"The present report offers a summary of IPDC’s activities during the current biennium (2022-2023). It provides an overview of important decisions and initiatives of the Council, IPDC projects and the financial situation of the Programme. More detailed information is available in the latest report
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submitted to the IPDC Bureau." (Page 1)
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"A summary of the forthcoming policy paper Greening Africa's news deserts: The search for sustainable local media in sub-Saharan Africa, soon to be published. The policy paper has been written with support from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Fojo Media Institute. It focuses on local and communit
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y media, though several points would apply more broadly." (Footnote, page 1)
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"This strategy paper answers the following question: What can the donors, media NGOs, and the management of professional media both in exile and in Belarus do to maintain the quality and the reach of Belarusian independent journalism?" (Executive summary)
"Fojo’s objective for the strategy period is: Working with partners, we strengthen journalism that contributes to the sustainability of the media and society; safeguards its independence; holds power to account. Based on this objective and our Theory of Change, we have defined four strategic resul
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ts: 1. The further development and dissemination of the concept sustainable journalism; 2. Strengthening the ability of journalists and media producers to produce sustainable journalism; 3. Collaboration with media producers to further develop sustainable economic models; 4. Strengthening Fojo’s internal systems, procedures and specialist competencies and creating a diversified, long-term funding model to implement this strategy. Our expectation is that by the end of the strategy period we will have achieved four strategic results." (Page 11)
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"The present document summarises the background to IPDC's new draft strategic framework, presented at the meeting of the 66th Bureau in June 2022. It then provides an overview of the feedback received from Member States. Finally, it proposes a revised version of the draft strategic framework, which
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takes into consideration the written feedback received by 9 September and verbal feedback received at the 66th Bureau meeting and at an informal information meeting of the Council held on 3 October. A draft decision is attached." (Page 1)
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"Worldwide, the revenue base for journalism has been disrupted by digital innovation and the dominance of technology platforms in the audience and advertiser-facing markets. Revenue models relied upon by news and information services have collapsed, and credible journalism and its social function ar
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e at risk. Future-proofing the viability and sustainability of public interest journalism in Africa must encourage platforms to pay fair value for the benefit derived. This will require trust and collaboration between governments, the news and information services that produce public interest journalism, and civil society. To achieve this, three pillars grounded in the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa are proposed, namely: i) designation of public interest journalism as a public good, ii) incorporation of national public media funds to resource the supply of public interest journalism and safeguard its public value, and iii) draw revenue for these funds from a collective fee mechanism paid by digital indexing and publishing platforms." (Page 1)
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"Since gaining independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine has lurched along an unsteady path toward accountable democratic governance. Yet despite the country's volatile politics and the escalating conflict with Russia leading up to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in
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February 2022, Ukrainian reformers and their allies have made significant progress in reshaping the country's media climate." (Page 1)
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"De nombreux artistes et créateurs émergent dans les pays ACP. Ils nous surprennent par leur dynamisme, mais aussi par leur capacité de résilience et de persévérance, surtout pendant la pandémie de la Covid-19. Les industries culturelles et créatives devraient, dès lors, pouvoir offrir aux
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nouvelles générations un large éventail de possibilités d’emplois et de création d’entreprises locales. En réponse à ces attentes, nous avons conçu conjointement avec le Secrétariat de l’Organisation des États ACP, le programme ACP-UE Culture. Nous nous réjouissons de constater les résultats positifs du nouveau mécanisme mis en place pour la dynamisation des secteurs du cinéma et de l’audiovisuel, avec près de 100 projets déjà soutenus dans toutes les régions ACP depuis 2020. Grâce aux exigences des partenariats Nord-Sud, les liens entre acteurs et opérateurs culturels ACP et européens, mis en place depuis une quinzaine d’années, se consolident. Il en ressort un réel engagement pour renforcer les capacités des artistes, en utilisant les nouvelles technologies dans l’ensemble de la chaîne de valeur et permettre ainsi l’accès de leurs oeuvres à des marchés internationaux." (Avant-propos, page 5)
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"UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for the West Africa-Sahel region presents the activities on communication and information programme between 2020/2021. The topics were: freedom of expression and security for journalists, media for crisis and emergencies and conflicts, media education and univer
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sal access to information, resilience of documentary heritage in West Africa, free educational resources and universal internet indicators in the Sahel region." (commbox)
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"We find that there is a will for reform from the civilian part of the government, the international community, independent media professionals, and a handful of Sudanese CSOs. However, pushing for a free media is a low priority for most of the population, who have more urgent survival and security
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needs. Furthermore, the military/Islamist wing of the transitional government seems to want to control, not free, the media." (Conclusion, page 24)
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"A survey in Cameroon revealed that journalists are faced with some challenges (such as lack of training and lack of resource persons) in covering environment topics, especially those related to forest and climate change adaptation. In order to address these challenges and contribute to the improvem
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ent of the journalistic style of reporting topics on forest and climate change adaptation with more scientific knowledge and to create a stronger scientific base of event coverage, pilot capacity-building initiatives were initiated with the specific objectives as follows: (1) training of journalists during workshops; (2) fellowships award for research activities to communication master students; (3) mentoring of senior and junior journalists and (4) open reflection on how to mainstream forests and adaptation to climate change in curricula of communication schools in Central Africa. This last initiative of mainstreaming forests and adaptation to climate change in the school curricula was seen as a possible sustainable way to promote scientific and environmental communication in Central Africa. These activities initiated by CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) under the framework of CoFCCA project (Congo Basin Forest and Climate Change Adaptation) were pilot initiatives aiming to inspire others on capacity building and research related to scientific and environmental communication in Central Africa." (Abstract)
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"For most of its modern history, the news media in Ethiopia have been a tool for government control. But 2018 brought a wave of optimism to Africa’s second most populous nation. Anti-government protests forced the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) to undertake majo
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r reforms to its authoritarian rule in an effort to stave off mass violence and the potential collapse of the central government. The incumbent prime minister, Hai lemariam Desalegn, was forced to resign. In his place, the EPRDF nominated Abiy Ahmed, a young and charismatic reformer from the long-marginalized Oromiya region. Overnight, protestors lifted roadblocks and popular discontent transformed into euphoria and hope for a better future. This set the stage for one of the most remarkable attempts at media reform in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. The Abiy government freed journalists from prison; deregulated the sector, enabling the establishment of dozens of new media houses; and put into motion a media reform process that brought government and civil society together in a shared vision for change. However, these early successes have faltered. Quick deregulation without strong enabling institutions and laws created a surge of media outlets and journalism associations that fueled polarization and conflict along ethnic fault lines." (Page 1)
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"Media development assistance and media systems research are intricately connected: by describing, assessing, and attempting to change them, media development actors produce knowledge about media systems and directly impact them. This research review explores the intersections of academic media syst
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ems research and practices of describing and assessing media landscapes in the media development sector and suggests how both could learn from each other. In what follows, the most important publications on media systems since the Cold War era will be reviewed, tracing the ongoing process of refining concepts and definitions. Alongside a geographical broadening of the research scope, models as well as methodological approaches have been questioned and reinvented. The review places a special focus on the peculiarities of researching media systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Referring to academic as well as grey literature, it suggests points of departure for meaningfully linking academic knowledge and practitioners’ knowledge about media systems, concluding with recommendations for informed practice." (Abstract)
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"[...] there was no single approach to measuring media viability. Deutsche Welle Akademie's (DWA) Media Viability Indicators are designed to assess viability on three levels, considering the overall economic environment (macro); the structure of the media market and potential sources of revenue (mes
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o); and the resources and structures of media organisations operating in that market (micro). Conversely, Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) seeks to promote the long-term financial well-being of individual media outlets. Its metrics are composed of seven company-specific indicators that are built using data from client business records. PRIMED will seek to measure viability at the ecosystem level as well as at the institutional level. It will examine the extent to which media partners become more resilient to environmental shocks and stresses by improving their management systems and adopting new business practices. The programme will analyse their organisational performance against a resilience index which includes their ability to deliver inclusive and relevant public interest content." (Page 2)
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