mediadev library

Filter

452

Sort by:

Direction:

Long-Term Financial Support for Ukrainian Media and Journalists

Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) (2023), 4 pp.

"To ensure that Ukrainian media move from mere survival to long-term vitality, we propose a comprehensive strategy encompassing the following five pillars: 1. Innovative funding mechanisms; 2. Prioritisation of local-level media; 3. Constructive enabling environment; 4. Professional development; 5. ... more

External Link (70)

Compilation of Briefing Papers on the Media Sector Development in Ethiopia

Abdissa Zerai, Elsabet Samuel Tadesse, Haron Mwangi, Teshager Shiferaw, Tewodros Negash

PRIMED; International Media Support (IMS) (2023), 64 pp.

External Link (72)

Google Scholar (62)

WorldCat (55)

The Media as a Tool of International Intervention: House of Cards

Nidžara Ahmetaševic

New York: Routledge (2023), xiv, 116 pp.

"This book explores the role of external powers and international organisations in media assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through analysis of key documents, media reports and interviews with key participants it examines the main actors, their roles and the way in which they influenced the media ... more

External Link (67)

Transforming Media Development: Recommendations for Effective Funding and Collaboration
Deep Insights

Brussels: Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) (2023), 12 pp.

"This report draws on the feedback of media development actors to present a set of recommendations for both donors and implementing agencies. These include proposed improvements to the development and roll-out of funding programmes as well as measures that can be taken by both parties to introduce m ... more

External Link (75)

The Role of Media Festivals in Strengthening Independent Media. Media Festival Briefing

Sameer Padania

International Media Support (IMS) (2023), 25 pp.

"Festivals taking place across the Global South are attracting increasingly global attendees. This brief discussion paper looks at four diverse examples of such festivals – Media Party in Argentina, Festival 3i in Brazil, Splice Beta in Thailand, and the Africa Media Festival in Kenya – and seek ... more

External Link (49)

Principles on Relevant and Effective Support to Media and the Information Environment

OECD (2023), 13 pp.

La politisation de l’aide et l’appui aux médias : le cas du Forum mondial pour le développement des médias (GFMD)

Christopher John J. Chanco

Montréal: Université de Montréal (2023), 50 pp.

"Les médias et l’aide au développement sont des instruments incontournables dans la boîte d’outils de la diplomatie publique des États. L’aide au développement dans le domaine des médias recouvre d’ailleurs un vaste champ d’action, incluant le renforcement des capacités, la défense ... more

External Link (52)

Understanding and Responding to Global Emerging News Threats

Courtney C. Radsch

Internews (2023), 109 pp.

External Link (73)

The state of media development: Global evidence on relevant and effective media support
Deep Insights

Ines Drefs, Rose Kimani, Dennis Reineck, Vera Freitag, Nick Benequista

Bonn: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2023), 81 pp.

"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, ro ... om 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) more

External Link (45)

Principes pour un soutien pertinent et efficace aux médias et à l'espace de l'information

Paris: OECD (2023), 14 pp.

External Link (86)

Google Scholar (79)

WorldCat (70)

In-Between Journalism and Media Development: Negotiating Journalist Safety within Decolonising African Contexts

Viola Candice Milton, Winston Mano

In: Decolonising Journalism Education in South Africa: Critical Perspectives

Ylva Rodny-Gumede, Colin Chasi, Zubeida Jaffer, Mvuso Ponono (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2023), pp. 163-186

"Media development has long been a staple in Africa and literature about its conceptualisations, practices and impact abound. One defining characteristic of this literature is that it focuses primarily on media development’s impact on the media’s ability to resist penetration by the state. This ... more

Download (25)

Comprehending Media Systems for Media Development

Johanna Mack

Dortmund: Forum Medien und Entwicklung (fome); MEDAS21 (2022), 29 pp.

"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 ... more

External Link (46)

Evaluation Report Executive summary Colombia | Amazon Basin. Strengthening alliances: Together media and civil society actors in Colombia and the Amazon basin support discussions on human rights and environmental protection

Bonn: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2022), 3 pp.

External Link (77)

What is Next for Media Development?

Nicholas Benequista, Susan Abbott, Tawana Kupe, Fatima El-Issawi

Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, volume 11, issue 2 (2022), pp. 135-140

"What comes next for media development? Though the contributors to this volume [i.e., the special issue focusing on international media development] provide answers from diverse perspectives, they each touch upon questions of agency and localization. The contributors investigate major issues with a ... more

External Link (65)

Google Scholar (57)

WorldCat (49)

Explaining International Media Development: Building Blocks for an Analytical Framework Based on Institutional Logics

Ines Drefs

Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, volume 11, issue 2 (2022), pp. 141-161

"The academic study of media development as a field of practice and international cooperation has received quite some impetus in the last couple of years. Theory-building in this research field, however, seems to be stagnating. The explanatory power of established theories such as modernization, dep ... more

External Link (58)

Coordinating Media Assistance and Journalism Support Efforts

Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) (2022), 4 pp.

"The need for coordination within the media development sector is widely recognised – particularly in the wake of conflict or crisis." (Page 1)

External Link (80)

Google Scholar (78)

WorldCat (71)

Why collective resilience in journalism matters: A call to action in global media development

Jeannine E. Relly, Silvio Waisbord

Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, volume 11, issue 2 (2022), pp. 163-188

"The COVID-19 pandemic, global economic downturn, anti-press violence and worsening situation of labour precarity for journalists around the world have led to increased stress, trauma and burnout in the profession, which raises questions at the heart of media sustainability and approaches to media d ... more

Download (12)

Intersectionality matters: Studying the contradictory effects of media development through women radio journalists in Burkina Faso

Viviane Schönbächler

Communication and Culture Review, volume 4, issue 1&2 (2021), 18 pp.

"Gender perspectives in media development are common in grey literature produced and promoted by media development actors. Yet, academic research investigating gender dimensions in media development practice and discourse remains scarce. This paper wants to contribute to filling this gap. The empiri ... more

Download (18)

Afghanistan: August 2021. A Tentative Reassessment of Cultural Foreign Policy and Civil Society Support

Asiem El Difraoui, Caspar Berges

Stuttgart: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) (2021), 22 pp.

"[...] If Afghanistan is to avoid a renewal of civil war, there is no viable alternative to Taliban rule and Taliban dialogue. Engagement with the Taliban in terms of urgently needed humanitarian aid opens avenues for cooperation in the field of cultural foreign policy and civil society support. Her ... e, the Taliban are especially open to support in the educational sector. Education, including for women, is a widespread demand in Afghanistan, even in the rural areas. As a member of civil society stressed, the Taliban are not ready to accept political activities but seem so far result-oriented in what concerns practical improvements for the Afghan population. Under seemingly non-political activities, for example competitions about daily life concerns like waste or water management, independent thinking and the respect of human rights can still be fostered. Generally, activities can be promoted with Afghan and Islamic references acceptable to the Taliban mindset. Fostering women’s rights, for example, can be done by giving the examples of the wives of the prophet Mohammed and of the relative freedoms of women in Saudi Arabia and Iran, who have more rights than those under the previous Taliban regime. As one participant states “the only progressive ideas which can be ingrained in Afghan society need to be somehow referring to internal cultural heritage Afghan and/or Islamic”. In this context, a lot of venues can be explored. Herat, for example was a major cultural centre over centuries. Afghans know also very little of the significance of historically important Islamic cities like Bukhara or Samarkand in neighbouring Uzbekistan, despite the fact that a sizable proportion of the Afghan population are Uzbek. Even more significant is the fact that Afghans who are very attached to their religion know very little of the achievement of the golden age Arabo-Islamic culture in science like mathematics, geography, astronomy, medicine or architecture or literature. There are also some classical art forms through which we can engage with the Taliban, such as poetry, as well as opportunities in contemporary comedy, where a certain criticism can be voiced and tolerated. The interplay of new and traditional media also provides unique opportunities in terms of education and human rights. Here DW-TV, Radio and internet activities can play an important role. Independent initiatives should also be promoted. These can offer considerable opportunities to connect regional civil society actors, which for one of the interviewees is one of the most effective ways of engagement “for example, feminist groups of neighbouring countries which supported feminist groups in Afghanistan”. (Conclusion, page 17) more

External Link (54)

The Road Ahead: Mapping Civil Society Responses to Disinformation

Samantha Bradshaw, Lisa-Maria Neudert

Washington, DC: National Endowment for Democracy (NED) (2021), 27 pp.

"Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) bring a wide range of skill sets to the problem of digital disinformation. Some organizations focus on digital media literacy and education; others engage in advocacy and policy work. Another segment has developed expertise in fact-checking and verification. Other ... organizations have developed refined technical skills for extracting and analyzing data from social media platforms. This research yielded several clear observations about the state of CSO responses to disinformation and, in turn, suggests several recommendations for paths forward. • Prioritize Skill Diffusion and Knowledge Transfer. Civil society organizations seeking funding for counter-disinformation initiatives should emphasize the importance of skill diffusion and knowledge-transfer initiatives. The siloed nature of disinformation research points to a growing need to blend technical expertise with deep cultural and political knowledge. • CSO researchers lack sufficient access to social media data. Survey respondents identified insufficient access to data as a challenge. Sometimes data are not made available to CSOs; in other instances, data are made available in formats that are not workable for meaningful research purposes. Unequal access to the data that private companies do provide can exacerbate regional inequities, and the nature of data sharing by social media platforms can unduly shape the space for inquiry by civil society and other researchers. Funders, platforms, and other key actors should develop approaches that provide more consistent, inclusive data access to CSOs. • Duplicative programming hampers innovation. CSOs drawing on similar tools, approaches, and techniques to meet similar goals pointed to three main factors preventing more specialized, innovative initiatives: lack of coordination, lack of specific expertise, and lack of flexible funding. Community building and collaboration among relevant organizations deserve more investment, as do initiatives that partner larger, established organizations with smaller or growing ones, or pool efforts, skill sets, and expertise to encourage diverse research by design rather than by coincidence. • Relationships with tech platforms vary across regions. Surveyed CSOs often held simultaneously skeptical and positive opinions about their relationships with social media companies. Some receive preferential access to data and even funding for their work (raising concerns about independence), while others report a lack of responsiveness from company representatives. In the Global South and Eastern Europe, many CSOs expressed concern that platforms failed to meaningfully engage with them on issues of critical concern. • More flexible funding and more diverse research are both necessary. To encourage greater platform accountability across varied geographic contexts, CSOs and their funders should draw on the perspectives of specific, under-analyzed communities." (Executive summary, page 3-4) more

Transforming Media Development: Recommendations for Effective Funding and Collaboration Deep Insights

The state of media development: Global evidence on relevant and effective media support Deep Insights

Transforming Media Development: Recommendations for Effective Funding and Collaboration
Deep Insights

The state of media development: Global evidence on relevant and effective media support
Deep Insights