International Media Assistance: Experiences and Prospects - Global Media Journal: German Edition

This edition of Global Media Journal entitled: International Media Assistance: Experiences and Prospects (available in German and in English) focuses on international aid to the media sector in developing countries, describing, defining, and documenting the practical and the theoretical aspects of international media assistance, including recent successes and failures.

The editorial introduction to the issue first defines and clarifies terms and concepts and then enumerates the articles through the following broad categories: the how-to of media assistance, evaluation, and the ongoing debate about proving impact of media assistance project; negotiation of the tensions between the state and the media; and, finally, "the fundamental question of why and to what purpose is assistance to the media sector given in the first place." There are "further reflections on the history both of the idea of media assistance and of the way it has been practiced in recent decades. It finally looks at the ways research in this field may develop in the future." 

On the analysis and criticism of past media assistance efforts, the editorial's authors state: "Two major meta-evaluations summarized the criticisms. 'Ten years of media support to the Balkans' (Rhodes, 2007), based on a meta-analysis of 37 project reports, concluded that direct support to independent media was a key factor in helping the citizens of several Balkan countries to rid themselves of authoritarian regimes, but at the same time journalism training - the largest share of media support - had few lasting effects. And the African Media Development Initiative (AMDI) - a research program that assessed key media changes and foreign support to the media in seventeen African countries - found 'substantial evidence [for]: non-sustainable and short-term approaches to projects; disconnected programs; unnecessary competition amongst donors; and, consequently wasted investment of donor funds' (AMDI, 2006:15)." 

The first "how-to" category includes cross-cutting experiential lessons for donors and implementing agencies, with one article particularly focused on "the justifications for and the difficulties of promoting public service media (in contexts where publicly funded media have acted as mouthpieces for government sometimes for decades)."

"Evaluation and the ongoing debate about proving impact" are the subjects of four articles and include the challenges of showing professionalisation of journalism or the sustainability of media outlets, as well as connecting projects to strengthening citizenship or promoting the adoption of desirable behaviours.

"Negotiating the tensions between the state and the media" is taken up in a discussion of the country of China's assistance to international media - "anathema to the Western ideal of free speech and pluralism", but perhaps comparable, as stated here, to the West's exertion of influence and safeguarding of commercial relations with developing and transitional countries.

Theoretical debate raises the questions: "why do media assistance, for what purpose and with what theoretical underpinning(s)?" Authors ask whether promoting "culture" is a good in itself and question the Western media assistance model. An author addresses "the modernization paradigm... through the lens of the movement for information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D)...included because ICTs are increasingly indistinguishable from conventional media technologies...." 

The contents include the following titles and authors:

• Editorial, Mary Myers, Christoph Dietz & Marie-Soleil Frère: International Media Assistance: Experiences and Prospects
• Peer Reviewed Articles
• Iginio Gagliardone Media Development with Chinese Characteristics
• Jessica Nosske-Turner Evaluating the Impacts of Media Assistance: Problems and Principles
• Benjamin A. J. Pearson Media Aid Beyond the Factual: Culture, Development, and Audiovisual Assistance
• Kristina Irion & Tarik Jusic International Assistance and Media Democratization in the Western Balkans: A Cross-National Comparison
• Essays
• Daire Higgins The Western Way: Democracy and the Media Assistance Model
• Bill Orme Does Sustainability Require Transparency? The UN Divide Over Freedom of Information & Media in the Post-2015 Development Agenda
• Michel Leroy Results-Oriented Evaluations: Their Uses, Their Limits and How They are Driving Implementers‘ Coping Strategies
• Mark Nelson Media and Development: The Dysfunctional Alliance
• From the Field 
• Nicole Stremlau In Search of Evidence: Media and Governance in Fragile States
• Sanne van den Berg Assessing the Impact of TMF on the Tanzanian Media: A Practical Approach
• Jan Lublinski, Erik Albrecht, Petra Berner, Laura Schneider, Merjam Wakili & Jackie Wilson Windows of Opportunity - The Transformation of State Media to Public Service Media in Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Moldova and Serbia
• Marek Bekerman The Failure of a Success Story: Reforming Georgia’s Public Service Broadcaster
• Graduate Section
• Marlene Kunst The Link between ICT4D and Modernization Theory
• Book Reviews 
• Fritzi-Marie Titzmann: Ajaya Kumar Sahoo and Johannes G. De Kruijf (eds.) (2014): Indian Transnationalism Online: New Perspectives on Diaspora (review in English)
• Christine Horz Carter: Cynthia; Steiner, Linda; McLaughlin, Lisa (eds.) (2014): The Routledge Companion to Media and Gender (review in English)