The Role of United Nations’ Radio Stations in Promoting the Culture of Peace & Development in Developing Regions

This study aims to identify the role of United Nations Radio Stations (represented by Maraya Radio in South Sudan) in promoting the culture of peace and development, and to know if this broadcast service contributes to promoting awareness of such concepts. The study uses appropriate descriptive methodology to measure and analyze the characteristics of media content which are related to these concepts. In addition to that, it examines the effect of these concepts on the audience of such a broadcasting service. This is a descriptive study in which the researchers analyzed the content of the programs related to the concepts of peace and development presented by Maraya Radio. The researchers also distributed a questionnaire to the audience of this radio station in South Sudan to know how they are affected by the programs offered at this station. The study examined three programs of Maraya and analyzed them using artificial week method. The findings show that the topics on peace occupied the first position among all topics covered by Maraya with a percentage of (38.5%). The topics on peace also came first in terms of the time allocated for such programs with a percentage of (49%). The content on the theme of “life without conflict” came first among all the content themes broadcasted by Maraya with a percentage of (20.1%), whereas the content related to the theme of ‘enhancing women’s image in society’ came second with a percentage of (15%), followed by the content on the theme ‘encourage to learn’ with a percentage of (11.8%).