CMFE and AMARC Europe received, on 6 February, a response on behalf of European Commissioner Neelie Kroes, on our letter dated 19 December 2011 titled: "Threats and concerns of local and community media towards the adoption of a single standard for digital radio: Let us not leave community radio behind in the digital revolution'".

The Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) has released a letter of support to join the campaign of its Spanish members with regards to the actions take by the Jefatura Provincial de Telecomunicaciones of Asturias , the regional media authority, towards community radio stations in the region.

CMFE understands that the Jefatura has sent letters to the residents of the flats that are located in proximity of the FM radio broadcast transmission equipment of community radio stations in the Asturias, where it has requested to those residents to state if they have knowledge of the location and ownership of such transmission systems and where failure to do is sanctioned with fines up to € 500.000.

The Forum is concerned about the enactment of such measures which ignores the fact that the Authority has not been considering the opening of the legitimate licensing system to community radio stations, that have been broadcasting in the region since the 1980s, and that have since then shown demand for a third, not for profit and independent radio sector in the Asturias.

The Center for Media and Communication Studies (CMCS)  of the Central European University in Budapest announces the release of the new study. Led by researcher Amy Brouillette it analyses the consistency of the Hungarian media regulations with European practices and norms. It addresses a key international policy debate regarding the conformity of Hungary’s new media legislation to European and EU media-regulation standards.

The study also contributes to the ongoing policy making process regarding Hungary’s media laws—particularly in light of the recent rulings by Hungary’s Constitutional Court which requires several provisions to be amended by 31 May 2012—as well as contributing to the debate around other areas of concern that have been raised by the European Commission, European lawmakers, and domestic and international stakeholders.

Dear CMFE members, friends and colleagues,
Ourplanet-TV, is one of Japan's best known alternative media, an all-citizens based independent public access center, with distribution on the internet, and on Tokyo area cable (in a weekly program window). This non-profit non-governmental media organization in Tokyo, is collecting donations for a 2-hour TV program highlighting the voices of Japanese children, who have been affected by the Fukushima nuclear accident.

These children are exposed to much higher-than-normal radioactivity everyday. Parents are struggling to protect their children from radiation. The case of the right to evacuate has been taken to court, but still more than a half year later nothing has changed. Children living close to the epicenter of the nuclear plant still cannot play in the school yards and outside their houses without being exposed to radiation.