Literature review & case studies
Here you will find the relevant resources and case studies for the PRIMED Workshop on March 26
Last updated
Here you will find the relevant resources and case studies for the PRIMED Workshop on March 26
Last updated
This brief is the fifth and final in a series of learning briefs generated as part of Protecting Independent Media for Effective Development (PRIMED), a large media development programme funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and implemented by a consortium of media support organisations.
This brief outlines practical recommendations for designing future media development programmes, as part of PRIMED’s objective to create and share learning to contribute to a more targeted and impactful global approach to supporting media outlets.
Spending time to understand how media content is consumed, who produces it and why, is essential to achieving lasting change. Media support programmes should allow sufficient time to understand the context before designing their interventions.
Adopting a holistic business analysis approach is likely to work better than the traditional needs assessment approach. It is also an effective way of ensuring that reform programmes are locally led and context-led.
Not all media organisations can be supported. Tough choices have to be made and defended, and media development experts need to be ready to walk away from failing partnerships.
Local coalitions should lead the media environment reform agenda but the organisations behind those coalitions also need support.
Embed gender targets in the media outlets’ reform programmes. The commitment shown by media outlets’ leaders is fundamental to progress in this area.
Design agile programmes that can respond to changing opportunities and be ready to terminate workstreams that fail to show results.
Use expertise from across the media development sector by bringing in the right skills at the right time. Simplifying programme governance structures and contracting in specific skills will reduce overheads and speed up delivery.
Acknowledge and address the mismatch between the reality of short-term funding cycles and the lengthy process of improving media ecosystems.
To achieve lasting change, organisations that seek to defend independent media need to respond to and reflect the staying power and resourcing of those who want to undermine independent media.
In CIMA’s latest report, Are Donors Taking the Journalism Crisis Seriously? An Analysis of Official Aid to Media 2010–2019, Mary Myers and Heather Gilberds analyze trends in official aid flows to the media from 2010-2019. They highlight that, despite increased attention in recent years to media development and press freedom as priority areas of international cooperation, a substantial increase in foreign assistance to the media sector has yet to be seen.
This position paper puts forward suggestions for further practical and theoretical engagement with media development cooperation. It draws from the experience of the four-year graduate school MEDAS 21 engaging with diverse perspectives in this broad field. It also summarizes important conclusions and learnings drawn from the work in the graduate school and suggests recommendations for future work at the intersection of media development cooperation’s theory and practice.
