International support can boost local confidence

These exchanges can be instrumental in building ownership for results, as local stakeholders are empowered to decide what works for them and choose appropriate solutions. These capacity-building efforts can be rolled out in different ways – through remote exchanges between peers, through on-site mentoring or, in the case of the International Federation of Journalists’ efforts to develop a 'Declaration on Media Freedom in the Arab World', through an extensive online consultation bringing together experts from across the region.

Second, international support can be highly effective in boosting the confidence of local actors. Media practitioners often experience a sense of isolation: they believe their problems to be unique and that, in any case, the outside world is largely indifferent to the challenges they face. External support helps to demonstrate that they are not alone, that they have loyal allies in what can be a gruelling battle of wills between civil society actors and political elites. As noted Jane Chirwa at the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in Zambia, these partnerships can also help promote international benchmarks, which serve to set the aspirations of industry players and government stakeholders alike. 

The third area highlighted by PRIMED workshop participants was the role of international partners in unlocking funding streams and coordinating the efforts of the wider development community. The latter is, in my view, crucial for international support efforts worldwide and is sadly lacking in many regions. Frictions exist between implementing organisations competing for grants. There is also a spirit of competition between donor agencies which share an understandable desire to fund the most innovative projects and remain ahead of the curve. The result is widespread duplication and a limited appetite for pooling resources. 

Asking for what is needed

But, for me, one of the most interesting takeaways from the PRIMED workshop was the observation that local partners should feel empowered to request the kind of support they need. Too often donors and international agencies base their programmes on assumptions and preconceptions. In extreme cases, the unwritten mantra seems to be: “Our experience in similar environments tells us that this is what you need.” Moreover, an insistence on quick-wins and time-bound results means that donors are often unwilling to invest in a slow burn, even if it has greater potential to deliver long-term impact.

Coalition-building is the ultimate stress test for effective partnerships between international partners and local beneficiaries. Coalitions require a joined up approach that takes full advantage of the unique qualities and assets that each stakeholder has to offer. They require an ability to adapt to changing circumstances and seize opportunities as and when they arise. Most of all, they depend on long-term support from international partners who are prepared to acknowledge that progress will be slow and the rewards may be very different from those which were initially envisaged.

Donors are not known for having limitless patience or sharing an appetite for risk. But if they do not invest in initiatives which can foster an enabling environment for independent media to operate, their efforts to build capacity in other areas are likely to have muted resonance.

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Michael Randall has worked in the media development sector for more than 20 years, mostly for ±«Óãtv Media Action where he led large-scale projects aimed at promoting public interest journalism in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Michael currently works as an independent consultant, focusing on project design and development as well as monitoring, evaluation and learning.

PRIMED is a ground-breaking media support project in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone, led by ±«Óãtv Media Action with support from Free Press Unlimited, International Media Support, the Media Development Investment Fund, Global Forum for Media Development and The Communication Initiative, where a version of  first appeared. PRIMED is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. 

 

For 20 years, we have supported media freedom and strengthened media in fragile and developing countries, working with partners to develop conditions and skills in support of independent media which meet public needs and provide space for constructive public dialogue. Our work is rooted in the values and mission of the ±«Óãtv in its focus on supporting independent media that is trusted, can engage as many parts of society as possible, and that works in the public interest. Our expertise spans financial sustainability; creative, editorial and production capabilities; governance and regulatory environments; and supporting networks to help build media’s resilience to political pressures.

In the last six years alone, we’ve supported independent media to enable informed public debate around more than ten elections, reaching over 124 million people. And we have some great success stories to share from our work with our partners around the world, in some very challenging contexts.

In Southern Iraq, public service broadcaster Radio Al Mirbad has grown from its founding in 2005 into a fully independent, highly influential local entity, supported by our distance mentoring, production and editorial advice. Some 81% of its weekly audience agree that Al Mirbad follows up and monitors the work of government, and 86% agree that it speaks for Iraqi citizens. The dedicated YouTube channel for its popular satirical videos has more than four million subscribers and 850 million lifetime views.

In Zambia, we have been working with local independent radio stations since 2011, to help them strengthen their capacity and improve their sustainability and community impact. Recent research shows that people who listened regularly to these radio programmes and outdoor debates on local issues were significantly more likely to feel that they could positively influence their community’s politics and governance issues over those who did not listen.

In Tanzania, Haba na Haba (Slowly But Surely) is the nation’s most widely broadcast radio show. We produce this national, accountability-focused programme with local broadcast partners, who in turn make their own sister shows, each with their own brands and social media presence, which add around 500,000 listeners to the overall Haba na Haba audience, which now stands at 5 million people. These shows are now largely financially self-sustaining. Our team of mentors and producers are supporting these partners to prepare for the ultimate handover of the large national show, by building production skills and improving their commercial viability.

But despite the real significance of these successes, we believe that new ways of working in - and thinking about - media development are critical to turn the tide in favour of genuinely independent public interest media. Multi-level change and new alliances are needed to help build the skills, management structures and financial models required to support high-quality, balanced, independent editorial content. So, too, are supportive regulatory and legal reforms, paired with political will at all levels to call out repression of free media and abuses against journalists.

Donor support in this space is critical too - both to help address market failures and support the discovery and application of new media support strategies, fit for a changing world. And donors need to be armed with better information about how, where and when their support can be most effectively channelled.

The challenges remain immense. Alongside political attacks on media, the economic environment for independent public interest media is increasingly hostile, to the extent that in many fragile and resource poor settings, a market model barely exists. Cognisant of these challenges, in recent months we’ve been actively working with local, national and international organisations to explore how – together - we might do media development differently, and better.

What we think needs to change

We believe that media development must be clearly guided by locally-led, systems-wide strategies, rooted in robust market analysis. Bringing local actors together to identify key challenges and ways forward through structured, participatory processes is a critical first step. Multi-disciplinary expertise is then required to address the challenges identified on the ground, bringing in players from the private as well as not-for-profit sectors. At ±«Óãtv Media Action, we are more committed than ever to playing our part in forming and collaborating with open and diverse partnerships to drive change.

We also need to do more to make sure that these strategies grapple with the tensions inherent in delivering media support in media landscapes fragmented by the unequal pace of technological change. Platforms that are trusted sources of information are no longer always the same as those capable of convening constructive public debate. To address this, in any context, we need to focus on supporting media partners who can do both. We also need to find ways to reach poor and marginalised audiences with public interest media now, whilst also devising approaches fit for purpose in a rapidly changing digital age.

Turbo-charging learning in this sector is critical too. While project level impact data and sharing on the effectiveness of media development initiatives have improved significantly in recent years, a clear evidence base on enabling financial viability and political resilience of independent media is sparse, especially in fragile and resource-poor settings. This evidence gap is widening as the environments in which independent media operates deteriorates, and exacerbated by a lack of opportunity to share evidence and then apply it to practical work on the ground. At ±«Óãtv Media Action we want to do more to address this. One strategy we are actively pursuing with partners and donors is the establishment of a Media Development Lab, to substantially accelerate learning and sharing of learning in this field.

Finally, as well as helping to build the commercial viability of our local media partners we are arguing strongly for continued and committed international support to media development, in part through a Global Fund for Public Interest Media. With funding from Luminate, we are now carrying out a feasibility study, working in close collaboration with partners carrying out other international policy initiatives designed to further the critical cause of free, public interest around the world.

On World Press Freedom Day, we all feel keenly the threats posed to media freedom. Together we need to mark successes while committing to rethinking media support, to ensure that resilient, viable and independent media survive and thrive in this increasingly challenging landscape.