MediaDev effectiveness
Articles about the effectiveness of media development, as well as the priorities and strategies of donors.
Last updated
Articles about the effectiveness of media development, as well as the priorities and strategies of donors.
Last updated
This resource page is a work in progress. Please get in touch to let us know what is missing using this form.
Media Impact Funders
Some highlights from the Journalism Funders' Conference organised by Media Impact Funders (October, 2022).
MIF hosted JFunders22, the annual gathering of journalism funders. This network, which has not gathered in person since 2019, celebrated 20 years of journalism funders in community and connection. At the start of our two-day gathering, attendees were able to hear about the early years of this network, including the challenges and how they’ve evolved.
Throughout this conference, funders who are supporting and leading some of the most important work in journalism today were able to dig deeper into funding strategies and questions, and were able to experience talks and discussions about what’s working, how and why it works, and how we can do more.
The conference featured a number of sessions on local media as a driver of civic engagement, case studies on innovative efforts to fund local journalism, as well as a roundtable on reimagining power dynamics between funders and non-profit media.
Other speakers also looked into the importance of scientific journalism for combatting medical dis/mis-information.
Medium - ADAM THOMAS
The Hill - JEANEE BOURGAULT
"Timing is everything when supporting media in emerging democracies.
Funds should be set aside for “breakthrough” moments that allow for building an effective, collaborative media reform agenda, backed by resources to support this agenda over the long term.
Establishing strong free press laws and regulations as new constitutions are written makes it harder for future regimes to weaken them."
"Money is pouring in for the Ukrainian journalists covering the invasion of their homeland. A fundraising campaign organized by journalism groups The Fix, Are We Europe, Jnomics, and Media Development Foundation has raised more than $4 million in a little over two weeks."
"Public broadcasters are part of a nation’s media-political system — but they’re also a result of it. More public funding of media would do some wonderful things on the ground to create more informed and engaged communities."
"Media attention influences how governments allocate humanitarian aid. Specifically, it appears to explain why some UN appeals for humanitarian aid are almost fully supported... while others receive a fraction of the required funding."
"Coalition-building is a complex set of moving parts that is, to a large extent, hostage to the vagaries of the given political, economic and social landscape – and multiple factors over which international organisations have limited influence or control. There are no shrink-wrapped solutions or off-the-shelf frameworks; success relies on an in-depth understanding of the local operating environment as well as trust-based relationships with key stakeholders."
This article argues that development actors tend to pay media to publish content that often is just their PR material in disguise and makes suggests how a rethink could support rather than undermine independent journalism and the aid sector’s credibility.
"This report is designed to give funders a succinct and accessible introduction to the practice of funding investigative journalism around the world, via major contemporary debates, trends and challenges in the field."
"A future agenda for media assistance cannot simply repeat the same strategies that have applied – sometimes successfully, sometimes not, in the past. What do we know has worked, what do we know has not worked, what might work in the future?"
International development organizations tend to agree that more coordination is better in order to reduce activity duplication and scale successful projects. Indeed, it’s vital to be strategic about funding and approaches to common causes, particularly when it comes to media development for which funding is scarce. We’ve all seen international organizations try to improve coordination over the years in different forms—usually encouraged by donors—yet despite pouring money into pricey coordination activities, convoluted funding schemes and overlapping development approaches have persisted.
For more resources on the effectiveness of media development see:
This resource page is a work in progress. Please get in touch to let us know what is missing using this form.
