Type: Blog Post
By Kiran Maharaj Small island states and developing nations face many existential threats. The most daunting is perhaps the threat to independent media and investigative journalism. With shrinking economies further exacerbated by the pandemic, newsrooms are beleaguered. Media capture can jeopardize ...

Type: Blog Post
It seems that the media development community is always fighting an uphill battle. It is difficult to demonstrate concrete results to donors in media support work, and it is also difficult to move media assistance higher on the overall development agenda. These two things are mutually reinforcing. I...

Type: Blog Post
By Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey You can’t have democracy without accountability, and you can’t have accountability without a free and fearless media. For a billion (dollars) a year you can solve the entire problem. Branko Brkic, in Saving Journalism 2: Global Strategies and a Look at Investigative...

Type: Blog Post
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenges confronting independent media and forced the media development community—journalists, donors, media practitioners—to rethink how to support for sustainable media ecosystems. Among the wealth of ideas put forward is the need for greater regiona...

Type: Publication
In the past few years, there has been a renewed and perhaps greater emphasis in investigative reporting by the development world and donors. This stems from both the irresistible lure of supporting courageous investigative media that can oust a prime minister or drive out corruption and the pragamat...

Type: Event
As both U.S. journalism and private foundations have entered a period of crisis, new avenues and approaches are being ex

Type: Blog Post
US government assistance to media freedom and freedom of information around the world rose sharply in 2016, with the largest share of the increase benefiting Europe, Eurasia, the Near East, and South and Central Asia. According to newly released figures, in 2016 the US Department of State and USAID ...

Type: Publication
When donors provide assistance to the media sector, they frequently back projects that aim to strengthen the media’s contribution to good governance in some way or another. This kind of funding is consistent with recent declarations made by the international community on the importance of protecti...

Type: Blog Post
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 ...

Type: Publication
Funding to support independent media remains a small, but vital part of international assistance. But while the share of aid directed at this issue remains steady, there are signs that priorities within this field of international support may be shifting. This report looks at the trends identified b...