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GFMD CENTRAL

GFMD Collects Tools for Media Development

The GFMD is collecting different manuals and tools for media development. This month the GFMD is introducing the UNESCO guide, “Media Management Manual, A Handbook for Television and Radio Practitioners in Countries-in-Transition.”

The guide, written by former BBC producer, John Prescott Thomas, is intended to provide management tools and general media development information to Public Service Broadcasting organizations in countries-in-transition but can be used in any context by media organizations lacking these entities.

The guide also includes a number of appendices, ranging from outline formats for program proposals and job-descriptions to a guide to the financial aspects of a business plan.

You can download the guide here: Media_Management_Manual


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Independent Media in Russia Needs Support from Civil Society says GFMD

The GFMD proposed a new approach to media development in Russia focusing on forging links and cooperation between journalists, media organisations and civil society groups. GFMD Director Bettina Peters launched the idea of more cooperative programmes at the conference: Lessons of Glasnost: Media in the Post-Soviet Arena that took place in Moscow on June 16-17 and celebrated the 20th anniversary of Russia’s first free press law adopted in 1990.

“Not many of the great media initiatives that were launched in the 1990s have survived, “ said Bettina Peters. “In spite of a good press law and lots of media development support, independent journalism in Russia is under pressure. We need better engagement with civil society. If people do not think that they need free media, reliable and independent information, they will not defend journalism.”

The GFMD Eurasia Regional Forum for Media Development, scheduled to take place in Kiev in September will develop new programme ideas to bring media and civil society closer together.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic recalled that Russia has to protect free expression and media freedom under its OSCE obligations.

“ We congratulate Russia on the 20th anniversary of the press law,” she said. “But good laws are not enough, they must be respected in practice.”


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GFMD Tests Media Landscape Toolkit in Ghana

The GFMD toolkit for assessing media landscapes builds on existing indices, notably the Media Sustainability Index.  But instead of using panellists to give their assessment and comparing one country to another the GFMD toolkit uses as much quantitative data as possible, identifies data gaps and aims to create a baseline assessing the media landscape, which can be used to create targeted media development programmes.

The draft toolkit was prepared by the GFMD in partnership with IREX and on June 5-10, GFMD Director Bettina Peters travelled to Ghana to test the toolkit in cooperation with GFMD Member the Media Foundation for West Africa.

Initial results of the testing show some real gaps in the information available on the Ghanaian media landscape. There is no data on the media advertising market, there are few reliable figures on circulation or audience reach of media outlets and no local audience survey has been carried out.

“Our testing has identified some key areas where support for research is needed,” said Bettina Peters. “The donor community should consider investing into local market research that is publicly available. This would provide media development practitioners and donors with reliable information on which to base programmes.”

The testing of the toolkit is supported by the Center for International Media Assistance in Washington. The full report will be published in July.


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Future of Journalism Conference Debates Effects on Media Development

Conclusions of a panel moderated by the GFMD at an international conference on the future of journalism highlighted the need for more engagement with civil society by media and more support for media development.

“More support for media development is one way to ensure quality journalism worldwide”, said GFMD Director Bettina Peters. “Many GFMD members are already carrying out activities engaging with civil society, such as media literacy programmes, media law reform or campaigns on access to information.”

“More media outlets does not necessarily mean more quality”, said GFMD member Sevanti Ninan of thehoot.org in India. “We are now the second largest newspaper market in the world with some 100 million circulation daily but our media landscape is characterised by corruption. The Press Council of India published a study this year, which showed that newspapers have so called rate cards where they offer positive coverage of politicians or companies for a price and for slightly more money they will write negative pieces about the competition. Media development programmes addressing this problem are sorely needed in India.”


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