Abbreviation CBA | Headquarters London, United Kingdom | |
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Formation 15 February 1945; 72 years ago (1945-02-15) Type Non-governmental non-profit Purpose Representative body for broadcasters Membership 102 members and affiliates | ||
The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) is a representative body for public service broadcasters throughout the Commonwealth, founded in 1945. A not-for-profit non-government organisation, the CBA is funded by subscriptions from 102 members and affiliates from 54 countries. The stated goal of the CBA is to promote best practices in public service broadcasting and to foster freedom of expression. It also serves to provide support and assistance to its members through training, bursaries, consultancies, networking opportunities and materials for broadcast.
The CBA holds a biennial general conference, with the last one held in Glasgow, Great Britain in 2014. It also aims to provide consultancy to member organisations in areas of management and finance and help local organisers who need specialised help in running broadcast-related workshops. In addition it offers a number of bursaries to full-time employees of its member organisations to enhance their skills and knowledge.
History
The CBA traces its roots to a broadcasting conference on 15 February 1945 for Canada, Australia, South Africa, India, Britain and New Zealand. This brought together representatives of the broadcasting organisations that had co-operated closely in reporting the Second World War and was held in the council chamber of Broadcasting House in London.
The title "Commonwealth Broadcasting Association" was adopted in Malta in 1974 as well as the CBA charter. It stipulates that membership "shall be open to publicly owned national public service broadcasting organisations, or groups of such organisations, which are responsible for the planning, production and presentation of broadcast programmes in Commonwealth countries". This was modified in 1995 to allow for membership of commercial companies with a commitment to public service broadcasting and to allow for affiliate membership.