[FoME] Studie zur US-Medienförderung

[Christoph Dietz]

Empowering Independent Media: U.S. Efforts to Foster Free and Independent News Around the World
Washington DC: National Endowment for Democracy, 2008, 96 p.
http://www.ned.org/cima/CIMA-Empowering_Independent_Media.pdf

The US-based Center for International Media Assistance has published an extensive report on US media development work. The report provides an assessment of U.S. international media development efforts, both public and private, and calls on future efforts to be more long-term, comprehensive, and need-driven. Recommending a more holistic assistance approach, the report looks at the international media development field from a number of perspectives: funding, professional development, education, the legal-enabling environment, economic sustainability, media literacy, new media, and monitoring and evaluation.

Media assistance is increasingly being regarded as a fundamental building block in developing democratic states. These efforts can help countries make democratic transitions, spur economic growth, improve government accountability, conduct public health campaigns, increase education and literacy levels, and empower women and minorities.

The report's recommendations include:
-  establishing media development as its own sector of international assistance rather than only as a part of other development efforts as is the current trend
- taking longer-term approaches to projects
- engaging the local media community more in project designand implementation
- improving journalists' professional skills and ethical standards
- providing greater support to improve the legal-enabling environment
- emphasizing media literacy
- building stronger media management skills
- integrating new technology
- refining monitoring and evaluation methods
- improving coordination among donors and implementers
- integrating communication for development strategies in overall media assistance efforts.

Empowering Independent Media is the culmination of CIMA's work since its inception in late 2006, and draws upon its reports, working group discussions, meetings, and additional research on topics ranging from public and private funding of projects and the financial sustainability of independent media outlets to global investigative journalism and community radio development.