The Sustainability Imperative in Media Development: A Critical Analysis of a Self-Serving Myth
Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2025), xxiv, 396 pp.
Contains 24 illustr.
ISBN 978-3-031-83659-6 (pdf); 978-3-031-83658-9 (print)
Other editions: Dortmund University, Doctoral Thesis 2023
"This book critically examines how the media assistance and broader "development" sectors have appropriated the catch-all concept of sustainability, originally rooted in economic and environmental fields, to suit their agendas. Analysing 289 project evaluations conducted globally between 1999 and 2019, it scrutinizes the tacit discourses underpinning what Pierre Bourdieu termed "the imperialism of the universal" in fostering media systems in the Global South. The book reveals how processes of self-legitimation operate within an increasingly competitive aid market, highlighting a shift from "post-missionary" approaches to business-driven models. Focusing on the often-overlooked African context, it explores nuanced coping capacity in Uganda and the Eastern DRC. Amid questioning of the populist wave as well as power-motivated new entrants, it challenges the recurring aid pattern, emphasizing the urgency of centering social impact and values in media assistance. It offers essential insights for scholars and practitioners navigating the evolving geopolitics of development and public diplomacy. Michel Leroy has been active in media action for over 25 years, both as an implementer and as a consultant. A member of an international research programme on media action, he holds a doctorate from the University of Dortmund. He is now a researcher focusing on the social impact." (Publisher description)
"Figure 6.3 shows the distribution of the collectors who fed the corpus [61% come from the CAMECO commbox database, 12% from Nordic and North American donors (E-gov), 9% from the Communication Initiative COMMINIT and 18% from other sources]. It should be mentioned here that the evaluations that were once in the CAMECO fund—the first to have been processed—are attributed to the CAMECO collection even if they were also present in the COMMINIT one or in any other one. A total of 289 evaluations were eventually selected, including initial or ex-ante evaluations, mid-term or interim evaluations, final or ex-post evaluations (internal and external) and cross-cutting evaluations, on a particular theme, region or intervention methodology. The idea was not to circumscribe a priori what can be defined as an evaluation in the sector, but to include solely all forms of written production that could be considered as evidence of an evaluative judgement, to the exclusion of any other form (multimedia, Powerpoint, video presentations, etc.)." (Page 163)
PART I: THE FRAMING OF SUSTAINABILITY: NAVIGATING DEVELOPMENT NARRATIVES
1 Introduction: Intending Good or Doing Good? 3
2 Media Development, an Emerging and Contested Field, 17
3 Sustainability in Media Action: A Catch-All Construct, 51
4 Evaluation, a Game-Changer for Development, 85
5 What Is the Sustainability Imperative All About?115
PART II: THE SUSTAINABILITY PARADOX: BALANCING FUTURE IMPACT AND SELF PRESERVATION
6 Exploring 25-Year Discourse of Media Action Sustainability 133
7 In Future We (Don't) Trust-Ambivalence of (Un)Sustainability, 191
8 Does Media Action Primarily Sustain Power Imbalances? 233
9 Towards a Sustainable Media Development Goal 293
10 Conclusion: The Necessary Shift Between Sustainability and Social Impact, 341
1 Introduction: Intending Good or Doing Good? 3
2 Media Development, an Emerging and Contested Field, 17
3 Sustainability in Media Action: A Catch-All Construct, 51
4 Evaluation, a Game-Changer for Development, 85
5 What Is the Sustainability Imperative All About?115
PART II: THE SUSTAINABILITY PARADOX: BALANCING FUTURE IMPACT AND SELF PRESERVATION
6 Exploring 25-Year Discourse of Media Action Sustainability 133
7 In Future We (Don't) Trust-Ambivalence of (Un)Sustainability, 191
8 Does Media Action Primarily Sustain Power Imbalances? 233
9 Towards a Sustainable Media Development Goal 293
10 Conclusion: The Necessary Shift Between Sustainability and Social Impact, 341
