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Why Templates for Media Development Do Not Work in Crisis States
Author
James Putzel and Joost van der Zwan with Tim Allen, Monroe Price, and Nicole Stremlau
Crisis States Research Centre, London School of Economics in association with Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania and the Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research
Summary
This 40-page report, resulting from a 2005 workshop at the London School of Economics Crisis States Research Centre, sets out alternative approaches to media development in post-war situations. From the executive summary:
"The workshop was based on the proposition that attention to the role of the media needs to be at the heart of efforts to consolidate security, effective government and development in the wake of crises and war. In situations where the state is fragile, however, and where the political process is unstable and de-legitimated, the primary objective of donor assistance should be supporting the formation of a functioning state."
The document explores the role of media in fragile states, where the political process is destabilised and delegitimised, and attempts to explain why mainstream media development templates do not work in these contexts. It summarises panel discussions that revolved around case studies as diverse as Uganda, Afghanistan, and the Balkans. These panels, their topical content, and key findings are summarised below:
- The State Shaping the Media, addressing issues of licensing, government need for concern with public opinion and support, and the tension between government and religious regulation of the media. Key findings, according to the panelists, include: From Russia to East Africa, the power to grant licenses has often given powerful officials more informal control over media outlets, far from eliminating state influence. In the Arabic world, the panel suggests, tensions are high between young and old generations and between Religionists and Civilists (the latter arguing for media liberalisation);
- The Media and the Making of
the Post-War State: Rethinking Prevalent
Strategies, addressing ways the media can transform authority and politics including: the role of technological change in fostering democratic possibilities in the media, and the role the media can play in both destabilising politics and in
promoting national integration. Key findings include the panel's conclusions that: Western
media’s behaviour in recent military interventions has weakened faith in Western models of media independence (particularly in the Muslim world); and prescriptive forms of media organisation need to be built on an analysis of conflict, government, and participation to play a part in nation building.
- Media Challenging the State, whose main objective was to review media assistance strategies in crisis state environments. Key findings include: There is debate on the line between censorship and media constraints to protect manipulation of information flows and to prevent hate speech. Additionally, media, from the panelists' perspective, can contribute to establishing a functioning state.
- Implications for Post-War Media Development Strategies, whose objective was to re-examine strategies for media assistance in fragile states and states experiencing violent conflict. Key findings include: A new diagnostic approach containing seven considerations to assess the root causes of crisis and to consider actions to build a functioning state; and prescriptive suggestions for development assistance that can take the form of civic education activities, media actions that bring dissenting groups into dialogue, training political parties, providing objective information in conflict zones, the creation of a public service broadcaster, and, centrally, the training of journalists, among others.
In summary, the document concludes with these key recommendations:
- Adapting media development strategies to the context;
- Recognising that the development of an open and free media environment requires the presence of a strong state that includes a well-functioning legal and judicial environment able to apply checks and balances;
- Supporting the possibility of establishment of a national
broadcasting corporation with a national reach and
detached from vested interests;
- Educating journalists and politicians about the potential uses of media to consolidate a credible political system;
- Supporting dialogue - on the complexity of the media - post-conflict reconstruction interconnection - and research - analysing the role of media in fragile states, dispute resolution, and positive development contexts;
- Supporting the establishment of professional associations of journalists committed to integrity and investigative journalism;
- Supporting the evolution of domestic and international
laws that protect information flows and constrain hate
speech; and
- Supporting United Nations efforts to establish systematic interventions during crises.
Authors include in their conclusion an agenda for further research.
This document is available in PDF format in both English and French.
Placed on the Communication Initiative site April 01 2007
Last Updated April 01 2007
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