Rethinking Media Dev Web (2)

8/2/2019 Rethinking Media Dev Web (2)

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B Mark Nlsn, World Bank Institute

wth Tara Susman-Pa, Internews

RethinkingMedia developMent

A Rprt n th Mda Map Prt

Wrkng Dra


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about the authoRsMark Nelson is lead specialist ocusing on capacity development and aid eectiveness at the World

Bank Institute (WBI). He has been involved in media development issues at the World Bank since

1996, when he helped launch a series o programs to support newly independent media in Central

and Eastern Europe. Prior to working at WBI, Nelson spent more than a decade as a European diplo-

matic correspondent or the Wall Street Journal, based in Brussels, Berlin, and Paris. He covered the

negotiations leading to the Maastricht Treaty, the all o the Berlin Wall, the collapse o the Soviet

Union and the war in Bosnia. From 1992 to 1993, while on leave rom the Wall Street Journal, Nelson

was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment or International Peace in Washington, where he

co-directed a major study on U.S.-European relations and wrote extensively on the war in Bosnia-

Herzegovina, among other subjects, or newspapers and scholarly journals.

Tara Susman-Pea is the director o research or Internews Media Map Project. Beore joining

Internews in 2010, she worked in the audience insight and research department at NPR (National

Public Radio), where she managed the online listener panel and qualitative research initiatives. Sus-

man-Pea is a cultural anthropologist with experience in commercial market research ocused on

branding, product and service development, and communication strategy. Past clients have included

companies rom the media, technology, health, ood, ashion, and automotive industries.

CReditsAnnette Makino copyedited the report.

Photo Credits: ront cover, le, photo by Rami Halim; back cover, photo by Joel Carillet

aCknowledgeMentsWhile the conclusions reected in the report are those o the authors, our analysis is based on the

body o original research conducted or the Media Map Project (their names and work are detailed

on page 3 o this paper). We are grateul to the researchers or the strong evidence base they have

produced. We would also like to thank Craig Hammer and Deena Philage o the World Bank institute

or their insightul eedback on the rst dra.


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Rethinking Media developMent dRaft 1

Contents

About the Authos .................................................................................................i

Ackowedemets ...............................................................................................i

Cedits ....................................................................................................................i

About the Media Map Poject ..................... ..................... ..................... .............. 2

Eecutie Summa ................... ..................... ..................... ..................... .......... 5

1. Itoductio............................ ..................... ..................... ..................... .......... 7

2. The case o media deeopmet ..................... ..................... ..................... ... 5

3. How doos cotibute to media deeopmet ..........................................10

4. Deeopi media capacit ..........................................................................12

5. Too hot to touch? Wh haet doos doe moe? .................................14

6. A questio o busiess modes ....................................................................17

7. Cocusio: Thee Aeas o Coectie Actio ............................................21

Edotes ............................................................................................................25


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2 Rethinking Media developMent dRaft

About the MediA MAp project

MeDiA MAP PRojecT TeAM

Mark Nelson, World Bank Institute

Tara Susman-Pea, Internews

Sanjukta Roy, Internews and World Bank Institute

Sankalpa Dashrath, Internews

SeNioR ADviSoRDaniel Kaumann, Brookings Institution

ADviSoRy BoARDAkin Jimoh, Devcoms Network

Becky Lentz, Department o Art History and CommunicationStudies, McGill University

Bella Mody,Journalism and Mass Communication,

University o Colorado

Bettina Peters, Global Forum or Media Development

Bruce Girard, Fundacin Comunica

Ethan Zuckerman, Berkman Center or Internet & Society,

Harvard University

Fackson Banda, UNESCO

Gordana Jankovic, Open Society Foundations

James Deane, BBC Media Action

Leon Morse, IREX

Mark Koenig, USAID

Meg Gaydosik, USAID

Monroe Price, Center or Global Communications Studies,

Annenberg School or Communication, University o

Pennsylvania

Rana Sabbagh,Arab Reporters or Investigative Journalism

Roby Alampay, InterAksyon.com, TV5

Sasa Vucinic, V Media Ventures

Tasneem Ahmar, Uks Media

Tatiana Repkova, Media Managers ClubYing Chan, University o Hong Kong, Journalism and Media

Studies Center

The Media Map Project is a multiaceted two-year pilot re-

search collaboration between Internews and the World Bank

Institute, unded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This

report is a product o that research. The ndings and conclu-

sions contained within this report are those o the authors and

do not necessarily reect the positions or policies o the Bill &

Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank or Internews.

The Media Map Project seeks to build a better understanding

o the relationships between the media sector and economic

development and governance. The research also examines do-

nors roles in supporting the media sector over time and pro-

vides an evidence base or their uture decision-making about

media support. Through research, public events, and the datamade available on the project website or public use, the proj-

ect aims to engage the development sector in greater under-

standing and exploration o the role o media and inormation

in development. See www.MediaMapResource.org or more

inormation.

The Media Map project was signicantly strengthened and ex-

panded by cooperation across a number o institutions. Work

with the BBC Media Action (ormerly BBC World Service Trust)

and the Governance Network o the Development Action Com-

mittee o the Organization or Economic Cooperation and De-

velopment linked two o our country case studies, Peru and

Mali, to broader work on domestic accountability. Both organi-

zations helped bring media development into the aid eective-

ness agenda, and lessons rom aid eectiveness to our work

on improving media development support. A group o masters

students rom Columbia University produced a research paper

on donor practices on Monitoring & Evaluation o their media

development projects or a Capstone Workshop, while another

group o masters students tackled a range o research issues

rom gap analysis o the quantitative data, to political sys-

tems in Arica, to audience research analysis. The University o

Cambridge conducted eld research that made a Kenya case

study possible, while an Annenberg COMPASS ellowship madepossible the desk research o that case study. Urban Thought

designed and built the website. The Jeerson Institute helped

us develop a timeline o media development. The ABC o Aus-

tralia unded an independent researcher to add a case study

on Cambodia. Group M, The Wealth o Nations Index, and the

Broadcasting Board o Governors all donated valuable data.
http://www.mediamapresource.org/http://www.mediamapresource.org/


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OvErvIEW PAPErS

O Media Deeopmet: A Uothodo reiew, Daniel Kaumann

Heath Media, vibat Societies: How Stethei the Media Ca Boost Deeopmet i SubSahaa Aica,Tara Susman-Pea

Media Deeopmet ad Poitica Stabiit: A Aasis o SubSahaa Aica, Sanjukta Roy

COUnTry CASE STUDIES

Cambodia, Margarette Roberts

Democatic repubic o the Coo, Marie-Soleil Frre

Idoesia, Manred Oepen

Kea, Katherine Reed Allen and Iginio Gagliardone

Mai, Heather Gilberds

Peu, Gabriela Martnez

Peuia Media Deeopmet Secto netwok Aasis & Factos Iueci Media Deeopmet, Erich Sommereldt

Paticipato Photoaphic Mappi Peu Piot, rei the Methodoo o Iteatioa Media ad Commuicatiosreseach, Luisa Ryan

Ukaie, Katerina Tsetsura

Ukaie Media Deeopmet Secto netwok Aasis, Erich Sommereldt and Katerina Tsetsura, with Anna Klyueva

Desi o Quatii Doo Impact o the Media Secto, Sanjukta Roy and Tara Susman-Pea

MOnITOrIng & EvAlUATIOn AnD MEDIA DEvElOPMEnT

Mappi Doo Decisio Maki o Media Deeopmet: A Oeiew o Cuet Moitoi ad Eauatio Pactice,Jason Alcorn, Amy Chen, Emma Gardner, and Hiro Matsumoto; Anya Schirin, Faculty Advisor, School o International and PublicAairs, Columbia University

The Eauatio Impeatie: Maki the Case o Media as a Deeopmet Pioit, Susan Abbott

lITErATUrE rEvIEWS AnD BACKgrOUnD MATErIAlSOeiew repot: Measui Media Deeopmet, Sanjukta Roy

reiew o liteatue, Amelia Arsenault and Shawn Powers

reiew o liteatue o Quatitatie Data (mati), Sanjukta Roy

Media Map Project: The Key Products

All papers will be available on the Media Map website, www.MediaMapResource.org . The website makes over 25 global datasetson the media sector publically accessible or exploration and download.
http://www.mediamapresource.org/http://www.mediamapresource.org/


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executive SuMMAry

No matter how you look at it, the eort to create strong and

sustainable media in developing countries is making little prog-

ress over time. Fiy years o assistance by donors has yielded

scattered patches o success, but too ew countries are emerg-

ing with strong, independent and sustainable media institu-

tions that can contribute to country growth and development.

O the $129 billion that was spent by donors on international

development in 2010, about 0.5% was specically targeted at

the media. And a closer look at the ways this approximately

$650 million was used yields a picture o haphazard and ran-

dom approaches, poorly coordinated with broader reorms,

and rarely led by the countries that are receiving assistance.

In many developing countries, and particularly in the poorest

ones, media development has been a slow and rustrating pro-

cess. It is time to reexamine how media development is done.

This paper, which draws on a wide body o research produced

under the two-year Media Map Project, looks at both the o-

ten unrecognized promise o media development and at some

o the results o what donors have done. It argues or a un-

damental change in the way that media development is ap-

proached. It examines some o the evidence assembled rom

seven country-level case studies, and rom a variety o glob-al indicators and data on the media sector. It analyzes both

challenges and paradigms o success. It asks questions about

what type o business models are appropriate at a time when

all media is going through a massive change that threatens to

upend the traditional way that the independent news media is

nanced. The paper draws three major conclusions and pro-

posals or action that concern not only international donors,

but developing country leaders and media development pro-

essionals:

Stethei cout eadeship ad oweship o media

deeopmet efots: The international development commu-

nity needs to spend less time training journalists and more time

on eorts to build country level leadership or a strong and

independent media as a key institution o development. This

means longer-term programs, acilitating careully planned

and rigorous approaches to multi-stakeholder engagement,

and South-South knowledge exchange led by local champions.

Iteati media eoms ito couties oea deeop

met aeda: Building broad consensus on the important roleo the media is a job that will require concerted action not only

by local governments, activists and opinion leaders but also

donors and the major international organizations engaged in

development. As shown by the successul cases, donors and

partner countries need to work together to consider the media

environment in governance and public sector reorms, in re-

orms o the business environment, and eorts to improve the

judiciary and rule o law.

Expanding data, diagnostics and learning: Our work has also

demonstrated how much we dont know about the media, par-

ticularly in the developing world. This lack o data and inorma-

tion about developing media markets is a signicant barrier to

building successul media enterprises, as well as an obstacle

to donors and others who wish to support media development.

New eorts should be made to expand data collection on the

media in developing countries, and in particular, to help local

media participants get access to data on audiences and adver-

tising that are critical to building successul media enterprises.


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introduction 1By contrast, more benecent leaders o developing countries

have been much slower to harness the potential o indepen-

dent media to play a role in helping countries combat poverty,

corruption and conict. Even countries that have undertaken

relatively ambitious governance and public sector reorms

Indonesia, Colombia, and Peru, or example, or the countries

catapulted into a new world by the Arab Springhave been

slow to recognize a strengthened media sector as a major des-tination on the road ahead.

The media throughout much o the developing world is weak,

oen manipulated by partisan political or economic interests.

Journalists rarely earn a living wage, and ew media organiza-

tions manage to create true independence. Media reedoms,

aer making advances in Central and Eastern Europe aer the

all o the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, have stagnated in

the past decade, particularly in the poorest countries. At the

global level, over the past 15 years, media reedoms have not

advanced at all (see Fig. 1), producing a discouragingly at line.

Even i many people accept that an independent, diverse andwell-managed media can be an extraordinary orce in building

a well-governed and economically sustainable society, ew

countries have specically targeted the media as one o the

key institutions or overall development. National development

plans or poverty reduction strategies rarely address in detail

the policies or institutions needed at the country level to cre-

ate a vibrant and sustainable media sector. And the subject o

the media hardly ever comes up in the global discussions about

When it comes to suppressing people and maintaining power, dictators throughout the ages have learned

that the media is crucial. Julius Caesar used theActa Diurna, posted in the orum and other public places in

ancient Rome, to inspire citizens with his military exploits. Stalin extended his grip on the Soviet Union not

only through tight control on newspapers and other news media, but on lms and the visual arts as well.

More recently, Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia and perpetrators o the Rwandan genocide used the media to

perpetrate highly eective terror. These and other dictators throughout history have deeply understood thetransormational, multi-dimensional and sometimes devastating power o the media.

development policies and aid eectiveness. The word mediadoes not appear even once in the eight-page Busan Outcome

Document issued aer the multi-year negotiations about

global aid eectiveness concluded in South Korea in December

2011despite a major push by global media organizations to

be heard.

The case or media reedom and media development has been

made by some o the worlds most prominent economists.

Noble prizewinners Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz have both

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Average of all countries rescaled: 0=lowest, 100=highestFreedomo

fthePre

ssIndex

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

FIg. 1 nOT IMPrOvIng: PrESS FrEEDOM In THE WOrlD1


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contributed to the abundance o evidence, along with many

others. Sen pointed out that never in human history has there

been a amine in a country with a ree press and regular elec-

tions. Stiglitz outlined the critical role that inormation plays in

the economy and the medias role in expanding the reach and

reducing the costs o that inormation. Others have ocused

on its role in improving the perormance o government by in-

creasing accountability and exposing misuse o unds or the

ailure o government actions and policies. Paul Collier, writing

about the poorest countries on earth in The Bottom Billion,2

identied a ree press as one o the ew institutions or policies

that might help wrench these countries out o poverty.

O the $129 billion that was spent by donors on international

development in 2010, only about 0.5% o that was specically

targeted at the media, or about 50 cents or every $100. Never-

theless, that adds up to $645 million.3 And a closer look at the

ways this money was used yields a picture o haphazard and

random approaches, poorly coordinated with broader reorms,

and rarely led by the countries that are receiving the assis-

tance. Donors barely keep track o what they spend on media

development, or how they spend it, and, judging by some o the

methodologies used to address media weaknesses, learn little

rom past ailures. No major donor or international develop-

ment bank has instituted a systematic sector-level diagnostic

process to determine the best approaches to media develop-

ment in particular country contexts. Many decisions about in-

vestments in media development seem to be driven by political

or oreign policy concernsoen using the media to get out

donor-inspired messagesnot because o the impact that themedia might have on broader development.4

To be sure, external players have made major contributions to

media development in a number o important ways, particularly

in countries that are committed to overall reorms. The Cen-

ter or International Media Assistance has contributed several

important reports on this subject and has recently produced

data that helps provide a better picture o how much donors

are investing in media assistance (see Figs. 2-3). Donors and

international NGOs have been working in the eld o media de-

velopment or at least 50 years, but especially over the last two

decades since the all o the Soviet Union. They have helped

struggling media outlets to survive wars, aggressive govern-

ments and devastating business conditions. They have carried

out training courses or journalists in basic newsroom skills,

business and economics, and media ethics. They have sup-

ported better press laws and broadcast licensing regulations,

and helped create media centers, local NGOs, associations,

and proessional networks. They have put together programs

on internet security, mobile phones, social media, and media

literacy. They have worked with government communicators to

help improve how the government engages with the media and

with the media to help them engage with government. Some

o the seeds they have plantedlike promoting transparency

and access to inormation lawshave later blossomed into

ull-edged, locally driven movements in countries like India,

Mexico, and South Arica that have potentially enormous im-

pact on development. But as we ound through our examina-

tion o both global data and individual country studies, too

much o this work has been done in a patchwork o one-o

programs that ail to survive the departure o the donor.

The Media Map Project, a unique collaboration between In-

FIg. 3 MEDIA ASSISTAnCE AS % OF TOTAl AID, 20105

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

Officially reported

Estimated

Percentag

e

US EC UK Netherlands Switzerland Sweden Canada

0.46%

0.60%

0.35%

0.61%

1.57%

0.61%

0.14%

FIg. 2 MEDIA ASSISTAnCE, SElECTED DOnOrS, 2010

$MIllIOnS

010

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

130

140

150

160

Officially reported

Estimated

Millions$

US EC UK Netherlands Switzerland Sweden Canada


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ternews and the World Bank Institute and unded by the Bill

& Melinda Gates Foundation, set out to look at the question o

what international donors are doing and the extent to which

their approaches to media development and reedom have

been adequate or eective. We have drawn on leading institu-

tions and collaborators rom around the world, along with indi-

vidual scholars and activists rom Arica, Asia and Latin America

(see list o collaborators on p. 2-3). We have undertaken seven

country case studiesCambodia, Democratic Republic o

Congo, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, Peru and Ukraineto examine

the last two decades o media support at the country level.

We have also assembled, made easily accessible and begun to

analyze the most extensive catalogue o multi-country data on

media with the hope that we can now begin to learn as much

as possible rom the existing evidence.

The ndings o this project point in many ways to the vast

amount o work that remains to be done, the gaps in our knowl-edge and the paucity o global data. The dearth o systematic

tracking o spending or o evaluations o media development

work means that ew meaningul impact studies can be done.

It also means that we are systematically ailing to learn rom

our mistakes.

At the same time, the evidence gives us a treasure-trove o

inormation about the nature and scope o outside interven-

tions in the media sector. Freedom House has been tracking

global media reedoms since 1989, with a quantitative index

since 1994, and the Media Sustainability Index has begun to

trackin 80 countries in Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East andAricathe range o institutional actors that aect media de-

velopment. We were able to assemble a broad scenario o the

amounts that donors are spending, and we looked at the con-

stantly changing media environments across the world.

The overall picture is one o a lack o political commitment

among developing countries to a robust domestic media sec-

tor, a lack o strategic ocus among development agencies, and

ragmented, poorly coordinated approaches among donors and

external support networks to media development. It shows

that even the most well-intentioned media development strat-

egies are rarely integrated within broader policy reorms or co-

ordinated within broader development plans. And despite many

individual cases o successul media development interven-

tions, our analysis shows serious shortcomings in one o the

most important actors that lead to successul development

outcomescountry engagement and leadership in the pro-

cess. The evidence also suggests that despite not insignicant

spending on media interventions, the international community

has vastly underestimated the potential o the media as one

o the catalytic sectors that could be unleashed to oster moresuccessul overall development.

Our analysis o media development acrossthe world shows serious shortcomings in oneo the most important actors that lead to

successul outcomes in developmentcountryengagement and leadership in the process.


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the cASe for MediA developMent2While internet caes and mobile phones are spreading, the

news business is in deep trouble. Producers o local and re-

gional news, the people who go into towns and villages and in-

vestigate how decisions are made and how money is spent, are

struggling to stay in business. Newspapers, which are typically

the media that spend the most on original reporting and eed

into other media like television and radio, are concentrated

in the capitals, target the literate elite and are oen subject

to manipulation by politicians or partisan business interests.

While social media has shown its power to oster revolution, it

is only starting to be a tool that enables citizens to delve deeply

into policy issues, constitutional debates or details about the

best way to x the public sector or health system.

In the poorest countries, such as those in Central Arica, ra-

dio, and particularly community radio, is the most importantmedium, providing people with critical inormation that helps

improve their daily lives. As chronicled in the inspiring video

documentary Magic Radio,6 the Central Arican country o Niger

is just one o the Bottom Billion nations dotted with these

weak but essential radio lielines that inorm, educate, hold

governments accountable and provide the social glue that

pulls a poverty-stricken people closer together.

Yet community radio stations remain as ragile as the nations

that depend on them. Most scrape by in a hand-to-mouth exis-

tence that shows ew signs o sustainability. Propped up by ex-

ternal donors, local contributors, and occasionally by a wealthy

local business leader (who typically hopes to gain inuence),

these radio stations are many peoples main source or news

and vital inormation. The newscast in one Benin-based com-

munity radio station that we visited consists o a selected read-

out o the Cotonou newspaper headlines, translated through-

out the day into a handul o local languages. From time to

time, the entrepreneurial newscaster sends the stations only

reporter out on his motorbike, recorder in hand, to track down

a local politician and quiz him on why the promised road is not

built or the community well is unrepaired. In these countries,

news is made and delivered on a shoestring.

The entire system on which this inormation inrastructure de-pends is unambiguously ragile. Only a handul o the poorest

countries have a single journalism school or program in a local

university. The newspapers, on which many o the radio sta-

tions still rely or their local news, are typically struggling to

survive. They are managed without even the most basic busi-

ness datathe size o their own circulation base or the reach

o their advertisements. They easily all under the sway o any-

one with money. The journalists are so poorly paid that many

resort to extracting ees in exchange or positive stories (see

Box A). Widespread training o journalists, one o the most re-

quent interventions o donor-unded programs, has not been

enough to keep high-quality sta in the media, but rather cre-ated a steady ow o new personnel or banks, NGOs and other

non-media organizations, where the pay is higher. Further,

some 46 journalists were killed in the line o duty in 2011, all

in developing or emerging economies.7 Needless to say, this is

not the inormation inrastructure needed or constructing an

end to poverty.

A stable and independent media could be an extraordinary

orce, not only in the poorest countries, but also in more prom-

ising developing countries that are struggling to create durable

institutions that support economic and social development. In-

dependent media helps generate discussions and debate about

critical reorms, improving the quality o decisions and helping

to strengthen consensus on the way orward. A ree and inde-

pendent media can draw attention to corruption, poor leader-

ship and the guns and money that oen impede change. And or

donors, an independent media can help ensure that the money

spent on overseas development assistance is used efciently and

ollows good principles o aid eectiveness. Media development

aid creates the independent journalism that tells you whether all

the other aid is being stolen, Eric Newton o the Knight Founda-

At a time when the world is being transormed by mobile communications and social media, billions o people

still live in countries where the production and distribution o vital inormation relies on a rickety, easily ma-

nipulated media inrastructure.


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tion said at the 2011 World Press Freedom Day celebrations in

Washington, DC. Just as reedom o expression supports all other

reedom, media aid supports all other aid.

The World Bank and a growing list o donors have recently com-

mitted to strengthening transparency in their developmentwork, releasing more inormation about their projects and

programs and giving outsiders ree access to the data about

development. The World Bank not only opened up 50 years o

development data, but has now completed the process o map-

ping its entire project portolio on interactive geo-coded maps,

so that citizens can look at their locality, click on data points

and see the money that is supposed to be spent on their local

development. Such transparency is an important building block

or a sustainable media, which can help si through the moun-

tains o data and draw attention to major issues in ways that

citizens can understand.

Yet the media in the developing world today too oen ails toprovide that sort o service to its public, and is oen too weak

to play a constructive role, or is controlled outright by the guys

with guns and money. The incentives in the system are skewed

to create a media or developing countries that is too oen highly

partisan, existing to support a particular economic, political or

individual cause, rather than to serve readers or listeners.

The Media Sustainability Index, which has begun to track the

progress in media systems in critical developing areas o the

world, shows the spotty progress towards creating eective

media environments. In Arica, or example, looking at the

combined scores rom ve overall dimensions o media sus-

tainabilityree speech, proessional journalism, plurality onews sources, business management, and supporting institu-

BOx A. HOW JOUrnAlISTS SUrvIvE In THE DrC8

in th Dmrat Rpubl th cng, th prat coupage

(takng a ut) has turnd urnalsts nt mrnars, rngrag nl t ths wh ar wllng t pa. cngls urnal-

st Ddr Kbng wrts: Th urnalsts rm th cngls

mda pa thmsls b prdung nrmatn nand b thr

surs. er urnalst has a pr, st b th markt: $10 t

$20 r a nwspapr rprtr, $20 t $30 r a rad urnalst and

$50 t $200 r rag b a Tv tam (t b dstrbutd amng

th urnalst, amraman, sund ngnr and thnan). Ths

s m n tp thr xpnss drtl pad t th mda

managrs r bradastng arabl nws. intrwd r ths

prt, th h dtr a bg nwspapr n Knshasa put t ths

wa: Hw an i rus t sgn and publsh a p drad and

brught t m b a pltal part whn publshng that p anbrng m $300, at th xat mmnt whn m landlrd thratns

t thrw m ut and whn m hldrn ha bn xplld rm

shl r nt hang pad shl s?

ertra 0.16 eq Guna 0.87

Rp. cng 1.42Dbut 1.27

ethpa 1.23Smala 1.29

Zmbabw 1.13

camrn 1.77cn.Ar.Rp 1.71

chad 1.87D.R. cng 1.69

Gabn 1.94Gamba1.62Lbra 1.96

Madagasar 1.86Maurtana 1.54

Ngr 1.94Srra Ln 2.00Smalland 1.82

Sudan 1.60Tg 1.54

Zamba 1.91Bnn 2.36

Btswana 2.21Burkna Fas 2.39

Burund 2.16

ct dir 2.09Ghana 2.27Guna 2.21Kna 2.23Malaw 2.35

Mal 2.11

Mzambqu 2.40Namba 2.39Ngra 2.23Rwanda 2.19Sngal 2.08Tanzana 2.34Uganda 2.35

Suth Ara 2.99

Usustaiabe, atiee Usustaiabe mied sstem nea sustaiabiit Sustaiabe

FIg. 4 MEDIA SUSTAInABIlITy InDEx FOr AFrICA, 2009.9

tionsthe MSI shows that most o the 40 nations in Arica that

are covered by the index remain well below sustainability, with

the lowest scores on business management and proessional

journalism. While such measures are inexact and intended to

mainly show overall trends, they do suggest the great scale

o the challenges that ace the media sector in much o thedeveloping world.

0-0.50 0.51-1.00 1.01-1.50 1.51-2.00 2.01-2.50 2.51-3.00 3.01-3.50 3.51-4.00

Combined average scores o ve dimensions o media sustainability on scale o 0 to 4


14/30


3 how donorS contribute toMediA developMentCountries like Poland closed down wheezing iron works and

replaced them with highly competitive media companies, cov-

ering a breathtaking range o opinions and topics. From their

newspapers and news broadcasts, the Poles learned what to

do with the newangled shares o privatized enterprises that

arrived in the mail, representing their part o state-owned enti-

ties. They ound the stock listings in new business sections o

newspapers like Rzeczpospolita, which transormed itsel rom

a communist mouthpiece into a highly respected and indepen-

dent media organization. Donors and international media or-

ganizations supported this country-led process with eectiveand airly well-coordinated action, ranging rom policy advice

to training in economics or a new generation o journalists and

managers. Rzeczpospolitas dramatic transormation reached a

pinnacle in 2006 when it and Britains The Guardian were voted

as the best-designed newspapers in the world among 389 en-

tries rom 44 countries.10

Several things characterized this and other successul media

outcomes in Central Europe. First, donors lined up behind coun-

try-driven change processes and took a systematic approach to

overall governance and economic reorms, oen guided by the

requirements o European Union membership. In Poland, therst non-communist prime minister aer World War II, Tadeusz

Mazowiecki, announced unambiguously that the government

would no longer own or control the media. While this cre-

ated an immediate crisis or many existing media companies,

it meant that a new generation o managers knew they had

to act quickly and decisively to survive. They sought investors

who could bring in the technology and training necessary to

make the transition. Donors, the World Bank, and organizations

like Internews and the Open Society Institute among others

also stepped in with a variety o interventions, rom training to

the highly successul loan programs o the Media Development

Loan Fund. News organizations sent their most valued sta to

training. Journalists responded eagerly to what they learned

and immediately tested it in their newsrooms.

Throughout the transition, the World Bank and the European

Union, advising Poland, the Czech Republic and other coun-

tries in the region, coupled guidance about public sector re-

orms with advice that supported the creation o institutionsneeded or a workable media sector, including help on trans-

parency, access to inormation, monopoly regulations, broad-

The promise o media development has nonetheless been recognized and has contributed to development in

a number o countries. It was seen clearly in the early days o transition in Central and Eastern Europe in the

1990s, when a group o countries moved rom centrally planned statist economic systems to market-based

systems. It was here that the donors and international media organizations pulled together and provided a

necessary boost, and they got much o it right.

While there were plenty o

controversiesparticularly

surrounding the high level o

oreign investment in the media

the overall result in much o Central

Europe was signicant public andprivate investment and an increasingly

diverse and independent media

sector that contributed to the

emergence o other pluralistic

and democratic institutions o

economic and political governance.


15/30


cast spectra and other public sector rules o the game. While

there were plenty o controversiesparticularly surroundingthe high level o oreign investment in the mediathe over-

all result in much o Central Europe was signicant public and

private investment and an increasingly diverse and indepen-

dent media sector that contributed to the emergence o other

pluralistic and democratic institutions o economic and political

governance.

As we ound in the seven countries where we looked in detail

at donor action over the last two decades, the ocus and co-

ordination that was seen in Central Europe is today quite rare

(see Boxes B and C on Ukraine and Cambodia, or illustrative

examples). International Media Support, the media donor coor-

dinating platorm o two dozen donors, said in its most recent

report that media support today is anything but coordinated:

The heterogeneity o intentions by donors and implementing

organizations in the eld o media has resulted in a variety o

priorities and outputs, some without any sustainable or long-term perspective in place and without any anchor in the local

medias agenda or development.11

Indeed, countries such as India that have been able to rely less

on donors have probably made more sustainable progress.

India has received relatively modest donor support over the

years, but has maintained a strong ocus on the enabling en-

vironment, and recently began a slow but progressive opening

to oreign investors. Indias changes have been largely country-

led and driven by strong civil society movements. Its 2005 right

to inormation law is one o the worlds most ambitious, and

has helped bolster a media industry that continues to expand

at a rate aster than the Indian economy as a whole. Over the

coming ve years, India is projected to be one o the astest-

growing media and advertising markets in the world.12


16/30


4 developing MediA cApAcityCapacity development is a broad concept that reers to the

ability o people, organizations and society as a whole to man-

age their aairs successully.13 It has evolved over the past

years rom a narrow preoccupation with training and technical

assistance to include an understanding o a more multiaceted

and complex process o change that aects not only individu-

als, but also organizations and broader social institutions like

laws and policies. This broader understanding includes the

enabling environment in which people and organizations oper-ate, as well as the ormal and inormal norms and values that

aect behaviors. The concept is also used to describe eorts

to improve the perormance and unctioning o highly complex

systems within countries and organizations. For the media, the

enabling environment consists o not only the political will to

build an open society and rigorous independent media institu-

tions, but more specic laws on ree speech, broadcasting reg-

ulations, and other such measures. In well-unctioning media

systems, supportive behaviors include a strong demand rom

the public or high-quality inormation, commitment by me-

dia to providing truthul, transparently veried inormation, a

strong drive to deend the public interest, and social tolerance

or a diversity o views.

One o the most important ndings o capacity development

analysis over the past ew decades is instructive or media

development: Supply-driven training programs and technical

assistance rarely build capacity successully.14 Capacity devel-

opment requires an approach that is country-led and driven by

local people who are determined to make change happen in

their local environment. While outsiders can help acilitate this

process o change, the international development community

has consistently overestimated its ability to build capacity in

the absence o national commitment, local ownership and rea-

sonably good governance.14 And nowhere has this overestima-

tion been more evident than in the case o the media, which

as we have seen has hardly advanced on a global basis when

measured by press reedom scores.

One way to illustrate this understanding o capacity develop-

ment is shown in Fig. 5 below, with the enabling environment

on the Y-axis, and skills and resources on the X-axis. Moving

rom point A to point B might be considered capacity devel-

opment, whereas moving along either the X-axis or the Y-axis

alone is insufcient.

Many media interventions are ocused mainly on the horizontal

X-axis and most commonly consist o journalist training pro-

grams. In the seven case studies that we undertook as part o

Media Map, journalist training programs were by ar the most

common intervention. Journalist training can be highly eec-

tive in an environment where journalists can practice theirtrade reely and where their managers are eager to improve

the quality o their products. But in the absence o those condi-

tions, training may help some individual journalists (oen to

nd better paying jobs in other elds), but it rarely results in

sustainable outcomes or the media sector as a whole. One re-

cent study suggested that journalist training as a component

o USAID-unded media development work has declined rom

over 80% in the 1990s to about 50% today.16 Though donor-

Unortunately, most o the rest o the developing world has proved to be much more resistant to change

than Poland in the 1990s or India in the last decade. In many developing countries, and particularly in the

poorest ones, media development has been a slow and rustrating process. It is time to reexamine how

media development is done. Inasmuch as media can help ensure the eectiveness o aid rom donors, the

eld o media development can learn rom the ongoing international debate on the most eective ways or

outside agencies to support development. One acet o that debate, on so-called capacity development, is

particularly relevant.


17/30


BOx B. lESSOnS FrOM A Un rADIO PrOJECT In CAMBODIA

o mjr cc u n tr ary Cm, $3 m rjcc R untaC, y rc cc, r . C r r rm, rjc r m r m . untaC r m rm m m rrc cr r r r r, c m -c Cm jr. R untaC rc nmr 1992, rrm r rr c, m r, r c untaC m. t rrm -r 346,000 r. dr cr cm, rc rcry mz crcy.i 1993, R untaC c rc r rc r 15 r y.

untaC rm mc rc yz r Cm m,rcry cr c c r, R untaC rc r cr-rc mrm r cy r c mr.

R untaC y rc cc untaC m, cr 90 rc r r ry cc r cr. F , r,

R untaC c , jr rr rcc r rr. t cy RuntaC rm ry mc . Fr xm, ngo eq acc rr -r cc r rmr R untaC . w , r untaCm y ry Cm ry r m r, crc rm c mc rr, r-rm mc.

sponsored media projects over the past two decades have

become increasingly attuned to the problems in the enabling

environment, many o the activities still come down to training

events as the key instrument o intervention, with ew other

well-unded eorts to aect the enabling actors or the mediasector overall. The key message that comes rom this analysis

is that media development cannot be undertaken in isolation,

and eorts to address political will and the supporting environ-

ment must be done simultaneously with the eorts to increase

skills and resources to ensure that those new resources are put

to eective use.

Attempts to aect the enabling environment (on the Y-axis)

are much less common because they are more costly, time-

consuming and complicated. Such interventions generally

require a longer and more comprehensive engagement not

only with the media, but also with a broader cross-section o

political leaders, civil society institutions, and other stakehold-

ers who aect the environment in which the media operates.

Making change in those systems must be led by committed

individuals and organizations within the country. Donors need

to coordinate their eorts and seek local champions to lead the

process. Outsiders can still play a key role by helping to acili-

tate this process, using their convening power to engage the

government, and through South-South knowledge exchange,

bringing local players in contact with peers rom other coun-

tries that have undergone similar reorms. Learning programs

that ocus on this broader process o change, including par-

ticipants rom all the key sectors, can also be helpul, as canproessional networks and associations that help set standards

and build proessional competencies.17

FIg. 5 CAPACITy DEvElOPMEnT = SKIllS + WIll, THOUgH THE

PATH IS rArEly lInEAr

A

BCapacity

Development

Skills, resources

Enabling

environment:

political will,

social

engagement


18/30


One o the key problems in media development is the weak or

nonexistent analysis done beore and aer interventions take

place. Work carried out or this report shows that ew donors

actually conduct systematic diagnostics to understand the

broader underlying problems that aect the media. So they

intervene, with all good intentions, and usually try to x the

most obvious problemin the case o media, that is the poor

journalism that emerges rom weak media organizations. And

while donors have increased the use o monitoring and evalu-

ation, they have not used the ndings rom these studies to

BOx C. FAIlIng TO STAy THE COUrSE In UKrAInE

a m ur m x y s u, c m c ry

c r cmmc c r c rm, , s m, cr rm . t, m cm r 1991, my -r mz r cm cmcy cy , . My c my c y c xrc mr jr.

dr crc m mc r r r. ty crrc rm c mm m c rz c tr. ty r -rr m , c stb tv, rm cc y. stb tv y rcz m c tv c cry, xm r-rjc m ccy r cm r qy c.

dr yr, r, r r r m m ur cycr, cm c c. t c cr c m rm

r r r c rr r r c. Fr xm, y mr m -rm rzcr ur c r cm r ry r my c r . ur c , ngo c r mr, rrc, xr r . dr r rr m rc cm r rz.

a r, my ngo rz r c ur 2000 rc-cy r rm c y c. o r rz, r y r rz rcr r m c c -rr m mr r.

improve the design o uture interventions. Through interviews

with media development donors, experts, and implementers,

we examined major donor perspectives on monitoring and

evaluation (M&E) and how donor agencies incorporate evalua-

tions into their unding decisions, i at all. We ound that nearly

80 percent o interviewees describe an increased emphasis on

M&E over the past 20 years. At the same time, however, we

ound little evidence that M&E was changing the landscape o

unding decisions, other than the now ubiquitous requirement

to provide some sort o M&E component to project proposals.


19/30


5Because much o the media in developing countries has ailed

to nd an economically sustainable and independent business

model, it is oen nanced and controlled by partisan economicor political interests. Even independently nanced media is o-

ten seen as purely oppositional and biased against the power

structure. Leaders o weak regimes and ragile states, many

o which are struggling to overcome conict or deep-seated

political divisions, argue that allowing dissent in the media

just makes things worse. Intervening to support such media

is complex and liable to be seen as interering in politics. Many

governments o developing countries resist the eorts o local

advocates as well as donors and international organizations to

intervene in the media sector; others allow it, but do little to

engage constructively to help build a broader movement that

would improve outcomes.

The news media operates within an intricate web o govern-

ment and non-governmental systems that require both pri-

vate initiative and a well-unctioning public sector. To oster

a media that serves the interests o society, countries need

broadly accepted and well-understood rules o the gameon

the reedom to speak, publish and distribute; on air competi-

tion and access to broadcast spectra, or example; or rules to

ensure that all citizens have access to inormation. It also helps

to have some degree o consensus on the role and scope o

government power.

The proper unctioning o these systems also arguably requires

values within the media itsel such as commitment to public

service and to truth-telling, and transparency and good ethics

in its own behavior, especially or media that operate as prot-

making enterprises. Some o these practices and behaviors

may take many years to cultivate and may emerge at dier-

ent times depending on the context. But it seems clear that

the societal and economic demand or accurate inormation,

too hot to touch? why hAventdonorS done More?

allowed to ourish, can be a powerul driver o an eective and

sustainable media.

Despite the complexity o the media sector, a growing cho-rus o voices has started to build a case or supporting media

as a critical component o development. Former World Bank

President James Wolensohn raised the prole o media devel-

opment work, arguing that it was a vital economic and devel-

opment issue. A ree press not only serves as an outlet or

expression, but it also provides a source o accountability, a

vehicle or civic participation, and a check on ofcial corrup-

tion. A ree press also helps build stronger and more eective

institutions, Wolensohn said in remarks to mark World Press

Freedom Day in 2004.18

Since that time, the World Bank has supported the develop-ment o independent media through a growing array o instru-

ments and interventions, and countries are increasingly open

to such work. Much could be done to integrate media devel-

opment more centrally in country-led development programs.

Even through the Banks charter prevents it rom intervening

in politics, the growing understanding o the media as a critical

institution or a working economic system has le an opening

or the Bank to use both lending and non-lending instruments,

technical assistance and other tools. Various types o media

work have taken place or at least 15 years, though at a rela-

tively small scale. The World Bank Institute, the learning and

capacity development arm o the World Bank, is integrating itswork on media with its overall support to open and transparent

governance, recognizing that one o the key issues or success

is societal engagement and local ownership o development

programs.

A more deliberate and eective approach by the World Bank

would also include rigorous, country-led diagnostics o the

overall governance and media environments, as well as mea-

Support or media development presents a number o conundrums or the international community. I the

media is primarily a private sector activity, shouldnt private investors take care o it? What is the role o the

donors, anyway?


20/30


sures to ensure transparency and eective media institutions

as part o all public sector reorm programs. This approach

could include interventions ranging rom South-South learning

and support to regional and global media advocacy networks

to investments in the news media by the Banks private sec-

tor arm, the International Finance Cooperation. The Bank could

also use its convening power to bring governments and other

players to the table to help ensure better leadership and co-

ordination.

The so-called Asian model presents a slightly dierent problem

or outside donors and supporters o media development. A

number o Asian countries like Singapore and China have main-

tained tightly controlled media sectors, and argue that the so-

called Western model o ree speech is not appropriate or theircountries. They have allowed a media sector to evolve with

certain limits on the level o open criticism o the government,

while at the same time resolutely resisting external inuence in

the sector. Modern Singapores ounding ather, Lee Kwan Yew,

devotes an entire chapter in his book on the Singapore story

to his attitude towards the media, and particularly to the re-

strictions he placed on oreign media circulating in Singapore.

He argued or the right to maintain government secrets and

to prevent the media rom publishing irresponsible or biased

reports. What he called the U.S. model was not valid or his

country or other parts o Asia, he said. A partisan press helped

Filipino politicians to ood the marketplace o ideas with junk,

he wrote, and conused and beuddled the people so that they

could not see what their vital interests were in a developing

country.19

China has adopted a similar stance, though the recent history

o the media in China suggests a gradual and selective opening

o the sector over time. At number 184 out o 196 countries,

China ranks near the bottom in Freedom Houses 2011 mediareedom list, and censorship o the internet and imprisonment

o journalists continues there. At the same time, journalists

and scholars say the Chinese media is increasingly allowed to

report on certain subjects such as business activity and even

corruption o localthough not nationalauthorities. The

media sector has also been undergoing a process o reorm,

commercialization, competition and massive investment. And

China is one o the countries most likely to see strong growth

in its advertising market over the coming decade (see Fig. 6,

below), creating uel or a competitive i not exactly indepen-

dent media sector.20

Overall, the so-called Asian model does little to contradict the

value o high-quality inormation or a developing society. This

model may suggest a variety o pathways and rhythms to reach

an ideal result, but Chinese analysts seem to agree that the

country will have to continue progressively opening its media

sector or China to maintain its economic growth. In the mean-

time, much Chinese commentary on the media industry has

ocused on the shortcomings o the Western media, which

it sees as controlled by a small number o overly powerul ty-

coons, and hardly a model to imitate. Isnt it surprising the

almighty media in the U.S. didnt get wind o the global nan-

cial crisis, created by greedy tycoons and their executives, letalone suggest precautionary measures? the China Daily wrote

in December 2011.21

BOx D. SIgnS OF PrOgrESS In CAMBODIA?

i Cm, C cr r a, r m my. Y r r y ar cy aaid r c-z cc rm cr cc. i bm, -r r c rrm r-ry r c c ngo myc c y r c cmmy. d Cm crrcc q ry, y rccy c , cr rr ymy, r cmmy r r m. dr r ,c cm m

c. t c rc c y y r c. t c y cy, c c cr r-c . h m mr r, rcr , ry r crm ccr cz.


21/30


With the advent o the internet, however, and growing con-

centration o the media in a relatively small number o giant

corporations, that model began to crumble. Most news orga-

nizations relied on their existing unding model to make their

highly valuable content reely available on their websites, help-

ing to propel the likes o Google and Yahoo, which thrived on

the ree content, all the while taking away advertising rom the

newspapers and other media that were producing that content.

Today, as even more advertising moves to internet search en-

gines and mobile devices, many media market analysts predict

the eventual collapse o the advertising-supported news gath-

ering model. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal

now both require regular online users to pay subscription ees,

but other less globally known organizations have resisted such

ees, earing that charging users will drive them away. While it

seems likely that the internet and mobile devices will become

the delivery method o choice or most media, it remains to be

seen how the news gathering unction will be nanced.

Such problems in major Western news organizations have

raised questions about what kind o business models donorsshould be supporting in developing countries. Will advertising

revenues still provide a path or the growth o strong, inde-

pendent media? Or will the news media need to be supported

through government or other types o subsidies? Developed

countries have managed to nd ways to subsidize high-quality

media systemsthe BBC and many other public news broad-

casters in Europe as well as National Public Radio in the U.S.

A queStion of buSineSS ModelS 6It is not just the China Daily that is unimpressed with many o the so-called models or a ree and indepen-

dent media. Indeed, the media in the developed world is going through wrenching changes, along with the

virtual collapse o the dominant unding approach that was used by most major media organizations. For

most o the 20th century, independent media organizations grew by selling advertising and subscriptions.

This revenue allowed the media companies to invest in independent news gathering, reporting and investiga-

tive journalism. Because that revenue was spread over a variety o advertisers, no one company was able to

overly inuence the news gathering process. While the system was never perect, many news organizations

managed to build successul businesses, editorially independent rom unding sources.

BOx E. A SEArCH FOr nEW BUSInESS MODElS

a frry cy rr rcy xr r m r m mr, yz r .

o rr c mmc

m mr mr y c y rc, m c r cr r yr c r r mr ccm. dm r y cr cry r cr, c rc . o mjr rqrmr c r rm m my rm c r cmr m cc m . Anne Nelson et al, Financially Viable Mediain Emerging and Developing Markets, WAN-IFRA, Paris,

May 2011, p. 7

n m c xc r cr crm cr, cr, cm. i m, r, m mrz r, y r m cr r rmm c cry r cr cc m. Michelle J. Foster,Matching the market and the model: The business of indepen-

dent news media, CIMA, Washington, D.C., August 2011, p. 13


22/30


survive with a combination o public and private unding. But it

is unclear whether such approaches will work well in develop-

ing countries, which rarely have the institutional independence

to resist the pressure that usually comes with government

money.22

Our work suggests that developing country media still have sig-

nicant room or growth by increasing advertising to become a

major part o the revenue mix. Advertising is growing rapidly in

many emerging market economies and is projected to expand

even more quickly over the coming ve years (see Fig. 6). While

new platorms such the internet and mobile phones are poised

to capture a big piece o this growth, Magnaglobal and other

orecasting rms see the increase in traditional news media ad-

vertisingalready strong in China, India, the Middle East and

much o Latin Americacontinuing into the near uture.

Some donors are also supporting hybrid models in the hope that

it will spur innovation. That trend, along with market-driven ex-

perimentation, suggests that new independent media business

Argentina

India

Serbia

China

KazakhstanTurkey

Indonesia

Egypt

South Africa

Brazil

Ukraine

Colombia

Singapore

South Korea

Thailand

Poland

Chile

Mexico

Ecuador

United States

UK

Germany

0 5 10 1520

25

FIg. 6 FIvE-yEAr ADvErTISIng grOWTH FOrECAST In PErCEnT FrOM All SOUrCES InClUDIng

InTErnET, BrOADCAST, nEWSPAPErS AnD OTHEr.25

models will evolve. Among the solutions seen in one recent

review o new models were investigative journalism centers

unded by donors; online media with outside investment and

debt nancing; and experimental cell phone-based reporting

trying new ee-based models.23 Non-prot investigative report-

ing organizations like ProPublica,24 and jointly nanced report-

ing ventures where two or more organizations pool resources

to undertake costly investigations, may also play an important

role in the uture o the news media.

Such trends make it all the more important or developing

countries to improve the enabling environment or indepen-

dent mediaboth the ormal laws and the everyday practices

by media practitionersso that emerging media can stay on

top o the continuing evolution, particularly as new business

models emerge. The developments also argue or South-South

exchanges so that innovations in one part o the world can help

inorm practitioners in other parts o the world who are acing

similar challenges.

Adrtsng Grwth Frast 2011-2016


23/30


7Some o the conclusions apply to developing countries and lo-

cal activists, since it is they who will need to take the lead in

building media systems that work in their context. Other rec-ommendations apply to international donors, the international

organizations that und media development and the interna-

tional media NGOs that implement these projects. Still others

pertain to media advocacy groups, who have an important role

in raising awareness and helping to spread lessons about suc-

cessul media development activities around the world. Over-

all, however, all o these conclusions require collective action.

Indeed, it is one o the key ndings o this work that a lack

o collective action is at the heart o disappointing progress in

media development.

Country leadership and ownershipFew countries have successully implemented major reorms

without signicant national leadership and broad-based sup-

port rom citizens, parliament, the private sector and other

important actors in society. Many developing countries need a

more open and sustained debate about how a successul media

could help them achieve their development objectives through

improved ow o inormation, stronger accountability and ex-

posure o corruption. Most importantly, generating a discussion

about the role o the media is the key to building ownership

and responsibility or the necessary policies and to ensure that

countries get the high-quality media they deserve.

South Arican President Jacob Zuma, who has not always en-

joyed an easy relationship with media, nonetheless has in

one aspect ollowed in the ootsteps o modern South Aricas

ounding ather, Nelson Mandela, who helped lay the ounda-

tions or a strong and ree media. Speaking to the National Edi-

tors Forum in 2009, President Zuma said he supported a ree,

but responsible media. Today we look to these journalists

concluSion: three AreASfor collective Action

and to the media in general as a vital partner in strengthening

our democracy and promoting the rights or which our people

ought.As a country, we need journalists who are dedicated totheir cra and to their audience. We seek reporting that is cred-

ible and honest and inormative. We seek comment and analy-

sis that challenges us and provides resh insight into our world

and the challenges we ace. This is a challenge that is seem-

ingly difcult in an ever-changing world, and in an industry that

is undergoing major changes. The same National Editors Fo-

rum is now calling on President Zuma to stop the Protection

o State Inormation Bill, which was passed by parliament in

November 2011 and seen as a major setback to South Aricas

previous leadership on transparency and governance issues.

Outsiders have paid too little attention to the need or the local

public to take ownership o the process o media development,

oen assuming they can push countries to improve their media

even when there is no domestic demand or change. This helps

reinorce the belie in many countries that the media is by

denition part o the political opposition, rather than a critical

building block o a sustainable society. Countries certainly need

media that can criticize government and decision-makers, but

they also need media that can provide inormed discussion and

even help build consensus or reorms.

For independent media to thrive, such consensus must be

developed on policy matters including access to inormation,

transparency and the value o airing a diversity o views. Thisshared understanding can lay a rmer oundation or a culture

o truth-telling and act-driven policymaking, in turn creating

the demand or high-quality media. A strong national consen-

sus on media can also help set the standards under which the

media itsel operate, creating competition or quality inorma-

tion, rather than sensationalism, rumors and other media prac-

tices that ourish when the media is weak or manipulated by

its paymasters. Helping citizens understand what types o in-

The ndings o the Media Map Project suggest a number o ways that the international development com-

munity might obtain better results rom media development, helping to realize the ull potential that media

oers to help countries combat poverty, poor governance and corruption.


24/30


ormation should be at their disposal could create demand or

quality coverage o government, the economy and the private

sector, and would help educate the public about the choices

they have to make to achieve sustainable development. Inturn, growing citizen participation in the news-gathering and

distribution process through social media can also enhance the

quality and relevance o the news and inormation available to

the public.

Integrating media reforms intocountries overall developmentagendasBuilding broad consensus on the important role o the media

will require concerted action not only by local governments,activists and opinion leaders, but also donors and major in-

ternational organizations like the World Bank. The success o

media development in Central Europe and the progress that is

being made in some countries in Arica, Latin America and else-

where, has owed rom donors and partner countries working

together. In reorms o the public sector, the judiciary and rule

o law, and in implementing legislative instruments like access

to inormation laws as well as air competition and broadcast-

ing regulations, it is vital to coordinate and consider how this

will impact the media sector.

There is need or a more comprehensive approach that involves

not just journalists, but media managers and key people out-

side the media. These include government ofcials and leaders,

parliamentarians, and leaders o non-governmental organiza-

tions. Networks, particularly proessional networks that help

journalists and other practitioners gain exposure to proes-

sionals rom other countries, can be a powerul channel or

building stronger commitment to reorms. Media experts in

Ukraine have requently looked to Poland as a model or how

they could reorm their system, and sought Polish expertise in

building consensus or reorms. South Arica, Chile, India and

other successul reormers have a critical role to play not only

in continuing to strengthen their own media environments, butalso in setting an example and sharing knowledge with other

emerging nations.

While integrating into the overall development agenda, donors

need to think careully about the incentives they use and prac-

tices they encourage. In particular, it is important that donors

not conuse development communications with media devel-

opment. Communicating on key aspects o development can

be a vital, even lie-saving activity, helping people to learn

about important development issues such as heath or critical

economic issues. Disseminating messages on how to prevent

HIV inections, or example, or the health benet o simple

hand washing, have been staples o radio programs in develop-

ing countries or many years and have proven highly eective

in helping people learn new approaches to daily routines and

change behaviors.26

At the same time, trying to oster news coverage o avor-

ite donor themes through direct payments, or even oering

expenses-paid training events to journalists, is a less virtuous

business. Many donors pay per-diems or journalists to come

to training events, ensuring strong attendance, but doing little

to oster ideal ethical and independent practices, and unwit-

tingly reinorcing expectations that reporters should be paid

or their stories. Some donors are as bad as our politicians,said one journalist who attended a World Bank anti-corruption

workshop in Senegal in 2009. He said the top politicians in his

West Arican country used payments, political pressure and

even threats to get journalists to stay in line and give positive

coverage. Supporting development o a media sector that more

closely serves the public interest can oster coverage o criti-

cal subjects o interest to readers and listeners, and help instill

more reputable practices.

Today we look to these journalists and to the media in general as a vital partner in

strengthening our democracy and promoting the rights or which our people ought.

As a country, we need journalists who are dedicated to their cra and to their audi-

ence. We seek reporting that is credible and honest and inormative. We seek com-ment and analysis that challenges us and provides resh insight into our world and

the challenges we ace. This is a challenge that is seemingly difcult in an ever-

changing world, and in an industry that is undergoing major changes.

South Arican President Jacob Zuma, 2009.


25/30


As seen in Central Europe, a country with a commitment to

broad-based reorm generates demand or veriable inorma-

tion. As countries generate new economic activity, new busi-

nesses enter the marketplace, seeking inormation about resh

opportunities, changing laws and regulations and the eects

o new policies. Citizens, businesspeople and investors turn to

the media to learn about these changes; media that are able to

provide credible inormation can begin to thrive. In such a sce-

nario, donor action to support the media can be especially e-

ective, and simple training programs may be all that is needed.

Without such demand, however, donors should diagnose the

local media environment to determine most eective inter-

ventions, careully abiding by a do-no-harm philosophy, and

seeking approaches that can help stimulate demand.

At the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Eectiveness that con-

cluded in December 2011 in Busan, South Korea, 80 developed

and developing countries agreed to a New Global Partnershipon Development. A major aim o that partnership is to shi the

ocus o development activities to the country level, and to

support country-led compacts that would ocus on local pri-

orities. Even though media got short shri in the proceedings,

media development activists will have an opportunity to make

the case or media as a key ocus o country-led development.

The aim should not be to und media enterprises directly but to

build the political, institutional, legal and business oundations

or a proessional and vigorous media.

Expanding Data, Diagnosticsand LearningWhile gathering and analyzing the best available data on me-

dia development, our work has also demonstrated how much

we dont know about the media, particularly in the developing

world. This lack o data and inormation about emerging and

especially developing media markets is a signicant barrier to

building successul media enterprises and supporting media

development and reorms.

Much o the literature on media development has used press

reedom as the proxy or progress in media development. While

press reedom may very well be the key indicator or a nations

commitment to the values o a pluralistic, open society, it may

not always be the best indicator or tracking and measuring

change in the media sector, and is just one piece o a complex

system.

For countries making the transition rom a highly controlled and

poorly perorming press, it may be helpul to ocus on a wider

array o actors, such as those included in the MSI, as a more

practical way to make progress. Freedom o the press without

proessionalism can lead to excess, to a press that sells inu-

ence rather than news, resulting in setbacks or the cause o in-

dependent media. Instead o ocusing exclusively on reedom,

attention to building a stronger enabling environmentas

well as sector-specic issues like media management, editorial

quality and supporting institutionsmay be a more eective

approach to getting results in some o the lagging countries.

Mali, or example, has the highest level o press reedom in

Arica, a region where a minority o countries has ree press.

The legal ramework or media protects pluralism and ree-

dom o expression. But Mali is also an example o the limits o

press reedom and how such reedom does not automatically

translate into a sustainable media sector that provides reliable,

relevant inormation to the public. The sector suers rom low

levels o journalistic and management proessionalism, poor

institutional inrastructure and low investment in the mediasector. Journalists lack key skills (not a single university-level

journalism school exists), suer poor working conditions, and

earn salaries close to minimum wage. This means both that

most journalists have only the equivalent o a high school edu-

cation, and that journalists are vulnerable to accepting bribes

simply to survive. Libel is still punishable as a criminal oense,

which means that journalists tend to sel-censor in order to

protect themselves.

To better understand countries like Mali, beyond measuring

the reedom o the press, we need a much more serious ap-

proach to collecting local sector-level data on the media thatcan help policy makers, potential investors in media concerns,

and media managers. Media companies in developing countries

desperately need inormation about their audiences and adver-

tising markets. These are key management tools. Yet the rms

that collect and sell such data have not ound it protable to

study the least developed countries, though they have gradu-

ally expanded into promising emerging markets. Donors could

support such processes, including projects that help media

managers understand how to use this kind o data, until market

orces are stronger.

Donors and investors could also stimulate better media by in-

vesting in audience research and making existing data more

available to researchers. Both the UK and the US governments

have spent millions o dollars on such research over the years,

mainly to track the impact o broadcast initiatives like Radio Free

Europe and the BBC, but none o this data is reely available.

The World Association o Newspapers and News Publishers

(WAN-IFRA) and other such industry groups have also been in-

strumental over the past two decades in producing data on a


26/30


growing number o countries, and shining light on emerging and

developing country media markets. WAN-IFRAs annual World

Press Trends analyzes an important set o indicators or media

markets such as advertising, online news production and reader-

ship, circulation, and many other critical issues. It has expanded

to cover a growing list o developing countries over the years;

indeed a countrys appearance in World Press Trends is one key

sign that investors are starting to notice that countrys media

market is stabilizing. The need to gather such data and expand it

to developing countries, along with other pioneering eorts like

the MSI, could go a long way to illuminating the black hole o

data on the media sector in the poor areas o the world.

An agenda for actionThe work o the Media Map Project has drawn attention to both

the promise and the complexities o supporting media develop-

ment. It has noted the critical importance o the work that has

been done by the international media development community

and the progress that some countries have made. But it has

also shown the shortcomings the status quo, particularly or

the poorest countries, which have the most to gain rom better

media but the urthest to go in developing it.

An abundance o evidence suggests that creating stable and

eective media enterprises is a core challenge o development,

one that cuts across sectors, reaching up and down through

societies and helping development reach deep into communi-

ties. Promoting vigorous and independent media needs to beone o the undamental constituents o development strate-

gies. Weak or awed media is too oen seen as a sideshow

or an annoyance, not important enough to warrant a rigorous,

mainstreamed eort.

As a result, the piecemeal approaches to media development

to date are not getting visible or sustainable results, at leastwhen viewed at the global level. Some may be helping, but the

international community needs to undamentally rethink its

approaches and better coordinate its work to generate more

eective and ar-reaching solutions. This means a new ap-

proach to media development that is broader than the narrow,

sector-level interventions o the past, integrated with other de-

velopment programs that can help create stronger supporting

institutions or the media.

One message that comes through loud and clear is this: Coun-

try-level demand and leadership are critical to changing the

at line that opens this report to an upward slope. Countries

and their international partners need to ocus on building broad

domestic support and buy-in or a vigorous, independent and

economically successul media sector that has a mandate to

serve its audience as a source o truthul inormation. This will

require integrating a better understanding o the needs o such

a media into development plans and into the new institutions

that developing countries are building. It will require high-

level leadership and strong technical support rom outsiders

and rom other countries in the South that are making more

progress. And as the recent battle over the state secrets act

in South Arica illustrates, it will also require constant vigilance

rom local activists who will have to continue to ght or theirhard-won reedoms long aer the donors are gone.


27/30


notes

1Data rom Freedom House Freedom o the Press Index. Freedom House scales its ratings rom 0 (best) to 100 (worst). We have

rescaled the scores or the graphs in this report so that 0 is worst and 100 is best, to make the graph more intuitively understand-

able.

2The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, 2007.

3This estimate is based on Ofcial Development Assistance data rom the Organization or Economic Cooperation and Development

(See www.oecd.org/dac/stats/data) as well as examination o more detailed studies compiled by CIMA, see note 5 below.

4For a review o the oen politically-driven spending on media and ree expression assistance, see Anne Nelson, Funding Free

Expression: Perceptions and Reality in a Changing Landscape, Center or International Media Assistance, 2011.

5Charts or gures 2-3 produced using data on European donors rom the Center or International Media Assistances updated re-

port, Empowering Independent Media, (orthcoming). Data on U.S. investment rom Laura Mottaz, U.S. Funding or Media Devel-

opment, Center or International Media Assistance, December 2010. Data or total aid investment used or chart 3 rom OECD DAC.

Mary Myers, who put together gures on donor spending or the orthcoming CIMA report, notes that these gures were arrived

by a combination o methodologies, as ollows:

EC (Euopea Commissio): This is an estimated gure or media assistance via European Commission institutions and mecha-

nisms such as the Directorate General or Development (DG DEV), EuropeAid Co-Operation Ofce (AIDCO), External Relation (RELEX),

Inormation Society and Media (INFSO), European Association or Cooperation (EAC). $80m in FY 2009/10 is an educated guess

arrived by taking the total expenditure enumerated by the Ringaard study which identied 42 media projects in Arica unded by

EU institutions amounting to a total spend in 2009 o 31.29m ($46.32m USD) and extrapolating up or the rest o the world.

UK (Uited Kidom): This is an estimated gure or media assistance rom the UKs Department or International Development

(DFID) and excludes UK Foreign and Commonwealth Ofce unding (which is thought to be substantially lower). This total gure

o $44.5m USD is based on a trawl through ofcially reported data on DFIDs website to identiy all media-assistance projects. This

search identied 46 projects judged to be media-support initiatives, most o which are multi-year projects. Averages are ound by

taking a snap shot o unding or the FY 2009/2010; thus, or e.g., DFID total unding or the BBCs WSTrusts Policy and Research

program over 5.5 years was divided by 5.5 to arrive at an indicative average annual gure. Projects in this whole data set range

rom typical media-development projects such as capacity-building or Iraqi journalists, to using media as a tool or conveying

development messages, such as a ootball-based TV soap opera around gender-based violence, implemented by Search or Com-

mon Ground.

netheads: This is an estimated gure o $39.8m USD, based on correspondence with Wouter Biesterbos, Senior Policy Ofcer,

Good Governance Division at the Netherlands Ministry o Foreign Aairs in April 2011. It includes both media-support and spend-

ing on the development o ICTs, notably via a large grant to IICD (International Institute or Communication and Development IICD)

which helps developing countries ormulate ICT policies and applications in dierent sectors, ranging rom health, education, and

good governance to rural development. The Dutch Co-nancing Program (CFP) contribution over our years (2011-2015) amounts

to 40 million or this project alone. The total gure given here, o $39.8m USD, is a guesstimate o the share o project budgets

allocated to media components, and is not ofcial. For example, in most cases we have guessed that the media component al-located within this project is a third o total spend - but this may be over-generous.

Switzead ad Caada are all gures publicly reported on the donors websites and/or obtained through correspondence with

the relevant desk ofcers. See the orthcoming updated CIMA report or details.

Swede - this is a gure provided by senior conict and media adviser, Pia Hallonsten rom Swedish International Development

Assistance (Sida) or 2010.

6Magic Radio, a lm by Stephanie Barbey and Luc Peter, Intermezzo Films, SA, 2007.
http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/datahttp://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/data


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7Data collected by the Committee to Protect Journalists, see http://cpj.org/killed/2011/(accessed 25 January 2012).

8The materials in text boxes A-C was adapted directly rom the country case study reports.

9Source http://www.irex.org/msi.

10See http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/eb/21/theg

Documents

Rethinking Media Dev Web (2)