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| Special The requested resource (/editor/default/) is not availableReport |
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Media pluralism and freedom of expression promote
transparency in developing countries
An interview with Wijayananda Jayaweera,
Director, UNESCO's IPDC |
 Wijayananda Jayaweera is Director of the International
Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) at UNESCO. Based in Paris,
he is a native of Sri Lanka where he had a 20 year career at the Sri Lanka
Broadcasting Corporation. Mr. Jayaweera served as Training Director for the
Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development, conducting courses in
training methodology and community radio in Iran, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.
He was Head of the UNESCO office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 1999 to 2002,
before being transferred to New Delhi where he continued to serve as Regional
Adviser for Communication and Information in Asia. |
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 What is the International Programme for the Development of Communication and how did it start?
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The IPDC is the only multilateral forum in the UN system designed to mobilize the international community to discuss and promote media
development in developing countries. It was established in 1980 following a proposal made by the United States of America to mobilize
voluntary contributions from industrialized countries to support media development in the developing countries. Only 28% of the countries
in the world had democratic systems at the time IPDC was established and by 2000 the percentage went up to 67% thus expanding opportunities for the
development of free and pluralistic media in many developing countries. But serious inadequacies of media in these countries continue to prevent
people from voicing their democratic aspirations, from sharing and accessing meaningful information and making informed decisions. IPDC mobilizes
support to address these issues. Today, IPDC not only provides support for media development projects submitted by the independent media
organizations but also seeks an accord to secure a healthy environment for the growth of free and pluralistic media in the developing
countries. Since its inception IPDC has channeled US$ 92 million to more than 1100 media development projects in 135 developing countries.
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| Where do proposals come from and how are they funded? |
About 120 proposals from media organizations are submitted every year to the IPDC. In March this year, US $1,050,000 was awarded to 51 projects in developing
countries and countries in transition. Most proposals come from independent media organizations, media training institutes and NGOs promoting community
media. The project proposals for IPDC are submitted through 53 UNESCO field offices located in different regions. UNESCO field staff
investigates the authenticity of the proposals, needs and capacity of submitters. The proposals should address at least one of the four
IPDC priorities. They are (a) promotion of freedom of expression; (b) development of community media;
(c) human resource development such as training of journalists; and (d) promotion of international partnership for media
development. The project proposals are assessed and selected at the annual Bureau meeting of the IPDC Council. The Council
comprises media experts representing 39 Member States from both developing and developed countries elected by the UNESCO General
Conference. Pledges of financial support for the programme are announced by the developed countries often during the Council meetings.
The project selection process is very transparent. All submitted proposals and eventual decisions by the IPDC Bureau on selected proposals are
posted in the IPDC website.
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| What role does pluralistic media play in transparency? |
Vibrant democracy needs independent and pluralistic media. Here, independent means media independent from governmental, political or economic control or from control of materials and infrastructure essential for the production and dissemination of media products and programmes. By a pluralistic media, we mean the end of monopolies of any kind and the existence of the greatest possible number of newspapers, periodicals and broadcasting stations reflecting the widest possible range of opinion within the community. In both cases the media should have the necessary investigative capacity to ensure its functions. They should have trained professionals and the facilities to gather and analyze information. Similarly they should have infrastructure and organizational capacity to sustain an economically viable media operation. If media is not supported to increase their investigative capacity, all the expectations about good governance, transparency and efficiency of service deliveries will be unmet. Whatever development investment the UN agencies and other donors make, desired results are less likely to be achieved unless there are sufficient media structures that could scrutinize and evaluate development programme implementation and feed forward the beneficiary concerns. International cooperation to promote free and pluralistic media therefore should become part and parcel of development assistance.
However, access to media channels and messages depends not only on the existence of channels, but also on their effective distribution, accessibility and affordability. Most media operations are normally concentrated in major cities and cover very few issues related to rural and underprivileged people The recent survey "Who Makes the News" conducted by Manila-based Center for Media Freedom reveals that nearly 80 percent of the news in national media outlets is focused on capital cities. Out of 1,393 new reports analyzed in this survey, only 285 featured issues outside of the capital city. Diversity or pluralism has become more and more part of how human communities live. And yet, according to this survey, national news media have lagged behind in the projection and reflection of this diversity. Therefore, pluralism in news and information sources is a crucial issue that needs attention and support.
Media pluralism is incomplete unless adequate structures to facilitate community voices at the grassroots level are assured. This is why IPDC has defined community radio as one of its priority support areas. Some illustrations of this importance can be found in IPDC-supported community radio stations such as in the case of northern Philippines where people can follow the budget allocations and discussions of their local council members because the local community radio broadcasts the Council meetings live on air. Another community radio in Karnataka State of India has been instrumental in mobilizing support for free and fair elections to the local governing bodies. There are many similar examples where community radio has contributed to transparent administration, created a better understanding of people’s needs and aspirations, voicing their concerns, demanding accountability and eventually building meaningful partnerships between development agencies and communities.
In the same manner, IPDC has been supporting and encouraging a number of Public Service Broadcasters to offer better public services. We believe that public service broadcasters can contribute much too develop informed democracies in their own countries. For instance, live parliamentary broadcasts by public service broadcasters can provide an opportunity for the constituents to appraise the conduct of their elected representatives. There is no doubt that such constant appraisal by electors is essential to develop effective, transparent and accountable representation in democratic governance at the national level.
Therefore IPDC believes that media pluralism can be achieved only through support to create a pluralistic media structure in which public, private and community media performs mutually exclusive and complementary functions.
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| How does IPDC support training for investigative journalism? |
Journalism is essentially a discipline of verification. Though there can be any number of information sources, the people basically rely on journalists to provide them with meaningful information and verified news. But in many developing countries the journalists, particularly in the vernacular media, do not have enough opportunities to obtain quality training to develop their skills. It is also a fact that, in most cases, media in developing countries cannot afford to pay good salaries for qualified people. So journalists are normally trained on the job and they may not necessarily have the background education to become professional journalists. Basic investigative skills include not only learning how to verify facts but also an education in the particular subject area which enables the journalists to have a better grasp of the involved issues. To meet this deficiency, IPDC supports media training institutes and assists them in offering high quality training programmes related to specific areas of investigation. Many IPDC projects give access to online information tools. IPDC has also encouraged the creation of independent news services that gather investigative stories by trained journalists and make them available for local media. For instance, it was through IPDC support that Bangladesh was able to establish the first independent local news agency operated by the private sector.
Moreover, the general understanding about the role of the press in most developing countries remains rather low, particularly among those who are vested with authority. The history of the press in developing countries shows that the vernacular press often was started as a campaigning tool against colonial powers. Eventually, when those who led these agitations became rulers, they expected media to continue to serve them rather than to watch how they govern. Therefore, IPDC contributes to better understanding between people, media and the governments about the need to improve the investigative capacity of media.
Besides training, it is also important for the countries to provide an enabling environment for media to investigate. UNESCO has requested countries to annul detrimental media laws such as criminal defamation used often against investigative journalists, licensing of newspapers, and to ensure the safety of journalists and their freedom to seek information.
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| What if the political climate in a country changes and, as a result, the government clamps down on freedom of expression? |
Overall, the opportunities for democratic developments in the world are improving.
Although the degree of media freedom differs from country to country, the tendency is that more and more countries accept freedom of expression and its corollary media freedom as a fundamental right. IPDC is providing hope for those who strive to expand this space to include all communities and particularly the disadvantaged groups and International community has an obligation to support these efforts. The IPDC encourages the Governments to provide an enabling environment for media development in their countries. The IPDC Bureau looks at critically the situations in the country when they asses the projects for support.
The political changes in countries indeed can impact on media freedom. For example, IPDC was instrumental in fostering the community radio movement in Nepal which now has nearly 30 community radio stations operating in the rural areas. However, the recent political changes forced many community radio stations to cease their operations. But Nepal’s community radio network appealed to support their right to existence. UNESCO’s Director General intervened, issuing a strong statement expressing concerns of the situation. It helped build international pressure to prevent further deterioration of the situation. In a similar situation, when Cambodia wanted to introduce licenses to journalists, UNESCO was able to convince the authorities that licensing of journalists fundamental rights of the people.
It is true that we have to be vigilant. But it is more important that we continue to support further development of media in these countries if we are to consolidate the democracies worldwide.
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| How does the Internet fit into IPDC support for communication development? |
The internet is an excellent source of information for journalists and media professionals. Moreover, the Internet also provides an unprecedented modality for media content access and distribution. IPDC has supported a number of training projects for journalists in developing countries to access and authenticate online information. It has supported the innovation of community multi-media center projects now known as CMCs. In a CMC, community radio functions as an interface between the Internet and radio audiences. The combination of technologies helps overcome the access barriers associated with the Internet such as affordability, language and contextualization of information. IPDC has supported computerization of newsrooms and provides facilities for digital archiving and streaming content by local media. More recently IPDC supported a number of institutes for online training courses. Today, a number of broadcasters and newspapers use the Internet as a mode of transmission. The Internet is becoming an essential tool for media organizations. Everyone everywhere should have the opportunity to participate in the information society and to take advantage of its benefits. Free and pluralistic media is an essential part of the Information Society. IPDC believes that the Internet and other new media forms should be afforded the same freedom of expression protections as traditional media.
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| What trends do you see in the development of media pluralism? |
Corresponding to the democratic changes taking place in developing countries, the possibilities for media pluralism are also increasing. Cross-border transmission of global media has allowed people to be informed on many important issues. But there is also a tendency for media to focus more on issues with large audience appeal. Therefore we need to counter-balance this situation by supporting the increase of local media outlets. This support helps media become independent, professional and viable so that they adequately reflect the diversity within and between the societies and give sufficient space to the issues and concerns of the marginalized and poor. In particular we have to foster a media structure that supports community media, which are representative and are within the operational capacity of many rural and marginalized communities.
Diversity of cultures and expressions, tolerance of different opinions, and transparency and equity in the management of public resources and services are challenges which need informed decision- making by the governments and the governed. The mismanagement of plurality leads to intolerance and violence, suppressing fundamental rights of many people. Media freedom as well as media pluralism is a must for societies to tackle these issues positively and constructively. For this reason, international development assistance should channel more funds towards the development of free and pluralistic local media in developing countries. Multilateral cooperation is the most appropriate way to foster media development. International assistance provided through IPDC does not compromise the integrity and independence of media organizations willing to obtain support for their development. I sincerely hope that the international community will continue to fulfill its obligation by providing financial assistance that enables IPDC to support the media development.
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The requested resource (/editor/default/) is not available
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 Rhoda Kadalie, executive director of South Africa’s Impumelelo Innovations Award Trust
Read  | |
 How did Development Gateway members respond to our Public Sector Transparency Survey questions?
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| How does global transparency measure up? Charts and graphs on how transparency measures up. Click here. |
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