What can be learned from US media assistance? This report from the Center for International Media Assistance examines eight key areas: funding, professional development, higher education, the legal environment, sustainability, media literacy, new media, and monitoring and evaluation. The report asserts that a free media can impact critical areas in society – including education, government accountability, health, and the empowerment of women and minorities. However, it is important to address obstacles such as insufficient funding, unstable legal environments, lack of donor coordination, and problems in sustainability and evaluation.
In the last two decades, independent media assistance has become a significant aspect of the development field, aiming to help countries make democratic transitions, spur economic growth, conduct public health campaigns, and improve government accountability. Efforts to spread a free press have resulted in the professional development of tens of thousands of journalists and the founding of hundreds of new media enterprises.
However, media assistance efforts face a number of challenges. For example, the legal environment may not protect independent journalism and sustainability is often lacking.
- Funding: Most funding for media assistance comes from the US, but support is widely seen as insufficient, uncoordinated, and short-term.
- Professional development: Poor journalistic standards, inadequate research and sourcing, and corruption are key problems in developing countries.
- Workshops, fellowships, guidebooks, distance learning and better university-level courses are some of the avenues for improving professional skills.
- Sustainability: Business skills and a commitment to long-term support are important in media development strategies.
- Media literacy: Training can help citizens to differentiate between reliable and biased information sources and increase support for independent media.
- Monitoring and evaluation: Evaluation techniques vary widely, and no consensus exists on the best approach.
- New media: Critical trends include the impact of citizen journalism, cell phones as news devices, bloggers as journalists, growing online censorship, and shifting business models. While an exciting field, new media will be limited by local conditions and will not replace the need for basic journalism skills.
A holistic approach to media assistance is needed. Change will happen faster if professional development, economic sustainability, the legal enabling environment and media literacy are addressed simultaneously. In addition, a long-term, global, coordinated approach is important. Further recommendations are to:
- Promote media development as its own sector and expand funding.
- Integrate “communication for development”: Issue-specific programs, such as coverage of HIV/AIDS prevention or tax reform, should include more general support for independent media.
- Think locally: The most successful media development efforts emanate from the ground up, using the contextual knowledge of local media professionals.
- Emphasise legal issues: Improving the legal enabling environment should be a higher priority. This should include the passage and enforcement of freedom of information laws, punishment for those who attack journalists, the reform of broadcast regulations and more training for judges and legislators.
- Strengthen media management: Management skills and good business practices should be built into media development programmes. Exit strategies are important in preventing project collapse when external funding ends.
- Improve monitoring and evaluation: More research is needed to find accurate ways to monitor and evaluate media assistance projects.
