Media Support
The promotion of a free, independent and professional media has been part of the past EC democracy support but the aim is now to take a more consolidated and comprehensive approach to media development and press freedom promotion.
The existence of an independent and unconstrained press is essential to the quality of democratic governance. Free media in democratic transition does not only have the potential to strengthen the accountability of governments, it also acts as a platform for a wide variety of newly found voices and a forum where citizens can express their demands and defend their interests. While this link between free and independent media and democratic governance is widely recognized, support to media remains fragmented and often lacks strategic focus. In a time where new technologies are reframing the relationship between citizens, media and states, it is all the more relevant to invest in media for development and target support to where it is most needed.
The global media landscape has changed dramatically over the past years, not only redefining media, but also what constitutes journalism. All over the world, bloggers and citizen reporters are picking up their cameras and keyboards, reporting to the world as history unfolds. This is not without danger for journalists in many conflict and transitional situations. Strong action is needed to ensure the safety of individual journalists and one of the main challenges of support to media today is finding ways to extend the protection of journalists to all the new actors in the field.
The exact same technologies that have enabled the lightning fast spread of participatory media are leading to new risks for the citizens and journalists involved. Cyber censorship, online surveillance and the targeting of bloggers and social media have all become part of the evolving toolkit of government control over media. Ensuring the rights to freedom of expression and opinion, is therefore urgently in need of new and innovative approaches to tackle issues of Internet freedoms, and the rights of both citizen and professional journalists.
In order to align EC support to media to this quickly evolving reality, DevCo D1 has launched a media study to analyse past support and provide recommendations on future strategies and modalities. Based on lessons learned the media study will analyse the available financial instruments, methods and interventions and propose practical tools for programme and project management in the field of media development and press freedom. The media study also includes the drafting of guidelines and planning of two workshops. The first to enable responses from international media development experts on the recommendations outlined in the study and a second to test the guidelines on EC officials managing media development support. The study has been launched in April 2012 and is estimated to be completed in September – October 2012.