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Promoting Independent Media: Strategies for Democracy Assistance
Deep Insights

Krishna Kumar

Boulder, Colo.; London: Rienner (2006), 189 pp.

"This book represents one step in explaining international efforts to promote independent media. It attempts to examine the nature and significance of media assistance, discussing the evolution of the field, the focus of various programming approaches, and the possible impact of such efforts. It pre ... sents case studies of media assistance programs in different countries. The book concludes with a set of recommendations for expanding and deepening media assistance for the international community. This book project grew out of a multi-country study that I directed in 2002–2004 to examine media assistance programs funded by the US Agency for International Development. The overall purpose of the study was to assess the nature and effectiveness of USAID programs and make policy and programmatic recommendations for the future. In writing this book I have mostly drawn from the massive information collected during two years of research and analysis. The book is based primarily on three sources of information. First are reviews of literature covering scholarly writings, project and program documents, and articles in popular magazines and newspapers on media assistance. Such reviews were country specific as well as global in nature. Because the academic literature is extremely limited and media assistance is hardly covered in magazines and newspapers except in high-profile cases such as Bosnia and Serbia, reviews largely relied on program documentation. I had the unique advantage of perusing thousands of documents that are not available to the public. Although mostly descriptive and often self-serving, they identified critical gaps in our knowledge and illuminated the challenges and achievements of international media endeavors. Second, my colleagues and I undertook extensive fieldwork in seven countries/regions—Afghanistan, Bosnia, Central America, Indonesia, Russia, Serbia, and Sierra Leone. In each of these cases, research teams conducted extensive discussions with international donor agencies, officials of host countries, project staff and contractors, and local media experts and journalists. Every possible effort was made to interview all those experts and managers who had intimate knowledge of the ongoing media assistance programs. Teams also examined locally available documents and reports and used translators to translate documents into English when necessary. In the absence of hard quantitative data, they largely relied on available documentation, indepth interviews, and their own knowledge of the media scene for their findings and conclusions. Finally, I organized a series of meetings in Washington, D.C., to discuss the findings of the country studies and explore new directions for media assistance programs. Such meetings helped to identify many problems and challenges facing media assistance programs and helped in formulating a set of recommendation for policymakers." (Chapter 1, page 10-11) more

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Radio: A Post Nine-Eleven Strategy for Reaching the World's Poor

Stephen Sposato, W. M. Smith

Lanham; Oxford: United Press of America (UPA) (2005), xxvii, 243 pp.

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Information and Communication Technology for Development: USAID's Worldwide Program

Washington, DC: USAID (2004), 54 pp.

"There are five elements of USAID’s strategic approach to ICT for development: Policy Reform: Getting telecommunications policy right is the foundation for growth in the sector and for the affordable spread of ICT applications. Access: Connecting with those at the end of the “last mile,” econo ... more

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The Role of Media in Democracy: A Strategic Approach

Washington, DC: USAID, Center for Democracy and Governance (1999), 35, 10 pp.

"As such, support for media is an important prong of U.S. democracy and governance assistance. USAID’s objective of the increased development of a politically active civil society provides a strategic rationale for mediarelated activities. In addition, a desired result of an enhanced free flow of ... more

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An Unusual Approach in the United States to Latin American Journalism Education

J. Arthur Heise, Charles H. Green

In: Communication in Latin America: Journalism, Mass Media, and Society

Richard R. Cole (ed.)

Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources (1996), pp. 65-76

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Notes from the Field in Communication for Child Survival

Renata E. Seidel (ed.)

Washington, DC: Academy for Educational Development (AED); USAID (1993), x, 246 pp.

"This book presents practical lessons from 15 years of experience on the part of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in promoting the health of infants and children in developing countries. It has been compiled by the Academy for Education Development which conducts the Communicati ... more