizzying speed of technological innovation and the rapid obsolescence of one shiny new platform after another, Radio is beginning its second century of service as one of the most dependable and widely utilized forms of media in the world,” said UNESCO.
This year’s #WorldRadioDay theme, Radio: A century informing, entertaining and educating, :shines a broad floodlight on radio’s remarkable past, relevant present and promise of a dynamic future,” said UNESCO.
