Survey of Central American news media hardware, intercommunication and development needs.
Paper presented to the Eighth Annual Conference on Intercultural and International Communication Miami, Fla. Feb. 22, 1991.
Bill Kovarik, Ph.D.
In a survey conducted by the International Center for Foreign Journalists of Reston, Va., for the Central American Journalism Program of Florida International University, and the Agency for International Development, directors of fifty of the Central America’s major newspapers, radio and television news operations were questioned about the news equipment they used, about their organization’s ability to exchange regional news with other organizations, and about their future development and training needs. The survey, conducted in April through June 1990, included Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador; it did not include Nicaragua or Belize. Some 53 organizations had been targeted for the survey. Two newspapers and one radio station, all in El Salvador, did not respond.
The survey showed a relatively high level of technological sophistication among television journalists; a wide variation between the technical abilities of daily newspapers; and a uniformly low level of technical development for radio news operations. Especially problematic for radio news directors was the lack of consistent news exchanges as had been possible with the SERCANO radio news network in the 1975-1980 period.
Many of the region’s universities also had serious shortages of equipment for training journalists. For example, Guatemala’s University of San Marcos has 40 manual typewriters and 2,000 communications students.
These findings may underscore the observations of many academics and U.S. officials who have noted the need for communication development. Journalists in the Third World “… need more telephones, more broadcast equipment, more printing presses and the people to operate them,” according to Leonard H. Marks.
The U.S. response to the New World Information Order debates of previous years has recently involved funding Third World telecommunications and satellite networks, but not broadcasting and newspaper operations. This paper suggests appropriate areas for assistance and concludes that the US broadcasting and printing industries (rather than the government) are in the best position to lead in assistance.
Note: Conclusions in this paper are those of the author, and should not necessarily be taken to represent those of the Center for Foreign Journalists or of the Central American Journalism Program.
INTRODUCTION
In Guatemala City, an editor in the elegant marble offices of a daily newspaper uses an Apple Mac computer to dial a phone number in Miami. After about 20 seconds, the computer connects with a Spanish-language database that provides statistics for articles on exports, health care and other Central American issues.
Less than 200 miles away, as the rain bangs on a tin-roofed office in Guatemala’s second largest city, Quetzaltenango, the editor of a 16 page weekly newspaper also works on an Apple Mac. He will store the week’s news on a disc and tuck it in his shirt pocket for the five-hour bus ride to Guatemala City, the nearest place with a laser printer. If he is lucky, he can get the paper pasted up and printed tomorrow and be back home the next day. He spends 80 percent of the paper’s income, and three out of six working days, doing something that should take an afternoon. Not surprisingly, the Quetzaltenango editor’s dream of a daily newspaper has been on hold for years.
Although both editors use modern computers, one is still caught in a cycle of underdevelopment.
And while the computer has cut the time the Quetzaltenango editor used to spend setting type in Guatemala City, he does not belive that technology had brought progress to Guatemala. After all, he points out, in 1930 Quetzaltenango had four daily newspapers. Today it can’t seem to afford one.
These two editors are typical of the paradox of development in Central America’s news media. While advanced sectors have the world at their fingertips, the undeveloped rural media and all forms of radio are deteriorating. Despite the apparent improvement in technology across the board, vast differences in financial and technological power still characterize the various media as much as they characterize Central American society as a whole.
Television and central city daily newspapers, for example, operate with relatively modern technology compared to radio and rural newspapers. Virtually all of the dailies use computerized typesetters and offset presses. About half use computers in the newsroom, and the other half will probably buy Apple Mac and other typesetting systems over the next few years. Television is similarly well-equipped; over half the TV news operations use computer chip CCD-type cameras rather than older model tube cameras.
And yet, radio, with its vast audience, is paradoxically the least developed. Many radio news programs lack even rudimentary editing and recording equipment, even in the most advanced countries, such as Costa Rica and El Salvador. Only a few are using newsroom computers. Many lack even typewriters and tape recorders. Equipment shortages are especially severe in rural areas and in re-emerging organizations in Panama (and by second-hand accounts, in Nicaragua).
The discrepancy in development levels between types of media also shows in the regional structure of news distribution networks. Television stations often have access to videotape of important events in other Central American countries through network news services, especially Cable News Network, which serves by default as an unofficial broadcast union. Newspapers, of course, have the wire services for regional reporting. But radio news exchanges from country to country are rare, and only a few individual stations share reports of the most important events through costly, low-quality phone lines.
Overall, this represents a worsening in the quality of radio news in Central America. Fifteen years ago, radio news was shared throughout Central America by about 80 radio stations. The network, called the Servicio Centroamericano de Noticias (SERCANO), used telephone microwave relays throughout the region. But the political upheavals of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and heavy-handed censorship, relegated SERCANO to sports and, eventually, oblivion.
However, there is a significant new opportunity to revive the SERCANO radio news network. The arrival of relative stability in Central America now removes the political blocks to regional news dissemination, and a group of radio station news directors and owners are meeting to begin discussions of costs and options.
Several respondents suggested that this network might be part of a regional satellite-linked radio and television network, and that it was high time Central American media began considering its own broadcasting union. A full systems analysis for such an exchange network is needed, but a basic review of some options is offered in a discussion of broadcast infrastructure in this paper. The basic problems involve the high cost of video transfer, the lack of digitized telephone switching and the critical role of the not always sympathetic government postal, telephone and telegraph agencies (or PTTs).
Improving radio is important because television and daily newspapers are expensive for people whose annual incomes hover between $700 and $2000. TV and newspapers can’t reach most people, and statistics show it plainly. For example, the average Central American uses 20 times less newsprint than the average US resident. Guatemalans have 26 television sets per thousand people, compared to about 800 in the United States. In human terms, the statistics mean that most people who want to see a soccer game on TV have to join the crowds standing on the sidewalk in front of store windows.
Virtually everyone has a radio, or at least a friend or a relative with one. However, statistics on radio ownership are totally contradictory and under-representative. For exam ple, three of the most important statistical sources put radio penetration in Costa Rica at only 40 percent of the population while the U.S. Information Service puts it at 95 percent. In Panama, television penetration has been estimated as higher than radio. This is, of course, nonsense, but it leads to an interesting question: Has the apparent lack of appreciation for the mass nature of the radio medium deflected attention from potential advertisers? In Guatemala, for example, less than one-sixth of the advertising revenues go to radio, with the rest evenly split between television and newspapers. Yet neither media reach more than 10 percent of the country’s population.
Solutions to equipment shortages in radio and rural newspapers are complex. Surplus press equipment for rural newspapers is readily available, and could be donated (or purchased in a glutted market) through U.S. universities or a recently proposed clearinghouse connected with the Center for Foreign Journalists. Surplus broadcasting equipment appears to be in short supply, and the market for used equipment is relatively tight. One approach toward broadcast development might be a “sister publication” or “sister station” effort linking U.S. broadcasters with those in Central America.
In addition to equipment problems, many editors pointed to training problems during the survey, including the narrow range of hands-on training in universities, the lack of resources for pressmen and photo-mechanical trades, and the lack of attention to middle management support groups in advertising and circulation.
Although training programs for journalists have been expanded, the channel for training auxillary personnel, for material aid to specific news organizations, and for aid to regional news networks is at present undeveloped. Yet the need for development aid in both directions is crystal clear to many Central American journalists. “It cost us a lot to get democracy in Central America,” said Rolando Angulo Zeldon, director of Radioperiodicos Reloj in Costa Rica. “We need to fight to conserve it. We need intercommunication.”
OVERVIEW OF CENTRAL AMERICAN NEWS MEDIA TECHNOLOGY
Central America’s central city daily newspaper and television media exists in a competitive market and delivers news through an adequate, if not always sophisticated, technological system. Technical problems and severe equipment shortages continue to plague the less developed media, such as radio and rural newspapers.
Table I gives a descriptive overview of the media in Central America, pulling together diverse sources and some information from this survey. Note that the number of radio receivers has been seriously under-represented in United Nations and trade statistics. The table shows that newspaper circulation is growing slightly but the number of daily newspapers printed continues to decline. This long term trend holds true from 1965 and is typical of both South America and the United States as well.
Table I
OVERVIEW OF CENTRAL AMERICA’S NEWS MEDIA
COSTA RICA — Population 2.97 million (UN/89)
Television stations: 7, with 5 operating organizations (WRTVH/89)
Television receivers: 200,000 (UN/85); 470,000 (WRTVH/89)
Radio stations: 73 mw,18 sw, 49 operating organizations (WRTVH/89)
Radio receivers: 220,000 (UN/85); 253,000 (WRTVH/89)**
Daily newspapers: 5; circulation 337,000 (CFJ/90)
Daily newspapers: (WP/82) 6; circulation 210,000
Newsprint imports: 11,291 metric tons at $5.7 million (UN/85)
Printing machinery imports: $3.6 million (UN/81-85 annual average)
Telecommunications imports: $28 million (UN/81-84 annual average)
EL SALVADOR — Population 5.66 million
Television stations: 5, with 4 operating organizations
Television receivers: 350,000 (UN/89); 425,000 (WRTVH/89)
Radio stations: 83 mw, 45 operating organizations
Radio receivers: 1.9 million (UN/85) 1.94 million (WRTVH/89)
Daily newspapers: 6; circulation 307,000 (CFJ/’90)
Daily newspapers: (WP/82) 13; circulation not available
Newsprint imports: 13,000 metric tons at $6.9 million
Printing machinery imports: $2.6 million (81-85 annual average)
Telecommunications imports: $17.8 million (81-85 annual average)
GUATEMALA — Population 8.76 million
Television stations: 5, with 5 operating organizations
Television receivers: 207,000 (UN/85); 470,000 (WRTVH/89)
Radio stations: 95 mw, 16 sw, 96 operating organizations
Radio receivers: 350,000 (UN/85); 407,000 (WRTVH/89) **
Note: USIS estimate of 95% penetration = minimum 1.5 million
Daily newspapers: 5; circulation: 208,000 (CFJ/90)
Daily newspapers: 8 (WP/82) circulation: 194,000
Newsprint imports: 13,548 metric tons at $6.96 million
Printing machinery imports: N/A
Telecommunications imports: $19.9 million (82-85 annual average)
HONDURAS — Population 5.65 million
Television stations: 11, with 6 operating organizations
Television receivers: 280,000 (UN/85); 140,000 (WRTVH/89) **
Radio stations: 175 mw, 6 sw, 112 operating organizations
Radio receivers: 1.6 million (UN/85); 1.8 million (WRTVH/89)
Daily newspapers: 4; circulation: 145,000
Daily newspapers: 6 (WP/82) circulation: 130,000
Newsprint imports: 5,000 metric tons at $2.5 million (1985)
Printing machinery imports: $ 2.1 million (82-85 annual average)
Telecommunications imports: $15.5 million (82-85 annual average)
PANAMA — Population 2.29 million
Television stations: 9, with 6 operating organizations
Television receivers: 350,000 (UN/85); 475,000 (WRTVH/89)
Radio stations: 85 mw, 59 operating organizations
Radio receivers: 400,000 (UN/85) 429,000 (WRTVH/89) **
Daily newspapers: 5; circulation 188,000 (CFJ/May 1990)
Daily newspapers: 6 (WP/82) aggregate circulation: 136,000
Newsprint imports: 6,785 metric tons at $2.8 million (1984)
Printing machinery imports: $4.2 million (82-85 annual average)
Telecommunications imports: $35.7 million (82-85 annual average)
** Highly suspect data; USIS surveys contradict low radio unit estimates. Most Central American nations have 90 to 100 percent radio saturation and at least one radio in every household, according to USIS and other observers.
Sources for Table I:
WRTVH: World Radio & TV Handbook, 1989 (Amsterdam: Billboard, 1989)
E&P: Editor & Publisher 1989 Yearbook (New York: E & P, 1989)
WP: World Press Encyclopedia, (New York: Facts on File, 1982)
UN: United Nations Trade Statistics Yearbook (New York, UN1987)
UN: Statistical Abstract of Latin America (Los Angeles: UCLA, 1989)
CFJ: Center for Foreign Journalists/ Central American Journalism Program 1990
Table II
RADIO, TELEVISION AND NEWSPAPER STATISTICS:
(Best Available Sources)
Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Panama
Population 2,970,000 5,500,000 8,700,000 5,650,000 2,900,000
Radios * 606,000 3,000,000 6,000,000 1,874,000 567,000
Televisions 470,000 425,000 425,000 140,000 475,990
Newspapers 337,000 307,000 208,000 145,000 188,000
Sources:
Population: United Nations / Statistical Abstract of Latin America
* Radios: In units, unpublished estimates by US Information Service based on penetration by household, except Honduras, from WRTVH. Penetration estimates for the entire population may be more appropriate in the more developed nations. Discussion of statistical reporting problems is included in a brief endnote to this paper.
Television: In units, World Radio and TV Handbook, 1989
Newspapers: In circulation units, Center for Foreign Journalists / Central American Journalism Project, 1990
SURVEY OF THE CENTRAL AMERICAN NEWS MEDIA
Findings detailed in the following sections on newspapers, television and radio are the result of a five country on-site survey performed during the months of April and May, 1990. The survey was performed by the Center for Foreign Journalists for the Central American Journalism Program of Florida International University and is identified in charts and some references as: (CFJ/CAJP,1990).
Media organizations for the survey were identified both by published sources, such as the World Press Encyclopedia, Editor and Publisher yearbook and the World Radio and Television Handbook, and by sources with first hand knowledge of each country’s media. Central American editors and journalism educators were extremely helpful, as was
the Central American Journalism Program’s office in Costa Rica. The project also consulted with press officers in US embassies. Also helpful in identifying important radio news outlets among the chaos of the airwaves were discussions with vendors in markets, cab drivers, nuns, bartenders, and other average people.
The survey attempted to interview editors or assistant editors of every major Central American news organization (excluding wire services and foreign media), and this goal was reached. Interviews were conducted with editors of 25 daily newspapers, 15 television news organizations, 13 major radio news organizations, and 7 weekly newspapers. The 50 news organizations represented here make up over 95 percent of Central America’s working press. One television station and one radio station in El Salvador were not included in the survey because they refused repeated requests for interviews. Several television stations without news programs and many hundreds of radio stations without their own news programs were omitted from the survey.
Daily Newspapers
The 25 daily newspapers surveyed were generally well-equipped, with about half using newsroom computer systems and all but two using computerized typesetting equipment. In only one case (Prensa Libre in Guatemala) were linotype machines still in operation, and this was out of consideration for senior pressroom employees rather than due to any lack of computerized typesetting equipment. Even the least profitable dailies have web offset presses rather than letterpresses, although some are far past their prime and deliver a poor-quality product. Goss presses predominate, although several large organizations use Harris presses.
The most pressing technical problem for Central American daily newspapers involves future equipment purchases. At least 13 of 25 dailies surveyed are still working with typewriters, and about half of these expect to be purchasing some type of newsroom computer system within the next two years. Six others with mainframe systems (especially Atex systems) are in the process of chosing between integrating these systems with personal computer networks or simply replacing the mainframes with personal computers. All said they were much in need of independent technical analyses of newsroom systems.
Table III
CENTRAL AMERICAN DAILY NEWSPAPERS
Average circulation: 49,000
Wire services: ACAN-EFE 18; Associated Press (AP) 14;
DPA (German) 12; Reuters 11;
AFP (French) 7; UPI 6
Newsroom systems: Atex/Mac mix 6; Mac 4; Atex only 1; IBM 1; Typewriters only, 13;
Typesetting in 13
non-computerized dailies: Macintosh 5; Compugraphic 2; Wang 2 (Joint operation); Linotype computer 1, IBM composers 2; “Hot” linotype, 1
Type of press: Goss 14; (community 6; urbanite 7 metroliner 1, letterpress 1); Harris 5;
Color King 1; Fairchild News King 1
Purchase used equipment: Yes 6; No 15
Exchange photos or news
with other regional papers: Yes 4; Rarely 5; No 15
Use computers for:
Graphics Yes 8; No 12; Layout only 4
Library Yes 4; No 15; In progress 3
External databases Yes 1; No 23
Photo screening Yes 1; No 23
Use computer with modem: Yes 3; No 18
Reporters use tape recorders: Yes 19; No 1
Newsroom has fax: Yes 23; No 1
Need market info: Yes; 15 No 6
Central info source useful: Yes 16; No 5
Note: N/A and dont know categories not included. Also, some totals may exceed 25 due to multiple ownership.
Weekly Newspapers
There are dozens of weekly newspapers in Central America, more than could be covered in this survey; the market is volatile, and new publications are constantly replacing older ones. Rather than attempt a random sample, this survey selected seven as representative; a struggling rural weekly, two urban arts weeklies, a TV-based entertainment weekly, a radical political weekly, and two English-language news weeklies.
The seven weeklies employed an average of four people each, had an average circulation of 6,100. Despite the fact that none was relatively well off, the weeklies used newsroom computers in five out of seven cases and had fax machines in four of seven. In only one case was there no computer typesetting. Three had their own laserprinters and used computerized layout programs (e.g., Pagemaker). The others either pasted up by hand or contracted out the pasteup. The TV-based entertainment weekly had its own press and subscribed to wire services; three others received mail services like ACEN-SIAG and IPS, and three used only locally generated copy. The worst equipment (a 25-year-old IBM compositor) was found in the left-wing Noriega-linked political weekly in Panama.
Television News
Central American television newsrooms are undergoing a shift in equipment inventory in the newsrooms, with most looking at computerization of writing and studio-prompter systems. Only three of 16 television stations surveyed currently have newsroom computer systems, but most say they are considering or in the process of buying computers.
About half of the news cameras are relatively late-model CCD types (charge-coupled devices) which use electronic chips instead of video tubes to generate an image. They are much more useful under extremely low or high light conditions. Sony brand cameras predominate by far, with Panasonic a distant second and a few examples of Hitachi and JVC.
Virtually all of the portable news cameras, studio cameras and editing facilities are of “industrial” rather than “professional” grade, even in news operations with large recent investments in equipment (such as Costa Rica’s Channel 4). The savings between the two standards are in the neighborhood of half to two-thirds of the cost. In terms of image quality, industrial grade is not fully acceptable for commercial television in the U.S. but is not so significantly poor as to be a source of concern in Central America. In terms of studio control, industrial quality equipment has generated a number of problems such as high lighting demands, which has led two stations to stop using or to change their studio-prompting systems, with a subsequent lack of quality in the delivery of newscasts.
Also, most television transmitters are relatively new, although a significant number are operating below capacity because of their age. And while almost all television stations receive C-Band satellite transmissions, they are unable to uplink to satellites. Rather, uplinks are facilitated and controlled by government postal, telephone and telegraph agencies (PTTs), such as the Institute Costricena de Electricidad (ICE) in Costa Rica. (The high price of uplinks is discussed under “broadcast infrastructure” in this report. )
Table IV
TELEVISION NEWS ORGANIZATIONS
Number of journalists: 7 to 14 per newsroom
Wire services: ACAN-EFE 9; AFP 2; AP 2; UPI 2
Video services: CNN Telemundo 10 ; Univision 5; ECO 3;
CBS 3, NBC 1, TVE 2
Regional news exchange: Often 5; Rarely 3; Not at all 3; N/A 4
Would use regional exchange: Yes 10; Don’t know 5; none opposed
Writing equipment: Typewriters 11; computers 3; N/A1
Cameras: Sony 8; Panasonic 2; mixed Sony, Panasonic & JVC 1
CCD type cameras: All 7; Half 2; Tube cameras only 4
Editing equipment: Sony editors (5800 & 5850) 8;
others mixed (JVC, Quanta, System 5)
Use computers for graphics: Yes 4; No 6; N/A 5
Have fax in station: Yes 12; no 1; N/A 2
Spare parts: Difficult to obtain, 5; No problem 7
(Difficulties were in Honduras and El Salvador
Electrical service: Few problems 10; Serious problems 1
(Honduran TV station)
Generator on site: Yes 13; No 2
Bought used equipment: Yes 1 (cameras); No 10
Transmitter: 2 Larcan; 2 Itelco; 1 Emcee; 10 N/A
Receiver dish: C-Band 7; N/A 5
Need more information about
equipment markets: Yes 7; No 2; N/A 6
Central source of info
about equipment useful: Yes 6; No 1; N/A 8
Radio News Operations
The status of most radio news operations is technically very poor, despite the predominance of radio as the major source of news for the majority of people in Central America. In most countries, except Guatemala, two or three radio news organizations predominate. Most of these have individual tape recorders for reporters and at least one casette editing system for actualities, although these are rarely of professional quality.
Many of the most advanced radio news organizations exist under conditions that would be considered appalling in the United States. For example, one of Costa Rica’s leading radio news organizations, Radio Reloj, has an 11-person newsroom with typewriters and individual tape recorders but no facilities for editing news tape. The news is broadcast from a conference room with three microphones and a small mixer with four volume controls and two inputs — one for a casette tape recorder and one for the telephone. When actualities are included in the news, the original casette tape is simply cued into position and then run. Obviously, only one cued position is possible per tape. Although the music department of the station does have some production facilities, actualities usually cannot be edited before airtime.
However, even Radio Reloj is relatively well off compared to some. Panamanian Radio KW Continente, which was closed down by the Noriega regime in 1988 and returned to the air in early 1990, got through the first half of 1990with a single tape recorder for 14 reporters, no editing facilities whatsoever and one primitive studio mixer and telephone switcher. One microphone is passed back and forth for studio interviews. And yet Radio Continente is among two or three of the most popular radio news programs in Panama.
Perhaps the most unusual situation exists in Guatemala, where independent radio news programs proliferate despite the fact that only 55 percent of the population speak Spanish primarily. (The rest are Mayan Indians who speak in 22 dialects). While no news programs exist in Mayan, the competition in Spanish is fierce. Perhaps six major news programs stand out, but the Colegio de Periodistas estimates that 125 to 150 independent radio news organizations rent time from a host of small wattage stations. These independent radio news programs are typically one to three man operations which cannot afford news services other than those given away by embassies. Their equipment inventory usually consists of a tape recorder, a microphone, a typewriter and a telephone. In the northern provinces of Guatemala, several radio stations play pocket tape recorders into microphones.
Table V
RADIO NEW ORGANIZATIONS
Number of journalists: 3 to 14; average of 7
News Services: ACAN-EFE 10; AP 3; AFP 3; AP 2; UPI 1
Most used free services such as USIS, DPA
Three of 13 major radio stations purchased
no wire services.
Exchange news in region: Yes (occasionally) 6; Rarely 2; No 2; n/a 3
Want regional exchange: Yes 10; 3 n/a; none opposed
Computers in newsroom: One or two computers 4; None 9
(Virtually all radio journalists use typewriters, while some editors use computers
Reporters & tape recorders: All surveyed have one per reporter except Panama (2); rural stations also share tape recorders when they are available.
Predominant brands: GE, Sony, Panasonic casette
(personal to industrial quality; almost no professional grade used)
Editing equipment: Akai, Rusco, Sanyo (personal and industrial grade equipment predominates)
Station has fax: Yes 5; No 5; Don’t know 2
Difficulty buying equip: Yes 2; No 8; n/a 3
Difficulty with electricity: Yes 4 (Honduras & El Salvador); No 6
(Costa Rica & Panama); n/a 3
Station has generator: Yes 5; Batteries only 3; No backup 2; n/a 2
Types of transmitters: Gates 2, Contel, Collins 2 , Syntronic, Marti
Need more info about
equipment markets: Yes 7; No 3; Don’t know 3
Central source of info
about equipment useful: Yes 3; No 5; Don’t know 5
PRINTING INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES
As Central American newspaper publishers plan to purchase a new generation of typesetting and press equipment, one of the wisest investments that could be made would be to improve access to information about media equipment. Although some large newspapers have access to adequate written information (subscribing to the Seybold Report, Printers Age, Publisher’s Auxilliary and Editor & Publisher) even they appear to have problems planning for and selecting equipment.
One case in point is La Nacion of Costa Rica, the largest newspaper in the region. Both the Harris press system and the Atex computer system have been plagued with glitches over the years, employees at La Nacion have said. Color registration shifts, blurs and other problems because of delicate blanket height adjustments on the Harris have tested the resourcefulness of the staff.
The spaghetti tangle of computer systems branching off and back to the Atex system are another type of problem faced not only by La Nacion but also at a half dozen other Central American newspapers. Frequently, Apple Mac and IBM systems used by art or business departments that do not usually need direct access to the daily paper. But sometimes files need to be transferred from one area to another. Until recently, the Atex system was incompatible with Macs and IBM PCs except on the ASCII level, and even then, some of the Spanish language characteristics disappear. The character which appears over an n, the accent over some vowels, and other characters simply do not translate back into the Mac from the Atex. Information graphics, where the editor with an Atex terminal sends copy to the artist’s Mac, is an example of areas where problems appeared.
Atex has recently been working on compatibility with many systems. Atex is strongly promoting its links with IBM, but in Central America, virtually all Atex users need links to Macs. On the horizon is MAUI, the new interface with Mac being developed at Atex. MAUI will allow Macs to read 8-bit characters despite their 7-bit character base, according to Atex experts.
Software to translate Apple Mac PostScript laser printing instructions for the Atex photo-printing system is also being developed, although there is some debate about the need for it. Some newspapers will continue to use personal laser printers, but these are slower than the1200 line per minute photo compositors. Whether this slows the volume of copy on deadline in a significant way, and whether the higher cost of the photo compositors is justified by the small bottleneck, is a point of disagreement among some editors. Detailed analysis is needed here.
The lack of up to date software translations from English to Spanish is another infrastructure problem. Pagemaker 1.2, for example, was one of the first versions of the program and has many problems. Those using the program were relieved in 1987 when the 3.0 version was available. And yet, by 1990, only the 1.2 version was available in Spanish. Because of the very long delays in translating software programs, newsrooms use English language software in most personal computers. This is not a major technical problem in the sense that it keeps employees from doing their jobs, but it does point to Latin America’s generic problem of having to adapt to the technology rather than having the technology serve Latin America.
It is important to consider technological issues on a theoretical level, and to begin looking at technical issues through the optic of Central and Latin American needs rather than that of the industrial nations with their ethic of automatic progress. Without slighting many of the fine efforts of some Latin American press organizations, it should be noted that most technical information is simply being translated and put forward uncritically. This old model of technology transfer — automatic adoption of “modern” innovation — was discarded long ago in most other fields.
A good case in point involves a lecture at the American Newspaper Publishers Association technical conference in Las Vegas in June of 1990. An ANPA researcher presented a paper on progress in automating the mailroom of the newspaper, providing evidence that the entire process will soon be accomplished without the need for a single human hand to touch a single newspaper. When automation is based on cheap capital and expensive labor, this might make perfect sense. However, even large metro dailies like the Baltimore Sun feel the capital costs of mailroom automation exceed the expenses of continued human labor. And clearly, the case in Latin America is that of expensive capital and cheap labor.
Automation is only one of the issues in journalism technology that need to be examined more critically from the Latin American standpoint. Others might include the possibilities for recycling and other environmental issues; small-scale paper production (possibly from kenaf); laserprinters versus photo compositors (as mentioned above); optimal networking; and Spanish language databases, among many others.
BROADCASTING INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES
Need for networking
Developing the facilities and the network for a region-wide exchange of broadcast news programs is one of the most important technical issues facing Central American journalists. Similar networks have been organized by broadcasting unions in Europe, the Caribbean, Asia and the Middle East for exchanging sports, news, cultural and entertainment programming. They are often backed by governments, or given preferential rates through public telephone and telegraph organizations (PTTs), because they tend to promote regional unity and identity instead of reliance on commercial programming from industrialized nations.
The situation in Central America is complicated by a variety of organizations which have components of a broadcast union’s function but diffuse authority. These include:
1) The Organizacion de Televisores Iboamericano (OTI) based in Mexico City, which carries sports and entertainment programming over Intelsat and Panamsat. At present it does not carry news exchanges.
2) The Associacion Internacional de Radiodifusadoras (AIR) based in Montevideo, Uruguay, a broadcast union concerned with political, technical and legal issues. For example, OTI coordinated international legal action following the outright seizure of television and radio stations by the Noriega government in Panama. OTI members include broadcast trade associations of each country as well as some commercial broadcast groups.
3) The Caribbean Broadcast Union (CBU), is composed mainly of commercial and government broadcasting organizations serving English-speaking nations in the Caribbean. The CBU is independent but members also belong to AIR and OTI.
4) The Associacion de Televisores de Centroamerica y Panama (ATELCAP) is an independent trade association of commercial television stations which addresses some legal and regulatory concerns and provides a forum for discussion.
Also, each of the six Central American nations has several organizations, some quasi-governmental, for journalists and radio broadcasters, such as the Camera de Periodistas in Costa Rica.
Most activities typical of broadcast unions, including news exchanges and research, have been a low priority amid the chaos that characterized Central America affairs in the 1980s. Today, it is not clear whether Central American broadcasters would prefer ATELCAP, OTI or a separate union like the CBU for program exchanges in news and related areas. Nor is it clear what role the journalists organizations might play.
As an additional complication, radio and television broadcast exchanges, as well as trade organizations, have been historically separate in Central America. However, this separation may well change.
— In the first place, it is typical of broadcast unions to facilitate both radio and television exchanges for economic reasons. The European Broadcasting Union, for example, hosts both the Eurovision and Euroradio exchanges.
— Secondly, the advance of satellite technology now requires radio and television to be considered jointly, since a new generation of low-cost regional satellites has made phone communication a relatively expensive option. This new generation of satellites is also important because Panama has been separate from the rest of Central America in the older Intelsat system.
— Finally, according to respondents to this survey, the best form of exchange would be one where no single country’s political problems could affect any other nation’s access to the exchange. Several radio news directors experienced this problem when communication lines through Nicaragua were cut in 1978.
Existing and previous networks for radio and TV news exchanges
Television news exchanges continue to take place on an ad hoc basis, usually involving major news events or spot news tape. In the survey of 15 television news directors, five said they were often involved in informal exchanges of news footage with other television stations. Three more said they occasionally exchanged news reports, three said they did not, and four were unsure. A similarly high rate of informal spot news exchange was found among radio stations with major news programs.
Live coverage of important events, such as the tranfers of power in Nicaragua and Costa Rica in 1990, has been widely available in Central America through CNN’s Telemundo network. By far the region’s largest commercial news network, CNN often serves the function of a broadcast union by default. However, a significant percentage of TV stations that use CNN footage are using it without authorization. CNN has threatened to scramble its signal, and in the future perhaps one third of the region’s TV stations will be cut offf from what is now the major source of regional television news programming.
In radio broadcasting, two phone-linked news exchanges which collapsed in the early 1980s are now the focus of renewed interest. One was the Servicio Centroamericano de Noticias (SERCANO), which had an estimated 80 members throughout Central America. The second was a somewhat smaller network called the Organizacion Internacional de Radio (OIR), which overlapped in time, membership and function with SERCANO.
Both networks produced a one-half hour country-by-country news roundup every weekday. Both used telephone lines for pooling individual reports and then sending out the daily half-hour package to network members. Costs were shared by members, who received wholesale rates from the national PTTs.
Censorship problems arose in 1978 over demonstrations against the Nicaraguan government in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Samoza government of Nicaragua simply cut the transmission, affecting not only Nicaraguan stations but also those in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Censorship from both extremes of the political spectrum was common in the late 1970s, and the network became almost exclusively sport-oriented in its later years. Finally, microwave relays became targets during the “Contra” war on the Honduras – Nicaragua border, and the exchange programs collapsed in the early 1980s.
Reviving the SERCANO network is high on the priority list of the region’s radio broadcasters. Costa Rica’s Radio Relox director Rolando Angulo Zeldon said: “It cost us a lot to get democracy in Central America and we need to fight to conserve it. We can’t lose it. We need inter-communication.” When Oscar Arias stepped down from the presidency of Costa Rica in May of 1990, “no Central American radio could transmit the program.” But radio listeners in the US, from California to Florida, could hear it, Zeldon said with a trace of irony.
Groups of editors have been meeting to study costs and approaches to various PTTs and potential network members. The strongest radio news stations in the region who would probably contribute the most to the effort include:
Radio Relox, CRN, Monumental and Nacional in Costa Rica
Radio America and HRN in Honduras
Radio Salinas, Guatemala Flash and Radio Prensa in Guatemala
Radio RPC and KW Continente in Panama
Radio Sonora and YSKL in El Salvador
Existing Caribben networks
The cost of operating a SERCANO-type radio network or a television news exchange varies tremendously according to discounts offered by PTTs for telephone lines or satellite links. Two Caribbean systems — CANA and the CBU — provide interesting examples that may be instructive for Central America.
The Caribbean American News Association (CANA), headquartered in Barbados, sends a 15-minute afternoon radio news roundup of the Caribbean region to 24 members. The roundup is produced and directed by CANA, unlike many broadcast union system that open a network for”round robin” member exchanges. National PTTs route the broadcast, like any phone call between the islands, by satellite. Quality of the transmission is usually good, and is sometimes improved when long distance land lines are used by employing devices which filter and boost digital signals. Digital switching networks are needed throughout the entire circuit for broadcast- quality voice transmission devices to operate through telephone lines. Digital switching is common in the Caribbean but not Central America.
Telephone costs are 90 percent of CANA radio’s budget, and distribution cost is the largest item, according to radio news director Wendy Thompson. The agency pays around $230,000 per year to PTTs for leasing phone lines for the 15-minute nightly program, with an average charge of $1.75 per minute for each CANA subscriber. Costs vary widely from less than $1 to Curacao to $4 per minute to the Bahamas; all are charged at wholesale rates. In contrast, U.S. long distance rates are in the neighborhood of 30 to 50 cents per minute.
The second news network in the Caribbean is the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), which has a 15 minute daily television exchange via Intelsat satellite. Four countries are regular participants — Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, and Curacao. The exchange, like the European Broadcast Union’s Eurovision, works on a “round-robin” basis, where television stations from various countries take turns uplinking news reports to the satellite. Other members record the broadcast (downlink) and wait their turns to uplink. Scheduling the short CBU transponder time slot is arranged by telephone between news directors before each day’s exchange.
Costs run about $140,000 per year (or $35,000 each) for the news exchange, according to the CBU. This rate is extremely low, or about $155 per hour, and far lower than the price CANA pays for telephone lines relative to the volume of information transmitted. *
CANA’s high phone rates may not be acceptable for a renewed SERCANO network, although the rates could be higher or lower than the Caribben depending on PTTs in each country, who will clearly have a major role in defining the economic and technological parameters of the network.
One reason CANA is able to use telephone service for high-quality broadcast signals is the replacement of “analog” switches in telephone substations throughout the Caribbean with digital switches. (These are the two basic electronic audio technologies that are the basis of LP records on the one hand and Compact Disc players on the other. Analog signals have far less resolution and clarity than digital signals).
According to AT & T’s Miami office, all Central American telephone networks do have some digital switching and it would probably be possible to route a digital network throughout the six Central American nations. However, there appears to be no listing for digital services between the countries — services like Acunet and Datapath, which is used by PBS for correspondent reports and network feeds. (see Appendix for description of Datapath).
Using telephone networks for interactive radio transmission may be a somewhat more expensive proposition in the long run than satellite networks, but the expense would be paid in monthly telephone bills rather than up-front earth station costs. Ultimately, the problem of which system will cost more or less is one which must be decided by the tariffs set by each nations’ PTTs.
AT&T has been experimenting with video transmission between Miami and Caracas, Venezuela in an effort to overcome some of the problems inherent in a partly digital / partly analog system. Apparently, clear television signals have been sent through long distance copper lines that have both digital and analog switching segments. The picture was not quite broadcast quality, but it does not appear impossible to achieve high quality signals through the hybrid systems now in place around the Caribbean, an AT&T spokesman said.
However, until the question of broadcast quality through hybrid systems is resolved, or until fiber optic cables and digital switching is commonplace around the Caribbean basin and Central America, television signals will continue to be transmitted through satellite systems.
The Changing Satellite System and Central America
The international satellite system began a revolution in the 1980s when new players with new technology at far lower costs entered a system dominated by the Intelsat monopoly since the 1960s. As a result, opportunities for specialized applications in regional systems that were once too expensive are quickly coming within reach. Broadcast exchanges between countries are a frequently cited example of specialized applications.
The challenges are coming from groups like the Pan American Satellite Corp., with a satellite covering all of South and Central America and the Caribbean; Morelos, the Mexican satellite which also covers the Caribbean and Central America; and several other groups planning to launch satellites in the coming years. These satellites can be used for video through large channels or voice or data transmission through narrow channels.
Another type of satellite intended to assist Third World development efforts, PacSat, was launched by the European Space Agency in 1990 for packet radio communications, which involves low-cost radio (rather than microwave dish) links between computers through radio-receptive and broadcasting satellites.
None of these developments should be confused with direct one-way broadcasting of TV and radio programs from space to one-meter domestic dishes, which has become commonplace in Europe and Japan, although controversial for the Third World.
As is evident in the CANA / CBU cost discrepancy, the role of the PTTs is the largest cost factor in the choice between telephone and satellite transmission networks. Whether the PTTs charge a standard wholesale rate or a heavily discounted rate for regional new exchanges is a political decision which will have a major bearing on how Central American nations are able to arrange a broadcast exchange. The cost differential between the CBU and current PTT rates from Central America gives a further illustration of the importance of PTT ratemaking.
While the CBU is charged less than $150 per hour for Intelsat access on preferential contract rates from Caribbean PTTs, the Central American PTTs charge from about $2,500 in Costa Rica to $4,000 (part payable in cash) in Nicaragua, according to Cable News Network satellite managers. This is above and beyond the approximately $650 per hour contract price charged by Intelsat itself; PTT charges are frequently based not on need but on what the market will bear. However, telephone circuits, and not broadcast news, are the main source of revenue for PTTs.
PTTs worldwide are under increasing pressure to reduce ground segment charges to all non-telephone users because of a new approach to regional satellites which can take advantage of more powerful electronics at the satellite level to provide much lower cost uplinking and very low-cost downlinking at the user end.
For instance, the Intelsat network uses 15-meter standard “A” microwave dishes that have delicate electronic tracking devices. They cost from $1 to $3 million. In contrast, Panamsat and Morelos use 7-meter uplinks that cost $250,000 or less and dowlinks of garden-variety home satellite dishes costing $3,000 or less. The average electronics technican can set up and aim the home dishes without special training.
Satellite transponder rates for Panamsat are slightly higher than Intelsat, but substantial savings are possible in ground segment costs. Also, the regional satellites provide the potential for much greater flexibility in broadcast news and other networks.
The reason the older Intelsat system is so expensive is that it operates on strong ground signals rather than strong space-based transponders. This technical approach made sense in the 1970s, since it cut the cost of putting satellites in space. However, in the 1990s, with new generations of more powerful electronics available, ground stations could become more flexible, allowing a decentralization away from PTT control.
Technically, Panamsat can easily bypass Central America’s PTTs. Legally it can not. At present, despite negotiations, no agreements for operations in Central America have been completed, and no Panamsat uplink is licensed to operate in any Central American country. In Argentina, Peru, Brazil and Chile, Panamsat recently replaced microwave links between the studio and rural repeater stations for five commercial television companies. The companies have also begun to informally share news and locally generated programming through Panamsat.
Overall, the obstacles facing Central American broadcasters before a news exchange can be developed are formidable. Most important is getting the PTTs to agree on the best option with the lowest cost, not only with the broadcasters, but also among each of the six nations. Satellite companies say the Central American PTTs have not been willing to let go of their monopolies on uplinks and central transmitting stations. But the recent deregulation of telecommunication in Venezuela probably points the way to a deregulation of the entire market at some point.
Central American broadcasters must decide on an organizational format; perform a systems analysis and decide on a preferred technological approach that allows future growth; get help from PTTs in an unstable political and regulatory climate; get the PTTs to work together; and finance the system. This is not to say that the network is not possible. It is perfectly feasible, but many long hours around conference tables will be required.
HARDWARE TRANSFER: A Global Dilemma
In Guatemala, Quetzaltenango’s weekly newspaper editor asks which aid program can help struggling journalists obtain equipment.
In Panama, a radio station director asks who could send tape recorders and studio equipment to help rebuild a station that dared to expose Noriega corruption — and is now devastated.
Similarly, the president of the Polish Journalists Association appeals to US publishers: “We need your worn-out yet working small printing machines.” Over 500 newspapers could be started there, he estimates.
In the USSR, journalism students from Moscow University write to Editor & Publisher magazine inquiring how they can apply for a donated printing press and join the worldwide struggle for freedom.
In Washington DC, the editor of a small African newspaper asks a training seminar leader where he can get help in replacing a press that has been destroyed by a mob.
Dozens of similar requests, all in 1990, could illustrate a worldwide need for media equipment aid. At the moment, there are no good answers to questions about where journalists in developing situations can go for help. This is a significant issue for at least two reasons:
1) Communications development has been seen as at least part of the response to the New World Information Order debate; and
2) New calls for hardware assistance stem from a recently heightened appreciation for the role of communications technology in emerging democracies of Eastern Europe.
New World Communications Needs
The New World Information Order debate revolved around, on the one hand, perceptions of “cultural imperialism” and news coverage dominated by the values of developed nations, and on the other, perceptions of authoritarian tendenceis on the part of would-be media regulators.
Both sides in the debate have been criticised for the absence of concrete steps toward media development. Assistance in news media development is critical, and needs to take place “with due respect given to journalists who exhibit integrity and the spirit to fight for journalistic freedom in the Third World.” (Heize, Aug. 1987, quoting Suthichai Yoon.)
The U.S. Agency for International Development and other public agencies seemed to take some of this message to heart. “At the outset, it is essential that a program be initiated which will aid developing countries to improve their communications facilities,” said Leonard H. Marks, a U.S. representative to international telecommunications conferences. “They need more telephones, more broadcast equipment, more printing presses and the people to operate them.” (Marks, 1986)
Beginning in 1985, as information policy issues were recognized as one of the major arenas of international relations, the US began “boldly engaging in bilateral [projects] in telecommuni-cations around the world.” (Haule, 1989). By 1988, US government communications development assistance had reached $504 million per year, most of this for loans and loan guarantees for satellite ground stations and other telecommunications facilities to Third World nations. (Dept. of State, 1989).
In contrast, the US response has been weak in terms of hardware for broadcasting and printing. The1989 Department of State survey of government, trade and private voluntary efforts turned up only three organizations dealing with communications hardware shipments to the Third World: Volunteers in Technical Assistance, the World Press Freedom Committee, and the Global Technology Development Foundation. WPFC has been able to ship some hardware in a few cases, but has other priorities. VITA has a longstanding “used factories” program but this has not included factories to date. GTDF no longer exists, and its mission to send donated computers to the Third World was hopelessly confused from the outset. Clearly, better coordination is needed.
The Essential Hardware of Freedom
Communications technology has always been a major influence in in global affairs, but its current influence is unprecedented. The most recent case in point involves the peaceful transformation of Eastern Europe, where the irrelevance of iron curtains to new communications technology was fully appreciated.
“Fax machines, television, radio, satellite decoders, personal computers and sophisticated telephone systems — all of these are now the essential hardware of freedom,” said former BBC director David Webster of the Annenberg Center. Webster urged that the U.S. “help the people of Eastern Europe be a modern information society with its consequent diffusion of information and therefore power.”
Solidarity leader Lech Walesa also talks about a new concept of social change, driven not by ideology but by communications, by (as Walesa said) “computers, satellites and TV which present alternative solutions.”
The question naturally arises as to whether the reverse of the thesis is also true. Does a lack of mass communication tend to create antipathies and hatred in the same way that exposure to mass communication broke the barriers between east and west Europe? Is Lerner’s “empathy” princlple at work? Although the question was not included in the formal portion of the survey, all Central American journalists who were asked the question responded affirmatively about a communications effect.
“Definitely, yes,” said Alvarado Bezble, dean of the Department of Communications at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala. “The lack of communications contributed in a great degree” to the violent course of events in Guatemala and El Salvador over the past two decades. Rolando Angulo, Director of Radio Reloj in San Jose, Costa Rica, also agreed, and added: “It cost us a lot to get democracy in Central America. We need to fight to conserve it. We can’t lose it. We need intercommunication.”
Considerations in technology transfer and communications
Over the past two decades, communications development has focused primarily on critical problems in the content of mass media for development: educational curricula, agricultural extension and health care projects through the mass media. Not much attention has been paid to the physical transfer of hardware and the question of what is appropriate in various settings.
Some broad parameters should be considered. For starters, technology transfer is often described in three phases:
- Simply importing new materials — seeds, machines, techniques.
- Transferring designs — blueprints, formulas, books, etc.
- Transferring scientific knowledge and capacity to create locally adapted technology from foreign prototypes, especially through extended personal contact between experts. (Ruttan and Hayami, 1973).
This is basically a linear model of modernization. The assumption was simply that the undeveloped world would have better standards of living by adopting Western social systems and ideas wholesale. The media allowed people to envision alternatives, to “empathize,” as part of the beneficial passing of traditional agrarian society (Lerner, 1955).
This modernization idea was hotly challenged by “dependistas” who saw it as a technique for maintaining the Third World in a state of dependence. (Rogers, 1987). Their views led to calls for restricting the western media and the establishment of the New World Information Order.
Although agreeing that there were problems, two relatively recent schools of thought from the Third World have more or less rejected centralized control of the media. One of these, the culturalists, sought an integration of traditional culture and mass media. (Ugboajah, 1980; Boafo, 1986). Another approach is based on “interdependency” and calls for development journalism and the transfer of appropriate technology in agriculture, industry and communications. (McQuail, 1989).
Obviously, the paradigms underlying any development effort — simple technology transfer, cultural integration or interdependency — will have direct impacts on the nature of the development program. However, the most important initial recipients of technology assistance, as noted above, are existing journalists who are fighting for journalistic freedom in the Third World.
Their needs will vary considerably. What is appropriate for one group will not apply to another, and the term “appropriate” does not imply backward or necessarily small scale technology. In general, appropriate technology tends to be affordable, labor-intensive, easily understood, sustainable using local resources, and relatively flexible. (Congdon, 1977).
For an individual daily newspaper operation in a developing country, the question of the appropriate technology might involve investments in automated bindery and mailroom machinery versus continuing to use hand labor for stuffing sections of the newspaper together. For a small rural newspaper it might mean acquiring an old offset press, making new bearings at the local machine shop, fixing the rubber blanket with inner tube patches, and fashining a plate burner with an auto headlight and a vaccum cleaner. Such an effort might cost $5,000 or less.
In radio development, appropriate technology would involve equipment simple and cheap enough to be sustained by local efforts. This is not to say that every herdsman should learn when and why and how to change RF tubes or adjust frequency settings. But the opposite extreme can also be avoided — the situation in which a donor country spends hundreds of thousands or even a million dollars on a single radio station, and then decides that the station has become too expensive to support on a long-term basis. Several communities have confronted such situations, only to find themselves unable to support the expensive machinery that had been dropped in their midst.
In contrast, the Clearinghouse on Development Communication reported in 1989 that low-watt FM radio stations could be cobbled together for $1,000 to $10,000. Used equipment brokers advertise complete commercial radio facilities for as little as $50,000.
Thus, criteria for appropriate technology in an overall media development effort for Central America would involve the following:
- Radio:
1) A major focus on this medium as having by far the broadest audience.
2) Development of channels for exchange of news throughout the region along the SERCANO model or possibly in a Central American Broadcast Union.
3) Spanish-language technical information resources;
4) Technical assistance for community-level and rural radio enterprises through volunteer programs.
5) Arrangements for equity stake loans of equipment, donations of used equipment or sister-station programs.
- Newspapers:
1) Focus on community level and regional newspapers
2) Reduced cost wire services to low-circulation subscribers
3) Arrangements for equity stake loans of equipment or donations of used equipment to community level and regional newspapers.
4) Development of technical information resources, especially regarding computers and Spanish language desktop publishing programs;
5) Studies of relative capital and labor costs in larger newspaper operations;
- Universities and overall training
1) Seek out used typewriters, computers and broadcasting equipment in the U.S. for immediate donation to major universities;
2) Develop a center for professional level Central American communications training and research
3) Develop training for advanced computer applications and for support functions such as advertising, accounting and circulation management.
Table VI
Overall procedure in transferring used equipment:
A number of steps must be taken before the first press is loaded onto the first pallet, assuming that a donor has been located through advertising, a printing trade group, a professional association, or publicity for the project.
1) Assessment: what kind of condition is the equipment in? Is it currently running? If not, what would it take to fix it? Will the donor perform the repairs?
2) Value: how much can or should be deducted for the equipment from donor’s taxes? Has it been depreciated, and what was the original salvage value claimed? If not, can an assessor determine the value? How can the donor make the most out of the donation?
3) Financing: Assuming that the equipment is complex enough to warrant US training and yet destined for groups without much money, which foundations or industry organizations could meet the transportation and training costs for the Third World technicians coming to the US? Which could meet costs of transportation either to commercial freight centers or AID development flights?
4) Planning for Transportation: How should the equipment be transported? On pallets or in containers? What regulations govern the kinds of materials to be transported with the equipment? Are solvents and other items unwanted on planes or ships available in the recipient country?
5) Who will be the recipient and where is the equipment going? Does the recipient have any funds to invest in sending employees for training to the US? On what basis (outright grant, purchase, joint venture or vendor financing) will the transaction take place?
6) Delivering the equipment: Who picks up the equipment from the donor and delivers it to the port or airport?
7) Planning for Delivery: How will the equipment clear customs and be delivered once it arrives in the country? (Needs to be pre-cleared and duty paid before Denton Amendment transportation).
8) What will be the impact of the equipment in the recipient country? Will it broaden communication opportunities in a developing country? Or will it centralize power for select groups?
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