Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. Community media in South Africa play a crucial role in providing platforms to foster community engagement and address relevant issues. Post-apartheid media reforms established enabling conditions for the sector so marginalised groups could take up a greater role as citizens.  Through empirical, analytical and theoretical inquiry, the book examines the state of local and community media in print, broadcast and on online platforms. Leading scholars in the field use a range of methods to address seldom-asked questions about the role of the state, local power dynamics, business strategies, content, and human factors. A picture emerges of a sector that has grown significantly, but which continues to be marked and constrained by wider socio-economic inequality. Franz Krüger is Associate Professor in journalism at the NLA Høgskolen in Norway, associate researcher with the Wits Centre for Journalism in Johannesburg and Deputy Press Ombud with the SA Press Council. He was founding director of the Wits Radio Academy as well as head of Wits Journalism. Krüger has published widely on topics ranging from ethics to local and community radio. Sarah H Chiumbu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Johannesburg. She joined the university she was Senior Research Specialist in the Human and Social Development Research Programme at the Human Sciences Research Council. Chiumbu's many books and other publications cover issues in radio, television, decoloniality, youth and others.< Herman Wasserman is Professor of Journalism and Director of the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Widely published, he is Editor-in-Chief of the journal African Journalism Studies. Wasserman is a Fellow of the International Communication Association, an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and a South African National Research Foundation A-rated researcher.