Media development organisations
There are two organisations that seek to gather and defend media communication in Honduras, especially for radio and television. From the commercial sector, AMC brings together the major media and radio and television networks and the Asociación Nacional de Radiodifusores de Honduras (National Association of Broadcasters of Honduras - ANARH) which brings together the regional/local media of the commercial sector (regional radio and TV channels and low-power radios).
In the community sector we find two strong movements with different tendencies and approaches to community broadcasting. On the one hand, AMCH brings together 54 radios, three community television stations and various organisations of the Honduran social movements that accompanies the initiatives Community, which make use of the Regulation of Broadcasting for community purposes (2013) but at the same time also accompany Frequency-Free initiatives, especially in indigenous territories that make use of Convention 169 of the OIT.
And on the other hand, the Mesoamerican Movement of Community Radios that includes indigenous and local radio stations that make use of the International Labor Organisation (ILO) agreement and whose approach is not to have any relationship with the state and are unaware of the institutional framework in terms of current community broadcasting, and promote the use of free frequencies. Taking into account the development, the concentration of the media in the oligopolies and the disproportionate distribution of the radio and television frequencies, AMC and ANARH are gather more than 90 percent of the commercial media. In contrast, the AMCH and The Mesoamerican movement of indigenous and popular radio stations captures 0.26 percent of the community radios in Honduras. Here stands out the accompaniment of Radio Progreso, a station of the Jesuits that promotes the articulation and organisation of the media in Honduras.
Cooperation for the development of media in Honduras is still at a starting point. However, a good number of organisations support the media in strengthening their capacities. An interesting finding is that this international cooperation efforts are aimed at strengthening the "independent and community" media that are the most vulnerable given the context in which they operate. Organisations such as the Organisation of the United Nations for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) "direct their efforts in the promotion of independent and pluralistic media that provide quality information, advice on legislation and help rebuild the media infrastructure of the country” (Unesco, 2017). It should be noted that their efforts are also focused on strengthening the quality of journalism and journalistic careers, creating pluralist opinions and encouraging the specialisation of the career.
Meanwhile, organisations such as Article 19, IFEX, AMARC, and others concentrate on offering active solidarity in defense of the freedom of expression and in development of alternative media to the communication models installed in the Honduran media system.