Chapter 3 Flashcards
What are the seven key factors at the hearth of understandings of media development?
Independence, plurality, professionalism, capacity, an enabling environment, economic sustainability and media literacy.
What are the four debates in defining media development?
The distinction between media development and media for development (M4D), the importance of external actors, the role of different technologies and the relevance of universal indicators used to measure media development.
What is Kathy Lines point of view?
Defining media development impacts on how it is dealt with at all levels – from policy level to programmatic support. Without a generally accepted definition, it is hard to monitor precisely what is being done in the field, and thereby to easily measure progress in terms of spend, programmes or research. And without such a definition, there may continue to be a gap between what is said and what is done.
What is the function of the media in a democracy?
The media are understood to be unable to perform their role as a public watchdog – overseeing the actions of the state – if they are in fact subject to the influence of the state.
What did the World Bank study found out?
A World Bank study pf the ownership of the largest newspaper, television stations and radio stations in 97 different countries found that on average, the state controls about 30% of the top 5 newspapers and 60% of the top 5 television stations in these countries. The state also owns huge shares – 72% - of the largest radio stations. Such patterns of ownership suggest that the media are unlikely to be able to expose abuses of power by the state in many cases.
Why is the argument made that the media should instead be in private hands?
To ensure a significant degree of independence from the government.
Why being linked to private/corporate interests may merely shift the problem of independence rather than solve it?
If ownership is concentrated in the hands of a small number of powerful individuals. The result of the World Bank study found that the vast majority of large newspapers and television and radio stations not controlled by the state were in fact owned by families (often with close links to the state), rather than widely dispersed shareholdings.
What is the argument of James Curran?
The trend towards privatization has resulted in the media increasingly being embedded in the corporate structure of bug business. One of the consequences of this pattern of ownership is that media are more likely to refrain from criticizing or investigating the actions of the giant conglomerates to which they belong, or the broader system of global capitalism upon which they depend.
What is a concern for media freedom refers to?
Freedom not only from undue political influence from the state or other political interests (as in classic liberal theory), but also from private and corporate interests and from vested interests more generally.
What is the basic idea of press plurality?
Plurality prevents one media owner or outlet from having too much influence by ensuring that the public sphere is populated by multiple voices and perspectives. Plurality refers, not only to the number of media outlets, but to the diversity in content and ownership of those outlets.
How is described a pluralistic press in the UNESCO Declaration of Windhoek?
The end of monopolies of any kind and the existence of the greatest possible number of newspapers, magazines and periodicals reflecting the widest possible range of opinion within the community.
What does Mark Wilson argues?
Despite a growth in the overall number of media outlets in most countries in the global South in the 1980s and 1990s this masked continuation of an extremely narrow range of voices and views. This is because unregulated growth can bring concentrations of ownership, whereby only a small number of individuals or organizations can afford the high entry costs associated with media ownership.
What does Allen and Gagliardone agrue?
The major media houses are reinforcing barriers to market entry in the media sector by using methods ranging from interference with licensing procedures to monopolizing advertising and distribution networks.
What is a way to attempt to prevent such concentrations of ownership and of prompting plurality?
Passing and enforcing specific regulations limiting the influence which a single person, family, company or group may have in one or more media sector. According to the UNESCO framework for assessing media development, such rules can include thresholds on audience share or turnover/revenue and should take into account both horizontal integration (mergers within the same branch of activity) and vertical integration (control by a single person, company or group of key elements of the production and distribution process). Plurality can also be promoted more directly by funding media outlets, as is now often the case in fragile states or countries experiencing democratic transition.
What is the warning of Tim Allen and Nicole Stremlau?
Some agencies have been known to subsidize anti-government papers that are barely comprehensible for the sole reason they are anti-government or have encouraged ethnic-related media outlets to proliferate. These policies are made with the idea that they will contribute to a variety of perspectives and thus promote understanding and peace.
What are the limits of how wide ranging public discourse should be allowed to be?
For instances of hate speech, or more generally where freedom of speech conflicts with other values or rights, there is a case of introducing some limits. Communication that involve obscenity, child pornography, defamation, slander or which are owned by other may also requires restrictions.
Where these limits should be set?
It is a matter of judgment for every society.
What is included in capacity-building/strengthening of the media sector?
Although this can include a wide range of activities designed to support media organizations, the most common and indeed the most well-funded area of media development overall is journalist training. Such training can be delivered on the job through employers or as part of structured courses and qualification programmes in universities, journalism schools or through international institutions.
What are the topics taught in these trainings?
Topics covered range from media ethics and the basic skills of fact-gathering and writing, to the techniques of investigative reporting and election coverage. Such journalistic training forms part of a wider umbrella of activities designed to support media professionalism in general, including support for trade unions and other professional associations.
What is included in infrastructural and technical support?
This can include the provision of digital media technology, production equipment and satellite technology to allow for efficient news gathering, production and distribution. It appears that the traditional focus on journalism training is at least partly being replaced by an increasing focus on ICT provision.
Why is capacity-building/strengthening important?
It is clearly important if the media are to be free to engage effectively in producing content and disseminating information and ideas. But while, such training and infrastructure support may be useful in countries with legal frameworks and political environments that protect freedom of expression, if this legal framework and broader culture supportive of press freedom is not in place, then the outcomes of capacity-building initiatives are likely to be limited.
What is the point of view of Kennedy Javaru?
If the system isn’t free, a well-trained journalist won’t make it so.
What does Tara Susman-Pena argues?
Despite years of policy papers decrying the ineffectiveness of short-term trainings, they are still being funded on a large scale. Even long-term training by itself does not professionalize the media sector, because of a host of contextual factors at play. Trainings without a focus on the broader enabling environment may improve the practice of some individual, but do not professionalize the sector.
What is enabling environment?
Legal and regulatory framework supporting media independence.
What are the three main areas of legal tools?
The legal tools which can be used to either suppress of promote media independence can be divided into three main areas: news gathering, content-based regulation and protection of journalists in their professionnal activity. Repressive laws often don’t even have to be regularly enacted to have an impact on the press as the chilling effect of a small number of cases can lead to self-censorship.
What is news gathering?
Includes freedom of information laws, protection of confidential sources and the licensing of journalists.
What is content-based regulation?
Includes criminal defamation, libel, privacy and insult laws as well as national security statues.
What is the protection of journalists in their professionnal activity?
Includes willingness by authorities to prosecute those who physically intimidate or attack media representatives.
What is the passing of freedom of information laws?
It is the one notable area in which significant progress has been made in recent years. Such laws can provide journalist with an important tool for exposing government corruption.
What broader improvements have proved exceptionally difficult to achieve?
The necessary costs, time and unpredictability of such efforts, as well as the need to engage with multiple stakeholders (not just the media) and often to directly challenge existing power relations, all provide disincentives for donors to work in this area. Local actors are usually much better placed than donors to offer the sustained commitment required for systemic change.
Why is the support from the institutions important?
Even if suitable laws are formally adopted, unless there is support from the institutions charged with implementing these laws, there is no guarantee that they will be effective. While an increasing number of countries may have freedom of information laws, they are often to poorly implement.
What is the point of view of Krug and Price?
The whole concept of an enabling environment implies that specific laws exist in a context in which the spirit of the laws is engaged and the processes or realizing their impact are implemented.
What is the importance of informal codes of conduct?
A crucial part of this context is the informal codes of conduct within the media industry and the more general culture and expectations within society. In countries where freedom of information has a less well-established history, a culture of secrecy can severely dilute the effectiveness of any new legislation.
What does Roumeen Islam suggests?
The potential value of more information can be underestimated or not well understood, and that the public often perceives that information alone will not help (because coalitions strong enough to make use of the available information do not exist.
What is one of three keys conclusions of a report on the state of international media development?
The international development community needs to spend less time training journalists and more time on efforts to build country level leadership for a strong independent media as a key institution of development. This means longer-term programs, facilitating carefully planned and rigorous approaches to multi-stakeholder engagement, and South-South knowledge exchange led by local champions.
Why is the importance of the economic viability of media organizations in media development is a surprisingly contested issue?
On the one hand, it is apparent that if media outlets are economically self-sustaining then they will be better able to remain free from political and economic interests. Poorly paid journalists are more likely to accept money in exchange for favourable coverage than well-paid journalists, no matter how well trained they are. While it is clear that economic considerations are fundamental to media development, there are no obvious answers to the question of where the money should come from.
