"Interviews with 25 officials from development ministries and agencies and media experts, and a review of over 100 documents, confirmed that development partners are aware of the pressures faced by traditional and new media, and how the information environment can influence their wider democracy and sustainable development objectives. Despite this, the sector only receives a very small share of total ODA. While ODA for media and the information environment has increased since 2002, reaching USD 1.5 billion in 2022, this only represented 0.5% of total ODA in that year. When support to media and communications infrastructure is excluded, ODA for media has actually remained stagnant, at around USD 500 million a year since 2008 (representing 0.19% of total ODA in 2022). Only up to 8% of ODA for media and the information environment (representing 0.05% of total ODA over 2016-2022) is directly channelled to media organisations in partner countries, such as journalists, media outlets and civil society organisations. In contrast, 42% is directly delivered to recipient governments, especially for infrastructure programmes funded by the World Bank. A quarter (26%) of ODA for media and the information environment goes to organisations based in donor countries, and this figure excludes funding for international public broadcasters (such as Deutsche Welle and the BBC World Service). ODA can achieve important results. The case studies demonstrate that in worsening political contexts or under war conditions, international co-operation can help media sectors survive and keep citizens as well informed as possible, such as in Myanmar and Tanzania. Long-term and large investments can have a system-wide effect, such as supporting the transformation of Ukraine’s media sector. Thematic programmes can be effective, such as for shining a light on corruption and holding perpetrators to account through investigative journalism networks, as in the Western Balkans. Well-designed capacity development for journalists, media outlets and the wider media enabling environment can ensure larger audiences are reached with better quality and more engaging information." (Key findings, page 8)

"Previous estimates suggested that current official international development support to media stood at just 0.3% of ODA, a level which most within the system acknowledged as shockingly low, given the importance of journalism to our societies. The latest mapping study shows that support has been and remains even lower: it is an astonishing 0.19% of ODA in 2022. It shows that most “OECD DAC members are aware of the importance of the integrity of information environments to achieve their development and foreign policy objectives, and of the central role played by public interest media”. But even as autocratisation has risen, disinformation has surged and the financial threats confronting independent media have become existential, they have with just a few exceptions proved unable to increase their support for the sector. “ODA for media has remained stagnant”, concludes the report. It gets worse. Even a smaller proportion of that support actually reaches independent media. The report points in particular that: “just 0.05% of total ODA (over 2016-2022) is directly channelled to media organisations in partner countries, such as journalists, media outlets and civil society organisations.” Many media organisations have long made the case for a substantial increase in direct financial support to media, over longer funding cycles. The good news is that DAC donors now acknowledge this. The new Principles on Support to Media and the Information Environment approved by the OECD DAC in March 2024 call, among other measures, for “strengthen(ing) local leadership and ownership” including by “ensuring a more significant share of ODA for media development reaches local and regional actors directly, fostering their longevity, resilience and viability” and by “increasing the availability and accessibility of direct, flexible, and reliable support, including core funding and longer-term, multi-year funding." (https://ifpim.org)