Skip Navigation LinksHome

​​

It needs to be stressed that media assistance is a very delicate task. Every external intervention into a sector that should generally be able to act free from governmental, political and commercial influences needs to be very well justified. Furthermore, media assistance carries various risks (see Table 3).

The limits of media initiatives should be seen realistically: they can hardly change structural factors that hinder effective and inclusive development or conflict transformation. However, all the limiting factors notwithstanding, media assistance can leverage all the efforts in realising Agenda 2030 and encourage positive change in development and transition countries. 


Table 3 Risks of media assistance and mitigation measures

​Nature of the risks and constraints

​Mitigation measures

​Lack of professionalism and public interest approach

Some media have a tendency to sensationalism, mostly in order to attract more audience or advertisements. Of course, media outlets need a certain level of market and commercial orientation, and should take into consideration that audiences also like to be entertained. However, this should not prevail over the media’s responsibility to provide comprehensive, truthful information on relevant issues in a society.
​Definition of mission and clear vision for the media;
production of ethical and professional codes;
publication of media charter;
training according to codes and media productions;
audience survey to know about people’ expectations;
work on business plan to diversify funding resources;
reinforce media regulations and monitoring bodies;
promote media and information literacy among audiences.

​Lack of independence and impartiality

Especially in times of violent conflict, the media can have a tendency towards nationalist or partial coverage and/or are expected (sometimes by their audience) to take sides – for example, in a civil war. Therefore, we should not exaggerate our hopes that media may play a de-escalating role in ongoing conflicts. Media are social agents in their societies and might drop below the level of impartiality achieved before violent conflicts started.
​Political analysis of the conflicts and the divisions in the society;
mapping and analysis of media owners and donors;
production of ethical and professional codes;
publication of media charter;
training according to codes;
audience survey to know about people’ expectations;
work on business plan to diversify funding resources;
reinforce media regulations and monitoring bodies;
promote media and information literacy.

​Media capture

Any support to independent media systems might affect the interests of powerful elites. Some media outlets or organisations are even directly abused by their owners for political or business objectives.
​Mapping and analysis of which media or individuals are active and influential and through which communication channels (internet, social media, short wave radios, etc.); mapping of the media owners and funders;
work on media law and market reform;
production of ethical and professional codes;
publication of media charter;
training of executive teams and governance bodies of the media according to codes;
training of political and financial elites about the benefits of an independent media.

​Security and safety of journalists and media actors 

In some cases, the level of press freedom might be so low and the government so restrictive that any assistance to the media might only provide legitimacy to the government’s propaganda machine or put journalists in danger. This aspect needs serious analysis before a decision is taken.
​Political analysis of the divisions and restrictions in society – include ‘do no harm’ approach;
mapping and analysis of media owners and funders;
promote UN action plan on safety of journalists;
training on physical and psychological training to journalists; 
training on digital security; 
elicit lessons learned and best practices from other closed contexts and media in exile.

​Image and sustainability

Too much funding for media by donors might be seen as undesirable interference from outside, or might create artificial institutions that will hardly survive or be in the public interest. It might also worsen the viability of non-subsidised media.
​Foster coordination among the donors in a given context;
plan for holistic approach and long-term programming to better distribute the investments of interested donors;
foster social anchoring and support of media;
facilitate access to different funds and strengthen own revenue-generation capabilities.





Additional resources
  • https://www.shareweb.ch/site/DDLGN/Thumbnails/MediaFreedomNavigator.png

    Media Freedom Navigator

    Media Freedom Navigator provides an overview of different media freedom indices. Navigate the map in order to access media freedom data for each country and background information on each index. For reading material, examine the resources section.

    Link
    Deutsche Welle
    2008
    Edit
    🇬🇧

​​​​