"OECD Principle 1: Do no harm to public interest media– The media development sector is well-equipped when it comes to risk management: more than half of the surveyed organizations have effective risk mitigation strategies and over 40 percent have well-suited risk monitoring tools.– However, room remains for improvement: a lack of awareness amongst international organizations of cer
tain local risks is one specific issue. Another is the risk of donors jeopardizing the editorial independence of media outlets by pursuing an unduly political agenda. Media assistance must be cautious when it comes to navigating geopolitical interests.– Interviewees also highlighted the risk of foreign funding being used to label recipient organizations as foreign agents. Another issue is brain drain to the detriment of media outlets if higher salaries are paid elsewhere, not least in the international development sphere.– When it comes to discrimination, the results suggest that media development organizations have a strong focus on gender-sensitivity and diversity in projects and beyond. However, only 23 percent of organizations have project guidelines for disability mainstreaming.
OECD Principle 2: Increase financial and other forms of support– This study underlines how worried media development organizations are about the persistently small share of overall official develop
ment assistance (ODA) invested in strengthening media systems and independent media. This is considered especially concerning in light of current democratic challenges and shrinking spaces for independent reporting worldwide.– In wider development co-operation, media are still often seen as tools for strategic communication rather than as a key pillar for democratic development. Such views tend to hinder the media development sector’s integration in other development fields. There is a need for awareness-raising and greater exchange with other development actors.– 23 percent of international media development organizations’ funding is allocated to core funding of public interest media. Acknowledgement of media as a public good and the associated need for core funding is considered key for effective support.
OECD Principle 3: Take a whole system perspective– This principle demands a holistic and systemic approach to supporting public interest media. This study finds that the media development sector is quite well-positioned when it comes to underlying analyses of media and information environments.– However, there is a mismatch between the assessments conducted and donor decision-making. Interviewees also criticized funding cycles of one year or less as unsustainable. The average funding cycle of the media development organizations surveyed was 22 months.– A broad range of themes are supported by media development organizations across both traditional and newer media actors. There is nevertheless a need to consider further integration of newer actors into media development support.
OECD Principle 4: Strengthen local leadership and ownership– This study finds that, according to international media development organizations’ budget estimates, an average of 40 percent of their
funding reaches local and regional actors directly.– 75 percent of local and regional organizations agree that they are meaningfully involved in project implementation. However, only half feel that they are sufficiently involved in priority setting, hinting at room for improvement in this regard. – International organizations in most cases still take the lead role in applications for ODA funding. In some
regions, however, local and regional partners have built up sufficient expertise and experience to be lead applicants for ODA funding, and this is working well.– The phenomenon of “parachuting
in” external experts into partner countries rather than making use of local expertise is much less prevalent than it used to be but still exists. The results show that organizations focus on skills brought to the table rather than on the origin of the expert.
OECD Principle 5: Improve coordination of support– Over 55 percent of respondents from all types of media development organizations agree that they are meaningfully involved in sector coordination. However, representatives from international media development organizations tend to see the degree of co-ordination in a more positive light than respondents from organizations based outside the Global North.– Only 30 percent of local and regional organizations agree that there is swift coordination of support by international media development actors during times of crisis.
This is linked to a seeming failure to learn from previous crises. Instead, local and regional organizations in various parts of the world are taking the lead in crisis response in their regions and actively collaborating to ramp up crisis preparedness.– On a day-to-day basis, there is less collaboration than desired among donors, which can skew the market because particular segments are over- or underfunded. Media development organizations are doing a better job of coordinating with each other, even though this is sometimes hindered by competition or by the fact that some key decisions are made at donor level.– As regards administrative requirements, 33 percent of all surveyed media development organizations think that donors or organizations they partner with offer efficient pro
cesses for managing funds. There is an urgent need to harmonize reporting requirements as well as to offer more flexibility in requirements depending on context.
OECD Principle 6: Invest in knowledge, research and learning– This study finds that almost 60 percent of organizations have access to sector best practices and lessons learned, and precisely 50 percent have internal mechanisms to share their own lessons learned with others.– However, there is also wide consensus in the sector that producing and sharing evidence is not a donor
priority, with slightly more than 30 percent of organizations indicating that they have sufficient funding for these types of activities.– There is considerable demand for annual reports from organiza
tions such as Reporters Without Borders or Freedom House, but also for more actionable research on approaches that work. A mix between face-to-face conferences, newsletters and more in-depth
webinar-type dives into specific topics emerged as the optimal way of keeping the sector informed." (Key findings, pages 8-9)