A Report for the Jo h n S . a nd Ja mes L. K n ig ht F o u nda t io n THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR t he Open Society Ins t i t u t e, the Comm ittee to Pro t e c t ’ report Attacks on the Press, 2001,” David Hoffman and the regional directors and international managers of Ellen Hume teaches media I nt e ne w s, and Kn ig ht Founda t ion director of Jo u r na l i s m studies and is founding Initiatives Eric Newton.

director of the Center on Tim Porter edited the manuscript. Carole Lee and Media and Society at the Margaret Fleming Glennon provided invaluable production University of Massachusetts Boston. She has assistance. conducted and democracy work- shops throughout the , and in For the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Ethiopia, , Bosnia, and the W. Gerald Austen, M.D., chairman, board of trustees . Hodding Carter III, president and CEO During more than 30 years as a reporter Penelope McPhee, vice president and chief program officer and analyst for , magazines and Eric Newton, director of journalism initiatives Denise Tom, journalism program officer she has been a White House and Larry Meyer, vice president of communications political for The Wall Street Robertson Adams, communications associate/webmaster Journal, national reporter with the Los Caroline Wingate, editorial consultant

Angeles Times and executive director of PBS’s Design: Jacques Auger Design Associates, Miami Beach, Fla. Democracy Project, among other positions. Printing: Rex Three, Sunrise, Fla. From 1988 to 1993, Hume served as exe c- Additional copies of this volume and others in our journalism utive director and senior fellow at Harvard series are available at [email protected]. University’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, teaching at the Media Missionaries: American Support for Journalism Excellence And Press Freedom Around the Globe is a project of the John S. Kennedy School and later, at the Medill and James L. Knight Foundation. Journalism School’s Washington semester. She serves on the board of Internews and is More information about Knight Foundation is available at a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. www.knightfdn.org. Hume lives in Boston with her husband Knight Foundation’s Journalism Advisory Committee members and four children. Visit www. e l l e n h u m e. c o m . are: Sandra Mims Rowe (chair), editor, The Oregonian; Merrill Brown, principal, MMB Media LLC; , special editor, TheBeehive.org; Barbara Cochran, president, -TV News Directors Association; John L. Dotson Jr., re t i red publishe r, The This report maps the myriad American efforts to develop and Akron Beacon Journal; Rich Oppel, editor, Austin American support journalism aro u nd the globe with fellowships, Statesman; Geneva Overholser, Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public exchanges, training, grants, loans, equipment, infrastructure, A f fa i r s, University of Missouri School of Jo u r nal ism Wa s h i ng t o n staff, conferences and other means. This study, commissioned Bureau; and James V. Risser, retired director, John S. Knight in the fall of 2001 by the John S. and Ja mes L. Knig ht Fellowships for Professional Journalists, Stanford University. Foundation, tries to identify where money was spent and what lessons were learned after a decade of such work. This report C o p y r ig ht© 2004 by the John S. and Ja mes L. Knig ht Founda t io n also includes regional analyses and contact information for organizations and individuals. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Crucial research support was provided by Charlie Costanzo of Knight Foundation, Miami, Fla. Tra ns a c t io nal Records Access Clearing ho u s e, Whayne Dillehay of the International Center for Journalists, Monroe Price of To request copies of this book, contact Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law and the Programme [email protected] or download the Acrobat PDF file in Comparative Media Law & Policy at Oxford University, at www.knightfdn.org/publications. Mark Hallett of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, Joan Mower of the International Board of Governors, Ed B a u me i s t e r, Rich and Suzi McClear of the Int e r na t io nal Researc h & Exchanges Board, Gordana Jankovic and Bill Siemering of ISBN 0-9749702-2-0

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by James F. Hoge Jr. 4

Introduction 8

The 15 Commandments of Media Development 14

Global Overview: At Least $600 Million for the Decade 18

Regional Chapters

Russia, Central and 30 Close-up: Lidove Noviny vs. Gazeta 32 Close-up: Media Assistance in Bosnia 37 Lessons Learned and Unmet Needs 39 Country Reports 42

Latin America 50 Close-up: The CELAP Story 52 Other Needs and Lessons Learned 54 Country Reports 56

Africa 60 Lessons Learned and Unmet Needs 63 Country Reports 64

Middle East 72 Close-up: Al-Jazeera, ‘the Tiny Station with the Big Mouth’ 76 Country Reports 76

Asia 84 Close-up: Afghanistan and Pakistan: War Puts Them on the Media Map 86 Close-up: China’s Internet Opening 89 Country Reports 90

Beyond Public Diplomacy by David Hoffman 102

Media Development Contact List 112

3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

4 FOREWORD

‘The loss of liberty in general would soon follow the suppression of the liberty of the press; for it is an essential branch of liberty, so perhaps it is the best preservative of the whole. Even a restraint of the press would have a fatal influence. No nation ancient or modern has ever lost the liberty of freely speaking, writing or publishing their sentiments, but forthwith lost their liberty in general and became slaves.’ – New York Weekly Journal, c 1734

By James F. Hoge Jr. requires incessant vigilance. No society February 2004 based on the rule of law, let alone a dictatorship, an autocracy or a theocracy, n 1735, a German immig ra n t who ma de offers the guarantee of open media. a new life for himself in the colony of Threats continually abound. INew York, mainly by printing religious tracts, was placed on trial by a governor T he commitme nt to press fre e dom is, the r e - a t t e m p t i n g to squelch criticism of his adm i n - fore, always ongoing. It is also necessary, istration through the printed word. John fundamental to a proper relationship Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York between government and governed. For Weekly Journal, suffered eight months of transitional societies – those that have imprisonment before getting his day in embarked on the long and arduous journey court. When that day came, Zenger faced from communism or dictatorship to democ- considerable challenges. His case would be racy – this commitme nt re q u i res an especia l l y tried by two judges, both of whom were large amount of time and patience. Those handpicked by the governor. Attempts also unfamiliar with the duties and responsibil- w e re ma d e to tamper with the jury, but the y ities, and pitfalls and shortcomings, of the failed. The 12 jurors acquitted Zenger of democratic system may not quickly accept libel. A tra d i t ion of a press had begun. t he burde ns that accompany its cons t r uc t ion.

Nearly three cent u r ies later, fre e l a nce writer Journalists are charged with extraordinary Vanessa Leggett found herself imprisoned responsibilities when plying their trade for 168 days in a jail. Leggett had in a democracy. Their ability to work freely refused a grand-jury order to turn over all requires dedication to a high quality of recorded interviews conducted during her objective writing that is ens u red only whe n research of a murder case, citing a journal- the media have access to the financial ist’s right to protect confidential sources. re s o u rces that can gua ra ntee editorial inde- The court dissented, saying it did not p e nde n c e. Public a t io ns and bro a dcasts that recognize such a “privilege.” Leggett was blur the division between reporting and released only upon the completion of the advertising, or between fact and opinion, grand jury’s term. Three months later, her lack credibility; they perform a disservice appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected. to themselves and the public that relies on them. Efforts to reinforce press freedom These two assaults on the independence will consequently prove unsuccessful with- of American media provide ample evidence out corre s p o nd i ng attempts to raise editoria l that freedom of the press, even in the standards, separate editorial and business world’s ric hest and most powerful de mo c ra c y, de p a r t me nt s, a nd foster ma na ge me nt

5 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES techniques that uphold fina nc ia l b a s ic rig ht s. He describes dictatorships that i nde p e nde nc e. feel the need to conduct sham elections to curry international approval and legiti- As this report, The Media Missionaries, ma ke s macy while fundamental freedoms are clear, the resources that have poured into routinely suspended. No independent transitional societies since 1989 to bolster media can long thrive in such a climate. p ress fre e dom and prof e s s i o nalism have led to great progress. Independent media in Zakaria’s thesis illustrates a form of demo- Serbia, for example, sustained to a great cratic immaturity. Countries that hold fair extent by Western aid, contributed to the elections for political leaders may lack toppling of Slobodan Milosevic. But, as the sufficient democratic infrastructure to report also acknowledges, setbacks are not support independent media, among other uncommon. Last year alone, noteworthy features of an open society. For that, reversals occurred in Russia, Zimbabwe established civic institutions, notably and Morocco, among others. These and including an autonomous and transparent other countries, in which state-run media judiciary that adheres to an entrenched predominate, have witnessed the closure rule of law, are required. of inde p e n de nt me d ia outlets or the hara s s- ment and imprisonment of independent Even that, however, may not be enough to journalists. s a f e g ua rd journalism. Thro u g hout the 1990s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Ironically, these reversals come at a time collapse of communism in most of central when electoral democracy is on the rise and eastern Europe, the established demo- worldwide. The most recent installment of cracies of western Europe considered Freedom in the World, the annual survey by regulating press fairness via an ethics F r e e dom House of global political rig hts and code. This idea fortunately never reached civil liberties, notes that gains in personal f r u i t i on. But other count r ies adopted pre s s - freedom last year were significant in a re s p o nsibility code s or passed security range of countries around the world. But and insult laws, all of which can be a d v a nces in press fre e d om did not ne c e s s a r - invoked to curb journalism. States with ily accompany the progress in general civic fragile judicial systems are and have been liberty. In fact, Freedom in the World cites especially prone to doing so. More 35 countries with ratings for press freedom recently, some governments have exploited lower than their ra t i ngs in personal fre e do m . threats of terrorism to permit more socially repressive measures that quickly become This dichotomy would probably come as no threats to press freedom. surprise to noted journalist Fareed Zakaria. In his recent book, The Future of Freedom, Such developments serve as a reminder of t he Int e r n a t io nal editor observes the critical, incessant need for a vigorous that in recent decades around the globe de f e nse of press fre e dom, further journa l i s m “Democracy is flourishing; liberty is not.” training and higher professional standards. Zakaria cites the growth of “illiberal International assistance to bring that de mo c ra c ie s,” count r ies that feature elected about should be redoubled – and not only leaders who dispense with constitutional for these goals. Such efforts can also help limits on their power and ignore citizens’ promote knowledge within threatened

6 FOREWORD countries of international media law and citizenries must assume accountability for raise aware ness of the need to lobby courts t heir own well being, for their own libe r t i e s. and governments to secure fundamental In this re g a r d, journalists and me d ia o w ne r s media freedoms. In this way, a virtuous in every country need to fo u nd and empow- cycle begins. er associations that can lobby on t he i r collective behalf. Ind ige nous de ma nds fo r T he activities of the staff of the John S. and p rof e s s io nalism in safe working enviro n m e nt s James L. Knight Foundation in the service c a n not be want i ng. Despite their willing ne s s of worldwide freedom of the press are to help in these endeavors, the United s u b s t a nt i al. They are amo ng the key players States, other donor-countries and private in this area. Thanks to them, much good do nors cannot serve as a substitute for that work has been done and the future of the w h ich must be ende m ic. They cannot do fo r printed and broadcast word is more secure. o t hers what they must do for the m s e l v e s. In the face of the inevitable obstacles, the y – like many of their counterparts – perse- Freedom of the press does not guarantee v e re. It is only rig ht that they did and do so. democracy. The absence of a vibrant, free media, however, assuredly means the Working with Knight Foundation, the absence of true democracy. No form of Wa s h i ngton, D.C.-based Int e r na t io nal Cent e r government should be imposed by one for Jo u r nalists (ICFJ), which I chair, battles people on ano t he r. But the tools to establish every day to make the world’s press more what Winston Churchill once described as professional, more effective as a watchdog “… the worst form of Government except of officialdom, and more independent of all those others that have been tried…” e nt r e nc hed political and econo m ic int e re s t s. make a valuable and vital gift from one Our struggle is an integral part of people to another. advancing journalism around the world. James F. Hoge Jr., chairman To ge t he r, our two org a n i z a t i o ns, along with of the International Center many others, provide all the ingredients for Journalists, edits Foreign for more successful media operations. It is A f fa i r s , a bimonthly magazine undoubtedly a long-term process. But by of analysis and commentary raising awareness of the need for a safe on international affairs and e n v i ro n me nt in which the me d ia can display foreign policy. Before joining the magazine professionalism and integrity, a virtuous in 1992, Hoge spent three decades in news- cycle begun has greater chances of being paper journalism. In the 1960s, he was a sustained. The chances can be further Washington correspondent, and in the heightened by determining which societies 1970s and ‘80s, was editor and publisher of can exploit international assistance for metropolitan newspapers in Chicago and permanent reform and which societies are New York. Under his leadership, the Chicago likely to fail. Sun-Times won six Pulitzer Prizes and the New York Daily News one. He has taught Ultimately, securing the position of the seminars and lectured at a number of Fourth Estate is only one part in the struggle universities and is a frequent speaker before to spread de mo c ra t ic values. Ent i re socie t ie s a variety of audiences on international must be strengthened and reinforced; affairs, politics and the media.

7 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

8 INTRODUCTION

WHERE ARE WE AFTER A DECADE OF develop more sustained local and regional DEVELOPMENT? clout. The journalists need to earn the loyalty of their communities by adopting a When the Communist barricades collapsed professional public service m i s s io n . 1 I n in 1989, hundreds of Americans rushed to most of the world, this re ma i ns a challenge. Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Moreover, neither lawyers nor journalists in re p u b l i cs to spread the gospel of de mo c r a c y. many of these emerging democracies are Among them were some of America’s most familiar with local and i nt e r na t io nal me d i a a l t r u i s t ic journa l i s t s, who hoped to midw i f e l a w s, nor are the courts l i kely to int e r p re t a newly independent press. Since then, the t hem in favor of the pre s s .2 U.S. government and private a g e nc ies have s p e n t mo r e than $600 millio n on media A de c a de is hardly ade q u ate time to de v e l o p development. a robust, prof e s s io nal me d ia culture, p a r t i cularly under difficult, even da nge r o u s , The payoff for these millions has been the conditions. Long-term commitment is training and empowerment of thousands of required to harvest the seeds sown in the journalists, the establishment of numerous last 10 years. The endeavor is valuable television and radio networks, the resur- and worthwhile, though, for Americans as rection and creation of newspapers and, in well as the international community. some countries, the toppling of corrupt Information vacuums spawn terrorist governments due to reporting that was cultures, and studies by the World Bank u n i ma g i nab le befo re 1989. Balanc i ng the s e have found that open media are an engine successes, though, is a second wave of for social change and economic progress.3 repression and censorship in many places, i nc l ud i n g the core post-Communist socie t ie s The biggest American funders of media where most of the money was spent. In development have been the U.S. Agency much of the former U.S.S.R, for example, for International Development (USAID) and m i l l io ns of dollars in aid have not pro duc e d the Open Society Institute, a creation of a viable independent media. Hu ng a r ian-born fina nc ier and philant h ro p i s t George Soros. USAID began to promote The survival of independent journalism in media development as a democracy- countries where politicians or oligarchs building tool in Latin America in the have taken over much of the me d ia de p e nd s 1980s, moving to the former Communist on the journalists’ developing alternative bloc in the 1990s where it was joined by sources of power, such as economic Soros’ institute and hundreds of smaller independence, international funding and nonprofits. Now they are looking toward p re s s u re or local support. Spora d ic outbursts, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Asia and s uch as the 2001 pro - me d ia street de mo n - Africa. Some U.S. foundations, such as the strations and boycotts in Russia, , F re e dom Forum, have re duced commitme n t s the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan, will abroad because of financial declines or have no lasting impact unless media changed priorities.

9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

GLOBAL SNAPSHOT ➢ Palestinian Authority: Israeli attacks destroyed nearly all Palestinian media The second generation of media in 2002. The State Department in 2003 development can build on the lessons of committed millio ns to me d i a de v e l o p me nt the last decade: once hostilities subside.

Focus and flexibility: One-size-fits-all Africa: The continent needs every kind of media development doesn’t work. It must media help. The spread of HIV/AIDS – and be tailored to a region or a country or the necessity for public health information even a particular locality. Too many – heightens the urgency. Modest, targeted organizations are concentrated in too few programs could make a difference. places, such as Johannesburg, Phnom Penh, and the Balkans. Strategic, Latin America: The region is not a current coordinated work is needed elsewhere, priority for the largest media developers, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. so there are opportunities for smaller NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) to build The Middle East: The terrorist attacks of on progress in countries such as Mexico Sept. 11, 2001, laid bare the serious stake s and to address countries in crisis such as for improving media in Egypt, Pakistan, Colombia. and other Middle Eastern countries. “Access to accurate information Former Communist bloc: The withdrawal is probably the most desperately needed of some media developers is premature. In commodity in the Middle East right now,” Hungary, the Czech Republic, and said Whayne Dillehay of the International other seemingly democratic countries, Center for Journalists. politicians effectively pressure or block independent media, taking advantage of Conflict areas: their vulnerability in a weak advertising ma r ket. All major me d i a developers and ma ny ➢ Iraq: The nonprofit media developer smaller ones have had a presence here. Internews convened 75 Arab, Iraqi and Western media law experts in Athens in China: This country is a major opportunity, June 2003 to create a model media law and an equally sizable challenge, for media for postwar Iraq. The “Athens Group” advocates. It is geographically immense hoped to develop more support within and politically sensitive. Few independent I raq for the fra mework, and then de l i v e r media advocates have tackled China due to it to the United Na t io ns and the Occupa- its hostile official response to “democracy- tion Coalition Provisional Authority.4 building.”

➢ Afghanistan: Some U.S. government Motivating factors: The intense Chinese and private media development money desire to play a strong role in the world was going into Afghanistan in early economy provides media development 2003, but lack of coordination and opportunities in the Internet, commercial security made anything but stop-gap and academic sectors. The 2008 Beijing measures impractical, said Dillehay. Olympics and the 2003 SARS epidemic may ease rigid government media policies.

1 0 INTRODUCTION

War and peace: Media development goals ➢ Train for the future: To legitimize must match the conflict level:5 midcareer education and make it more attractive to media owners, emphasize ➢ At-risk countries (where conflict may cross-platform skills. be imminent): Media assistance may need to focus on supporting a plurality ➢ Journalism centers: They can offer of voices and avoiding inflammatory training, peer criticism and a unified coverage. front against coercion. Their success depends on the size of the service area ➢ Areas of active conflict: Short-term and the quality of local management. grants may be needed to support a l t e r n ative me d i a, pro v id i ng info r ma t io n Models and solutions: C r eative appro a c he s that otherwise would be suppressed. and nontraditional funding can overcome obstacles such as low literacy rates and a ➢ Post-conflict and developing shortage of capital. democracies: The goal should be the c re a t i on of a self-sustaining inde p e nde nt ➢ : It provides a low- media sector that belongs to a culture cost, low-tech, high-impact solution in of democracy and holds accountable rural areas that lack media or telephone other centers of power. infrastructure. It has been effective in Africa, Afghanistan, Europe, Asia and Professionalism and policy: Public service Latin America. values and ethics training are needed everywhere, but must be combined with ➢ Independent news agencies: Those practical, technical skills to be palatable. created in Serbia, Montenegro and Slovakia provide valuable national and ➢ Sustainability: Because this depends international news and serve as a force not only on economic independence for me d ia re f orm. The Slovak Inde p e nde n t but also on legal support and political News Agency, for example, feeds stories transparency, it is helpful to coordinate to other independent media and gets media development with broader 60 percent of its revenue from direct- democracy building. to-computer specialized news services, such as a banking news digest. ➢ Legal work: Open media policies and freedom-of-information laws need ➢ R e volving loan fund: A capital re s o u rc e promotion. Efforts by the International similar to the Grameen Bank6 could Freedom of Expression Exchange, f u n d me d ia vent u r es that otherwise mig ht Internews, IREX, the Committee to be compromised by their backers. P rotect Jo u r na l i s t s, the World As s o c ia t i o n The Media Development Loan Fund’s of Newspapers, Article 19 and others standards are too stringent for regions need to extend beyond monitoring and where the marketplace cannot yet reacting to abuses. support local media.

1 1 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

1 The word “public” here does not mean government. It means “in the public interest.” At its best, public service journalism offers independent, professional, transparent, honest and relevant news and a fair platform for diverse voices. Public interest journalists are the arbiters of the facts, loyal to the people (“public”) rather than to any special interest group. 2 Conclusion of participants at a January 2002 media development meeting in convened by the author for Internews. 3 The Right to Tell: The Role of Mass Media in Economic Development, World Bank Institute, 2002. 4 The entire report and framework are available on the Internews web site, www.internews.org. 5 This section draws from an analysis by Krishna Kumar, USAID. 6 Under this model, a limited pot of loan money is made available to a member of the community, who is then subject to peer pressure to repay the loan before the money can be lent to another person in the group.

1 2 1 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

14 THE 15 COMMANDMENTS OF MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

1. Structure: Build from the bottom up, In Latin Ame r ic a , monopoly not the top down. Western models don’t advertising is a vehicle for narrow necessarily work. The best media develop- political control. In some places, the ment is local. weak no ngo v e r n me n t advertising ma r ke t cannot support independent journalism. ➢ Grassroots support from dedicated locals involved in the stra t e g ic planning ➢ Manana Aslamazyan, executive director, and project development is mandatory. Internews Russia: “In Kyrgyzstan, our Don’t set up commercial ventures with office is struggling because it’s going d i rect fund i ng that will drive up salarie s to be a long time before there’s any and make it more difficult for local market for supporting a TV station. media to compete. Teaching people to sell advertising and rely on that in places whe r e it’s phy s ic a l l y Example: Instead of opening a new not possible doesn’t make sense.” of f i ce in Southeast As ia, the World Pre s s F re e dom Committee funded the Thailand - ➢ In Georgia, Erosi Kitsmarishvilli, owner based Southeast Asian Press Alliance. of 2 television, supports his When SEAPA challenges anti-media news operations with cell phone and policies, local politicians can’t complain Internet businesses. of “Western imperialism” at work. ➢ There is a need at the management ➢ In order to solve local pro b l e ms, fo re ig n - level to inject public service values ers must understand why they have not i nto the me d ia busine s s. Radio B92 in already been solved locally. Serbia and Radio 101 in Croatia are models to study.1 Media developers 2. Business Models: E c o no m ic sustaina - should share the best practices in this bility must be addre s s e d. This is a challenge area. Northwestern University’s Me d i a everywhere. Ma na g eme nt Center and the Inter Ame r i- can Press Association train managers, ➢ Media in a conflict zone are rarely self- but often fail to emphasize public- sustaining or fully independent. In a service journalism. post-conflict or emerging democracy, however, media should be weaned from 3. Commitment: Pa t ie nce and collabora t io n their dependence on donors as the civic a re essent ial. Inde p e n de nt me d ia canno t and economic mechanisms develop. s p r i ng to life in ant i - de mo c ra t ic socie t ie s. This t ra ns i t ion could re q u i re at least a This re q u i res a sustained partnership with de c a de. o t her de mo c racy developers to create an “e na b l i ng enviro n me nt” of legal and ma r ke t - ➢ It is time to diversify beyond tra d i t io n a l place re form. U.S. advertising and subscription mo d e l s. In ma t u re de mo c ra c i e s, chang i ng con- ➢ Do mo r e proactive work on polic y, ethic s sumer habits inspired by the Internet and media law. Involve journalists, and personal video recorders are lawyers and judges. Build web sites c h a l l e ng i n g these tra d i t io nal busine s s e s. with international laws and agreements

1 5 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

translated into local languages. trainers talking about ‘how I did it.’ Not e nough int e ractive tra i n i n g. Not eno u g h Example: Professor Herman Schwartz p ra c t ice in seminars so that people get from American University Law School actual learning, not just theory.” holds seminars for former Communist bloc jurists and journalists on the ➢ McClear: “Develop more local trainers mutual benefits of a professional press and foster East-East exchanges.” and a transparent judiciary. 6. Quality: B i g ger is not necessarily better. 4. Accountability: In some areas, there’s Q u ality is far mo re important than qua nt i t y. too much aid and too few requirements for getting it. 7. Assessment: Oversight, feedback and evaluation are crucial. ➢ Give follow-up surveys to training participants. Require them to share the ➢ Knight Fellow Olson: “The cost of training with their newsrooms. Hold oversight at the local level may be as managers accountable, and withhold much as one-third of the original further aid if these agreements are not budget and will necessitate decent fulfilled. computers and database expertise to keep good institutional records.” ➢ Encourage local in-kind or financial participation to create “ownership” of ➢ Require local organizations to track the training. results, not just the money spent.

5. People: The right trainers are as ➢ Feedback and narrative impact assess- i m p o r t a nt as the fund i ng. Knig ht Founda t io n , ments from knowledgeable participants the International Center for Journalists, in the field are better evaluations Internews and the International Research than metric tabulations and regression & Exchanges Board (IREX) should create a analyses by U.S. consultants. profile of ideal trainers and establish a way to recruit them. Language skills are a great 8. Skills: Meld journalism values with plus. Local partners must be professionally technical training. respected. ➢ David Hoffman, Internews: “Tell them ➢ Rich McClear, IREX: “We need to find you are going to teach them how to be people who want to learn more than great disc jockeys; you are actually they teach, who will not necessarily be training them how to talk on the radio doing it for their book … and who can about HIV/AIDS. You weave ethics into give, and not take, credit.” every seminar, even those about management and sales.” ➢ Ann Olson, Knight Fellow: “Too much training I’ve seen is not training. It’s ➢ Manana Aslamazyan, Internews: yapping. Lecturing. Talking. Crowing “Provide them with real skills; how to about the First Amendment. Western use a video camera, to edit. Teaching

1 6 THE 15 COMMANDMENTS OF MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

them how to be objective and free areas such as the former Yugoslavia. doesn’t go over so well.” 15. Avoid unrealistic expectations: 9. Longevity: Training is step one in a Bob Gillette, fo r m erly of IREX: “ I nde p e nde nt long journey that includes formation of professional media are a necessary support groups and local journalism org a n i - ingredient of democracy, but insufficient z a t io ns to pro v i de prof e s s io nal sustena nc e in and of themselves to assure it. In any for trainees. “Parachute professors” are of transition country, media will develop and minimal value. prosper without further assistance only as the legal and economic environment for all 10. Tools: Provide a variety of training: private business, and broadly the rule of short workshops, longer immersions, law, develops and matures.” practical advice, grants, research, U.S. or European visits, cooperative program production.

11. Materials: Up-to-date training materials, articles, books and web sites are needed.

12. Motivation: Don’t focus just on what’s wrong with the country’s media; find positive incentives for action so local people will embrace the project.

13. Internet: Teach (and protect) the Internet.

➢ C o n v e rge nce is happening. Cro s s - p l a t fo r m training is essential. The rise of Internet use in Africa proves there are no fixed digital boundaries.

➢ Intervene before restrictive Internet p o l ic ies pro l i f e ra t e. Ambitio u s , autocra t ic re g i mes (such as China’s) may be swayed by the arg u m e nt that the global econo my demands a technologically savvy work- force.

14. Appropriate Te c h n o l o g y : Old techno l o - gies still have their place. Community ra d io, for exa m p l e, re a c h es people in Afric a , Afghanistan, Pakistan and post-conflict 1 Rich McClear, memo to author, summer 2002.

1 7 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

18 GLOBAL OV E R V I E W : AT LEAST $600 MILLION FOR THE DE C A D E

assistance to foreign Non-U.S. assistance is also considerable. journalists was minimal in The European Union has probably donated U.S.1984 when Tom Winship, as much as the U.S. government in money, Jim Ewing and George Krimsky fo u n ded the training, equipment and legal advice. Center for Foreign Journalists,1 and the Other international organizations include first Alfred Friendly Foundation foreign the Danish Agency for Development press fellows arrived in the United States. Assistance ($1.4 million in 2000); the The State Department had a program for Organization for Security and Co-operation several years that brought international in Euro p e, which also is in charge of me d i a journalists to the United States, but no policy in Kosovo; UNESCO’s Program for government or private organization was the Development of Communication ($2 dedicated solely to developing foreign million in 2000); the Dutch government journalism.2 through Press Now; the Swedish Interna- tional Development Corporation Agency; The field exploded in 1989 with the fall the Canadian International Development of the Iron Curtain. Media, television in Agency; and the German foundations particular, became a critical factor as Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Friedrich Naumann societies exercised newfound political Stiftung and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.8 powers. Americans and Western Europeans rushed in to encourage democracy and Most of the American money was spent support the voices of independent, free overseas, as U.S. journalists became media media. Today, not-for-profit foreign media missionaries. When U.S. Information development3 is a multimillion-dollar Agency official Marvin Stone created the undertaking involving hundreds of U.S. International Media Fund in 1990 with and European organizations. money from the U.S. government’s South East Europe Development program, he Key Players enlisted U.S. news organizations that otherwise would not, for reasons of inde- By rough estimate, U.S.-based sources pendence, use government grant money. devoted at least $600 millio n 4 a nd pro b a b l y Other private organizations followed suit, much more to the cause of independent and hundreds of Americans fanned out media over the past decade. Most of the into Russia, Eastern Europe and nearby money came from the U.S. Agency for countries, offering workshops, giving International Development (USAID), the lectures and directing more ambitious U.S. Information Service (USIS)5 and long-term projects. By the century’s turn, philanthropist George Soros’ Open Society it seemed as if every American foundation, Institute. USAID alone provided an university and journalism trade association estimated $275 million from 1991 to had a pro g ram in Wa r s a w, Pra g u e, Buda p e s t, 2001.6 The U.S. government spends at Moscow, Johannesburg or Bosnia. least $50 million,7 and Soros foundations spend at least $20 million annually on Some organizations focused on bringing media development. Other NGOs, such as journalists to the United States. The World the Ford, Knight and McCormick Tribune Press Institute, the American Society of foundations, allocate several million more. Newspaper Editors, the Atlantic Council and many government-funded international

1 9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES visitor pro g ra m s spons o red fellowships. The The Cold War is over and Africa lost,” the private Alfred Friendly Foundation brought Nigerian ambassador to the United Nations 214 journalists from 72 countries to the lamented in 1990.1 1 Now there is some United States between 1984 and 2002 at a increased U.S. donor interest in African cost of more than $4.3 million.9 Compared media, motivated by the fight to stem to training abroad, programs like this one, HIV/AIDS. which brings about a dozen journalists from developing countries to the United After 9/11, the attention of government States for six months each year to work in and private media developers naturally U.S. newsrooms, are relatively expensive turned to the Muslim world. The virulent (about $20,000 each). But Alfred Friendly anti-Americanism of the press in Egypt, J r., vice chairman of the fo u n da t ion, arg u e s Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle that the value of “(immersing) visiting East was thought to have contributed to j o u r nalists in Ame r ican free press pra c t i c e s ” the rise of al-Qaida and similar groups. cannot be duplicated elsewhere. Friendly In 2002, USAID granted $1 million to also finds that large metropolitan news- Internews to revive independent broadcast papers are more willing to accept foreign media in Afghanistan. In Iraq, there are journalists than to send their own staffers plans to create open broadcast and print abroad for extended periods. media as part of the post-conflict de mo c ra c y - b u i l d i n g effort. Me d ia de v e l o p e r s Following the Money s hould heed the lessons learned in postwar Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo in the 1990s. Media development has generally followed (See “Close-up: Media Assistance in Bosnia,” the focus of U.S. and European foreign Page 37.) policy. In the 1980s, for example, when t he U.S. military was involved in El Salvado r, Despite the concentration of media N ic a r a g ua and Pa na ma, Florida Int e r na t io na l developers on the former Communist bloc University won a large go v e r n me nt cont ra c t in the last decade, some smaller groups, to help Central American journalists. such as the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), the Freedom Forum In 1990 the spotlight landed on the former and the International Women’s Media Soviet bloc, where journalism was thawing Foundation, were active also in Latin out after the Cold War. This is where the A me r ica, Africa and As ia. Other journa l i s m field of media development burgeoned and r ig hts org a n i z a t io n s, such as the Committee w he r e, until 9/11, most of the mo ney went , to Protect Journalists and Article 19, via government grants to Internews and campaigned globally for public access to IREX, and via Soros’ Open Society Ins t i t u t e. information.

In Africa and other regions, U.S. embassies U.S. go v e r n me nt and private org a n i z a t io ns, in the 1980s helped local media with small respecting the First Amendment separation grants, which shrank during the 1990s as between the me d ia and the state, ge ne ra l l y interest shifted to Russia, Eastern Europe did not assist media companies that and the Balkans.1 0 c o n t i nued to be run by fo re i gn go v e r n me nt s. The U.S. government programs were designed to help state-run media become

2 0 GLOBAL OV E R V I E W : AT LEAST $600 MILLION FOR THE DE C A D E independent as part of a mission to build obstacles that lie ahead. Popular support democracy and civil society.1 2 For the most of open media can make a difference but part, nongovernment journalism support the impact may be fleeting. In October repeated this pattern, with money flowing 2001, then Georgian President Eduard to privatized or start-up ventures. Shevardnadze learned about the power of the audience when he tried to silence Na t u ra l l y, some news org a n i z a t io ns re c e i v e d t e l e v i s ion station Rustavi-2 for bro a d c a s t i ng aid while others, which might have been exposés of government corruption. Tens worthy, did not. At times, these choices of thousands of people took to the streets skewed the marketplace. In Bosnia and to defend the station, and Shevardnadze Kosovo, for example, millions of Western had to dismiss his government. However, development dollars converted some because there was little follow-up to contractors into media moguls. Persephone c h a nge go v e r n me n t polic ie s , the go v e r n me n t M iel, re g i o nal director for Int e r news Russia , continues to harass Rustavi-2, station said that despite these unintended conse- owner Erosi Kitsmarishvilli noted. q u e nces the pra c t i ce of he l p i ng some me d ia organizations over others was necessary. DONOR MARKETPLACE DILEMMAS Aid has enabled some local Russian tele- v i s ion statio ns to survive in a ma r ket whe re Many media owners are uninterested in there is not enough advertising money to public service, or cannot (or will not) pay go around, she said.1 3 It is better, she said, journalists a living wage. This cripples to help some stations succeed than to let ethical, professional news coverage. For all fail. training to be most effective, programs need management participation. Ideally, Looking Ahead owners should support trainees and agree with the goals of the training. Despite the hundreds of millions of public a nd private dollars spent on me d ia de v e l o p - Corruption remains rampant. For decades, me nt, the global need re ma i n s great. Who l e Mexican political leaders “subsidized” p o p u l a t io ns in the Middle East, As ia , Africa journalists, a practice President Vicente and Latin America remain cut off from Fox ended on some levels after his election basic local or international news. F o r me r in 2000. In Kenya, Transparency Interna- C o m munist count r ies need inde p e ndent tional exposed journalists who were given local me d ia in order to establish de mo c ra t ic Korean cars for “overlooking” certain cultures. The stakes are rising now since s t o r ie s. In Russia, 95 perc e n t of ne w s p a p e r s the media are so important to acquiring published a press release announcing the and maintaining political power a nd sinc e opening of a nonexistent stereo store; e c o n o m ic health is linke d, in part, to each press release included a bogus $200 i n fo r m a t ion access and digital techno l o g ie s .1 4 coupon for the reporter.1 5

In Russia and other fo r mer Soviet re p u b l ic s, In Serbia, nationalists hijacked $250,000 media control has largely reverted to the in equipment donated to broadcaster state after a brief period of independence. Studio B by the International Media Fund Concerted action is necessary to navigate and apparently used it in Knin, Croatia, to the labyrinth of legal, policy and economic broadcast propaganda.1 6 Questions about

2 1 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES monetary misuse forced funding cutbacks U.S.-funded Talking Drum Studio, success- at a Eurasia Foundation project in fully develops radio throughout the region. and management changes at the Russian- American Press and Information Center in Bill Siemering, creator of National Public Moscow. Radio’s program, w o r ked on behalf of the Open Society Ins t i- The commercial values of an emergent tute to help local communities launch media marketplace can collide with the radio stations. RadioB-92 in Serbia and democratic goals of a free press and access Radio 101 in Croatia are important commu- to information. In , corrupt forces nity stations that would not have survived acquired the improved newspapers. In with- out timely U.S. media support. Russia, the lack of a sufficient broadcast advertising pool means that “politically Siemering and Rich and Suzi McClear of motivated sources of money, from business IREX, who helped develop radio in the and governmental interests at all levels, Balkans, think public-private economic continue to have far more influence in the models similar to NPR and Public media market than is desirable,” said Miel Broadcasting Service in the United States of Internews. might be more sustainable and better serve democratic culture in transitional Overcoming official reticence toward the societies than purely commercial media. development of independent media, USAID assessors in 1999 also concluded especially in a society with no tradition of that quasi-government a free press, may require persuasive tactics was an ”overlooked area” for U.S. media that go beyond right-to-know arguments. support abroad.1 8 There are caveats to this A study by Internews Russia, for example, approach. Siemering cautioned that argued that governments have a financial “depending upon voluntary listener interest in cooperating with independent contributions for over 50 percent of media because doing so saves them money income is not applicable overseas.”1 9 on subsidies. “We thought it would be c o nt ro v e r s i al, but the [Russian] go v e r n me nt GEORGE SOROS welcomed it,” said Mark Koenig of USAID.1 7 Investor George Soros is probably the THE CASE FOR COMMUNITY RADIO largest private contributor to democratic and independent media development. He Radio is a cheap and easily accessible has created a $450 million network of 32 source of news since it does not require foundations,2 0 at the peak of which is the literacy of its listeners. Mission-oriented Open Society Institute, an operating and community radio stations are thriving in g ra nt - m a k i ng ins t i t u t ion established in Ne w Africa, Asia, Latin America and post- York City in 1993. Soros’ goal is to “e s t a b l i s h Communist Europe. In Sierra Leone, for a global allia nce for open socie t y.” example, Andrew Kromah, owner of -FM in Freetown and KISS-FM in Bo, exposes The scope and complexity of Soros’ p h i l a n - c o r r u p t i on under the mo n i ker “Mr. Owl.” He thropic empire is daunting. It includes was honored by ICFJ for his work. Also in locally based OSI fo u nda t io ns in 28 count r ie s, Freetown, Frances Fortune, director of t he Kosovo and Montenegro that focus

2 2 GLOBAL OV E R V I E W : AT LEAST $600 MILLION FOR THE DE C A D E primarily on the former Communist bloc, t e l e v i s ion for bre a k i ng ne w s, then Int e r n e t , and two regional OSI initiatives for then print for the next news cycle, and Southern and West Africa that make grants then television again. With technological in 27 African countries. leapfrogging in Africa, Bangladesh and places previously considered cut off from All Soros foundations participate in media c o m mu n i c a t i o ns techno l o g y, digital tra i n i n g development to some extent. The Open for journalists should be considered S o c i ety Institutes in New York and Buda p e s t v i r t ually everywhe re. To day’s ra d io re p o r t e r s administer major efforts. Itemized media may be tomorrow’s Internet news writers p rojects totaled about $20 million in 2000, or videographers. an amount that under-represents OSI’s journalism contributions since it considers T he Int e r net has become, in ma ny ins t a nc e s, open media an organic element of a “technology of freedom.”2 1 Internet de mo c ra c y - b u i l d i n g and ma ny me d ia effo r t s publishing reduces the ability of autocratic a r e cont a i ned within bro a der pro j e c t s. governments to censor information. A journalist with Internet expertise can be Soros said he intends to support the a “self-contained, independent news foundations only until 2010, so OSI is production company should his newspaper working to make its partnerships, spin-offs or broadcast outlet be arbitrarily closed or and other initiatives self-sustaining. Until nationalized by a government hostile to then, the foundations expect to spend the free of information,” said David $450 million to $500 million annually, DeVoss, who ran IREX’s $2.5 million USAID allocating 60 percent to the former Soviet print media development program in bloc, 20 percent to the United States and Bosnia-Herzegovina. “In a single day a 20 percent elsewhere. Their emphasis is on rogue government can wipe out years of creating a democratic culture that will [media development] work. In August sustain inde p e nde nt me d ia and public access 2001 Belarus officials confiscated USAID to information. Specific media initiatives computers given to the newspaper Volny identified in the 2000 annual report as Ho rad in the town of Kric he v. Simu l t a ne o u s candidates for continued support are the with that seizure, the Belarusian Justice Media Development Loan Fund, Internews, Ministry warned the Belorusskaya Delovaya a number of human rights organizations, Gazeta against publishing information on Romany language media, and efforts to pro-democracy political groups not strengthen the rule of law, including media registered with the government. In cases law, in Central and Eastern Europe. such as this, journalists skilled in digital and production could provide a NEW AREAS: INTERNET AND fail-safe conduit for the dissemination of MEDIA POLICY unfettered news.”2 2

News consumption in the developed world Internews incorporates the Internet into is rarely bound these days to one medium, its work in 20 countries. For example, and media convergence is becoming a I n t e r news created the Ara b ic Me d ia Int e r ne t reality. Lee McKnight, a communications Network, www.amin.net, the Internet’s professor at Tufts University, points out largest source of Arab-language news, and the “new order of media consumption:” it hosts Int e r n ews Russia w w w. i n t e r n e w s . r u,

2 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES the leading web site on Russian media. a n d Eura s ian Law Initiative of the Ame r ic a n Internews also hosts a web-based Bar Association, the Covington & Burling newsroom management program running law firm, IFEX (International Freedom of at more than 100 Russian TV stations with Expression Exchange), Internews, IREX, the a central story archive in Moscow.23 Electronic Privacy Information Center, Privacy International and others.2 7 Policy In some regions legal restrictions threaten work is the most difficult and the most unfettered Internet access. In response, sensitive task in the media development I nt e r n ews has launc hed the Global Int e r ne t field. Much of the work to date is reactive. Policy Initiative, which employs lawyers There is effective monitoring, but not in 16 countries to advocate directly for enough local follow-through. open Internet policies and to build local coalitions to do the same. Media legislation is hard to track. IJNet, a Web site operated by ICFJ with funding by Use of the web is also a key component of the Open Society Institute, publishes laws IREX’s media development strategy. IREX from around the world as they emerge. maintains more than 125 Internet sites in However, many governments don’t publish 11 countries that draw more than 13,000 their media laws. Bob Gillette, former users per month. It also provides computer director of IREX’s Bosnia USAID grant, training, promotes local-language content, believes “it should be possible to identify maintains more than 2,300 web sites and an existing regional organization that 60 mailing lists, and allocates small grants becomes an active collector and repository for innovative Internet projects.2 4 of this information.” Yet, even in Bosnia, which is run by the international commun- Rich McClear tells the story of how Radio ity, media activists can’t keep track of 21 in Kosovo was saved during the war media laws, he said.2 8 Media developers through Internet and shortwave ingenuity. need to publish mo r e local and int e r na t io na l Radio Netherlands picked up the audio media laws on the web in local languages. from Radio 21 for two hours a night and rebroadcast it into Kosovo via shortwave. Some unexpected factors are helping in As the Serb troops closed in, Radio 21 the political struggle for open media. In created Hotmail accounts and uploaded all China, for example, the SARS epidemic, its critical documents before leaving which spun out of control because of the Kosovo. Even though Serbs destroyed the government’s secrecy, is prompting a station’s paper documents, the Internet much-needed rethinking of media policy. became its “history bank” and enabled it The growth of the Internet and the carrot to relaunch quickly in Macedonia, where of global commerce are also inducing IREX had funded Internet links, and again reluctant governments, including China’s, on its return to Kosovo.2 5 to relax some media restrictions. “If you want to be part of the globalization of A $75 million USAID initiative called commerce, you have to be part of the Dot.com focuses on Internet policy, access globalization of communication,” said and distance education.2 6 It is building on David Hoffman of Internews. pro bono efforts by the Central European

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Experts believe that incorporating the Albania, and ) peaked in advocacy of media policy into traditional the late 1990s as media in these former capacity building is more effective than Communist countries seemed to mature. expressing it as political engagement In 2000, the Independent Journalism a g a i nst re p ressive re g i me s. Locally, journa l - F o u nda t ion closed its Center for Inde p e nde n t ism syndicates are an effective means for Jo u r nalism in Pra g u e. But re c e nt ex p e r ie n c e s advocating changes in media policy. The with the political takeovers of “private” Bulgarian Media Coalition, for example, a media in Russia, the Czech Republic and collection of media associations and free Hungary indicate that departure from speech organizations brought together by may have been premature.3 2 IREX, acts as a united front on media law The areas that drew the most funding in issues. 2002 were Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, Russia, South Africa, the Cauc a s u s, FUNDING TRENDS South Asia and Cambodia. Afghanistan and the Middle East were the new focus in There are a number of resources that 2003. South Africa is popular with U.S. funders can use to map a country’s media journalism trainers and developers. environment and determine need. The Cambodia offers relative freedom for World Bank is starting to track media media, which allows cross-border work to openness as a factor in economic and be done with democratic activists in political development. The Media neighboring Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam Sustainability Index created by IREX and Thailand.3 3 “analyzes the status and progress of independent media in 20 countries.”2 9 USAID expects to continue investing Crocker Snow Jr. of the Money Matters m i l l io ns each year in overseas me d i a de v e l - Institute has a Wealth of Nations Index3 0 opment.3 4 In addition, the World Bank is that measures a country’s economic expressing new interest in independent prospects based partly on media capacity me d ia as a factor in econo m ic de v e l o p me nt . and public access to information. The Knight Foundation in 2002 expanded Committee to Protect Journalists issues an its journalism work in Latin America, and annual nation-by-nation survey of attacks o t he r s, such as the Alfred Frie n dly fellowship and restraints on the press. State program, also continued their efforts Department reports on human rights can without taking government money despite reveal media problems from country to the economic downturn. However, some country. Freedom House publishes an private foundations were retrenching due annual press freedom survey and map.3 1 to changed prio r i t ies and fina nc ial s e t b a c k s. Although it is used widely, some media T he Fre e dom Forum cut 60 perc e nt of its advocates believe it and similar indices programs, including all international that declare some countries “bad” can projects. T h e Mc C o r m ick Tr i b u ne Founda t io n antagonize governments that might in 2002 refocused more narrowly on press o t herwise tolerate U.S. me d i a de v e l o p me nt . freedom issues and was limiting new commitments. Donor interest in Central Europe (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia,

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BUSH POLICY: INDEPENDENT MEDIA OR by continued international failure to PRO-U.S. MEDIA? applaud U.S. development efforts after the U.S.- and British-led invasion of Iraq, Aid organizations must understand in ad- USAID Director Andrew Natsios told a 2003 vance any expectations that may be forum of American humanitarian groups attached by their funders, particularly if that those fulfilling U.S. contracts are “an the money is coming from the U.S. govern- arm of the U.S. government” and they ment. Before the George W. Bush adminis- need to emphasize this connection or lose tration, USAID policy stated that it was their funding.3 6 Some government grantees improper for developers to demand pro- were concerned that this emphasis on U.S. content from the media they were public relations for the U.S. government he l p i ng. In “The Role of Me d ia in Demo c ra c y,” would undermine the credibility of their a 1999 report, the agency emphasized “the “soft diplomacy” support for independent need for clear distinc t io ns between media media. It was not clear, at this writing, a s s i s t a nce and public info r ma t ion campaig n s how serious the policy shift would be or that pro mote U.S. polic ies and vie w p o i nt s . ” what impact it might have in the field. The report warned U.S. policymakers: “Democratic transitions may not be RESULTS strengthened through the creation of a media which, while free from its own Two decades of extensive support for government control, espouses views of democracy, including advocacy for open foreign governments and reflects their media, has made a positive difference interests. An outlet’s credibility depends in some countries. For example, U.S. on its ability to report news freely.”3 5 To democracy programs poured an estimated be sure, U.S. government officials in the $40 million into Serbia from the mid - 1 9 9 0 s field occasionally confused media develop- to 2000. Western Europe and Canada made ment with public relations, expecting complementary efforts. The cumulative assisted media to support U.S. foreign force of these projects helped the Serbs policy. Both IREX and Internews, USAID’s topple President Slobodan Milosevic in largest media developers, rejected an September 2000. “Western aid underwrote assignment in 2002, for example, from a much of the independent media in the U.S. official who wanted them to sponsor country,” wrote Thomas Carothers in a opposition e l e c t ion covera ge against a paper for the Carnegie Endowment for nox ious re g i me. International Peace,37 “helping ensure the expansion of an enterprising network of In 2003, USAID’s hand s - off policy appeare d independent radio and television stations, to shift under the Bush administration and the survival of many independent in the wake of 9/11 and the wars in ma g a z i nes and ne w s p a p e r s . The inde p e nde nt Afghanistan and Iraq. It increased funding media played a major role in challenging for public relations – direct efforts to Milosevic’s efforts to control public seek international support for U.S. policies information.” – and seemed less concerned about de v e l o p i ng truly inde p e nde nt fo r e ign me d ia , It is also fair to say that the donated particularly if its content might reflect millions trained tens of thousands of disagreement with U.S. policy. Frustrated journalists in the former Communist bloc,

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Latin Ame r ica and Africa; nu r t u red hu ndre d s of broadcast, print and Internet news organizations; and made possible the flow of unprecedented amounts of information to people living in transitional societies. The “enabling environment” – the alchemic mix of econo m ic and legal re fo r ms, politic a l culture and media policies that transforms autocracy into civil society – progressed in some regions over the past decade, only to grow worse in many others.38

Most of the difficulties in media develop- ment stemmed from a region’s failure to develop that requisite democratic culture. But media development also has been hindered by competitiveness, overlap, incompetence and turf wars. In Serbia, for example, a well-coordinated donor effort that produced common grant applications and weekly meetings, backslid after the c o n f l i ct subside d, and me d ia gra ntees began to play one donor off against another. The funding rivalry between U.S. government grantees continues even though they often work effectively together in the field.

“We have failed at multilateral issues because there are too many players who want to lead,” said Frank Vogl of Transparency International. “There is a tremendous competitiveness out there ... a broader coalition is needed.”

These issues may have been inevitable in a field that grew so large so quickly in such unstable political settings. The challenge ahead to is learn from the past and address the repressive legislation and market forces that continue to bedevil journalists. Whayne Dillehay of ICFJ summed it up: “There’s more than enough work for us all to do.”

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1 Now the International Center for Journalists. rigid, according to a 2003 analysis of USAID’s Russia media 2 Whayne Dillehay, interview, Oct. 31, 2001. assistance, by Krishna Kumar and Laura Randall Cooper. “First, 3 “Media development” in this report means capacity building any assistance that helps institutionalize the norms of for foreign independent journalism, including training, legal professional journalism in the state-owned media outlets support, equipment, grants, fellowships, journalism improves the enabling environment for independent media. … associations, schools, etc. “Independent journalism” means Second, in many cases, it is difficult to determine the the attempt to serve as an honest broker of information and ownership of the enterprise. Although nominally commercial, a debate by distributing content not dictated by governments or large number of regional newspapers get direct and indirect funders. This report does not include public relations work or subsidies from the state.” P.38. “Promoting Independent Media programming on VOA, RFE/RL, the BBC, etc. in Russia,” USAID Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination, 4 None of the major donors, including the U.S. government, PPC Evaluation Working Paper No. 7, January 2003. the Open Society Institute foundations, the or 13 Russia has just one-tenth of the ad money spent per capita others, have consistently line-itemed or aggregated the money in Poland, and one-seventieth of the United States media ad they have invested in international media development. This money, said Persephone Miel of Internews. number is a rough projection based on figures provided by 14 See Roumeen Islam, draft World Development Report 2002, USAID, Congressional Research Service, Internews, IREX, Building Institutions for Markets, Chapter 10. That draft McCormick Tribune Foundation, the OSI 2000 report, became The Right to Tell: The Role of Mass Media in Economic interviews, Internet searches, and other resources. Development, op. cit. 5 Now reduced to the Bureau of Public Diplomacy in the State 15 Frank Vogl, Transparency International, World Bank Department. Institute/USAID meeting in Washington, D.C., October 2001. 6 David Black, project officer for USAID’s media development 16 Rich McClear, interview, Oct. 9, 2002, with Jovan Arezina, programs, provided an estimate of $250 million to $275 director of Studio B; also, International Media Fund report million by e-mail to the author in December 2001. It is almost Incomparably Bad, chapter on Serbia/Montenegro, 1995. impossible to determine how much the U.S. government spent 17 Mark Koenig, World Bank Institute/USAID media meeting, from all of its various budgets. Whayne Dillehay points out op. cit. that USAID also funds “Indefinite Quantity Contracts” (IQCs), 18 USAID, Role of Media in Democracy, op. cit., p.37. which preapprove a consortium of groups to draw on hundreds 19 Bill Siemering, memo to author, July 2002. of millions of dollars to deliver certain kinds of assistance. For 20 Assessment based on the Open Society Institute’s 2000 example, the International Center for Journalists is involved in annual report and interviews with Gordana Jankovic, Bill three IQCs – a global human rights project administered by Siemering and other Soros representatives and their Freedom House, another in Algeria and a third with Cassals colleagues. and Associates that will likely lead to media projects in 21 The late scholar Ithiel de Sola Poole’s famous phrase, Nigeria. coined before the Internet was even invented. 7 This is a pre-Iraq war estimate. Numbers may change 22 David DeVoss, The Case for Digital Journalism, proposal significantly if the United States undertakes a major shown to author, August 2001. reconstruction of Iraq, Afghanistan or other countries related 23 Internews web site. to the war on terrorism. 24 IREX web site. 8 This list is from Monroe Price’s global media development 25 McClear, memo to the author, summer 2002. report, Mapping Media Assistance. 26 The grant is divided among three government media 9 Alfred Friendly Jr., Alfred Friendly Foundation vice chairman, contractors: Internews will do policy; the Academy for notes to the author, summer 2002. This program, launched Educational Development will do exchanges; and the with an endowment from late Washington Post editor Alfred Educational Development Corporation will do distance Friendly, forswears government funding. Fellows must be fluent education. in English, have at least three years of newsgathering 27 The array of Western organizations promoting media rights experience and be employed at nongovernment publications in and policy is so large that the International Freedom of their own countries. AFF created a new fellowship in 2002 in Expression Exchange was created 10 years ago to convene the name of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl that them all into a network that offers training and other support. gives preference to applicants from Pakistan. 28 Gillette attended the World Bank Institute/USAID media 10 Theoretically, the U.S. government may also have provided discussion, op. cit. earmarked funding for foreign media development over the 29 IREX, www.irex.org/msi/index.asp. years, including some covert support during the Cold War. 30 Money Matters Institute, Tracing that would require a Freedom of Information Act www.moneymattersinstitute.org/html/wealth_of_nations_index. request, which is beyond the scope of this project. html. 11 Maj. Gen. Joseph Garba, quoted in “Lessons for the Media 31 Freedom House, from Foreign Aid,” John Maxwell Hamilton, Media Studies www.freedomhouse.org/research/pressurvey.htm. Journal, Fall 1999, p. 103. 32 IJF still has centers in , Bucharest and Budapest, 12 “The Role of Media in Democracy: A Strategic Approach” June, 1999, USAID Center for Democracy and Governance, Bureau for Global Programs, Field Support and Research, p.37. USAID’s policy of funding only nonstate media may be too

2 8 GLOBAL OV E R V I E W : AT LEAST $600 MILLION FOR THE DE C A D E

and runs a journalism program at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. 33 The situation in Thailand deteriorated in 2001-2002. Independent journalists are often attacked. For more detail, see the Asia section of this report. 34 David Black, interview, Oct. 31, 2001. 35 USAID, The Role of Media in Democracy: A Strategic Approach, op.cit, p 12. 36 Jack Epstein, “Charities at Odds with Pentagon; Many turn down work in Iraq because of U.S. restrictions,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 14, 2003. 37 Thomas Carothers, “Ousting Foreign Strongmen: Lessons from Serbia,” Carnegie Endowment, Vol. 1, No. 5, May 2001. However, U.S. contributions to the anti-Milosevic campaign were only helping a local movement to remove him from power, Carothers found: “Even when a democracy aid campaign is extensive and sophisticated, it is at most a facilitator of locally rooted forces for political change, not a creator of them.” 38 Price and Krug, The Enabling Environment for Free and Independent Media, op. cit.

2 9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

30 REGIONAL CHAPTER: RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

OVERVIEW: A DECADE OF DEVELOPMENT During the heyday (1993-94) of media development in the former U.S.S.R., The story of U.S. public and private media thousands of private commercial television development aid to the post-Communist stations were created. “There was a time world is extensive and complex.1 With when two new companies were being glasnost and the fall of Communism, opened every day,” said Aslamazyan. Under Americans poured into the U.S.S.R. and her leadership, Internews is credited with Eastern Europe to participate in the re g io n ’ s much of this broadcast development. exciting rush toward democracy. In 1990, Thousands of newspapers also began Secretary of State James Baker announced publishing, some with training or other the formation of a new I nt e r na t io nal Me d ia assistance from U.S. developers. In 1995, F u n d, he a ded by fo r me r USIA of f ic ial Ma r v i n for example, the Tacoma (Wash.) News S t o n e, to help establish inde p e nde nt me d ia Tribune helped the English-language a c r oss the fo r mer Communist bloc. Pro m i ne nt Vladivostok News launch a web site, American journalists swarmed into Warsaw, vn.vladnews.ru/, that still publishes today.4 Prague, Budapest and Moscow. Charles University in Prague fo u nd itself besie g e d COORDINATING THE MEDIA by Ame r ic a n journalism school partners. MISSIONARIES “Parachute professors” were everywhere. “The joke became something like, ‘We’ve As Ame r ican journalism tra i ners in the early had U.S media assistance; Ben Bradlee was 1990s tripped over each other in foreign here for lunch one day,’” recalled trainer re s t a u ra nt s, they realized mo r e coord i na t io n Ed Baumeister,2 who worked in the region was required. The Center for Foreign for much of the decade. Journalists (ICFJ), with $50,000 each from the International Media Fund and the In the former Communist world, no private Freedom Forum, created the Clearinghouse philanthropic organization arrived earlier, on the Central and East European Press to was more generous or had more influence track media development and training. The in democracy-building than George Soros’ Academy for Educational Development, a Open Society Ins t i t u t e. The age n cy has spent government contractor, followed broadcast $360 million over the last decade in Russia media for a year. Since then, ICFJ has been alone.3 While just an estimated 10 percent collecting both print and broadcast of that went specifically to media develop- assistance data, which it publishes on ment, all OSI grants aim to support the IJNet, www.ijnet.org. de v e l o p me nt of de mo c racy and civil socie t y, the “enabling environment” necessary for Ja m es Gre e n f ie l d, a fo r mer New York Time s i nde p e nde nt journalism. OSI fund i n g played e d i t o r, also conc l uded that a mo re systema t ic a key role in the early days of Russia n i n - c o u ntry approach was ne e d e d . His me d ia de v e l o p me nt. For exa m p l e, OSI gave Independent Journalism Foundation,5 led Internews $80,000 to found Moscow’s first also by Nancy Ward and Don Wilson, and independent radio station, Radio Echo. backed by the Knight and New York Times “If Echo hadn’t been in the Moscow White foundations, established Centers for Ho u s e, Yeltsin wouldn’t have been able to Independent Journalism first in Prague, broadcast, and might have lost the coup,” t hen in Bratislava, Buc h a rest and Buda p e s t . said Manana Aslamazyan of Internews. T hese re s o u rce centers offer help in basic

3 1 CLOSE-UP: LIDOVE NOVINY VS. GAZETA WYBORCZA

In the econo m ic fre e - f or-all after Czecho s l o v a k ia ’ s j o u r n alism, re s e a rch, da t a b a s e b u i l d i ng , 1989 , a group of ent re p re n e u r s c i rc u l a t ion and business pra c t i c e s . ( T he finagled control of Lidove Noviny, a 100-year- P rague opera t ion was closed in 2000). They old national treasure that was, before World War II, the most respected Czech newspaper. The work with visiting Knight Fellows from the Freedom Forum’s John Seigenthaler spent six United States, local print and broadcast mo nt hs in Prague tra i n i ng the staff in ne w s p a p e r journalists and their professional management. Czech-American Martin Stransky, organizations. “In my view, they are the whose grandfather had closed Lidove Noviny ideal form of media assistance,” said rather than give it to the Nazis, wanted to repurchase the paper but found only a 2 percent Baumeister, who was with them in the stake available. The paper’s other new Czech early days and later worked for IREX. owners listened well to Seigenthaler – perhaps too well. T hey launc hed a flamboyant ma r ke t i ng In 1992, Gre e n f ie l d, Tom Winship and Dana c a m p a ig n and then sold their at a hefty Bullen of the World Press Fre e dom Committee profit to the Swiss-based Ringier publishing e m p i re. Lidove No v i ny became just ano t h er fo re i g n - b r a i ns t o r med with Creed Black of the Jo h n owned newspaper with down-market content. S. and Ja mes L. Knig ht Founda t ion to cre a t e the Knight International Press Fellowship The Lidove Noviny story contains an important P ro g r am. The pro g r am, run by ICFJ, empha- lesson: Tra i n i ng at an org a n i z a t ion whose owne r s sized long-term media assistance by U.S. are not committed to journalistic values can waste time and money. It may be more effective journalists whose work would be tailored to work on a region’s “journalism culture,” to specific local needs. training journalists from multiple organizations and working on the legal and economic factors In Russia, partnered that support independent media. with Izvestia, Hearst started a paper in Perhaps the greatest newspaper success story Moscow, and Internews, then a small in post-Communist Europe is that of Gazeta organization, began to build the Wyborcza, which began in Warsaw as an country’s first independent television underground Solidarity paper and evolved in network. Freedom Forum opened regional 1989 into the first independent daily in a media libraries with the Centers for Communist country. Today it is Poland’s major newspaper. When the Communists fell, Cox I n de p e n de nt Jo u r nalism and other partne r s. Newspapers invested $5 million in cash, plus U.S. go v e r n me nt spend i ng rose sig n i f ic a n t l y. sweat equity, and sent advisers in every area Internews became USIS’ and USAID’s except editorial. “They wouldn’t take that; their primary broadcast development contractor fear was that we would control the editorial in the former Soviet Union. Five years page,” said Cox’s Andy Glass.7 Cox saw it as a good business model and entry point for other l a t e r, the Int e r na t io nal Research & Exc h a nge s communications opportunities in Poland, Board (IREX), a government-funded Cold including cable and cell phones. When Gazeta War scie n t i f i c exc h a n ge, began do i ng me d i a became a public company, Cox’s 12 percent t ra i n i ng and now has hu ge USAID cont ra c t s investment paid off big. “We could pay for our t h ro u g hout the fo r mer Yu go s l a v ia and ne w l y Cox Washington bureau many times over for what we made on Gazeta,” Glass said. To be independent states. sure, much of Gazeta’s success was due to Poland’s “enabling environment,” which had U.S. universities got involved, with varying elements of civil society lacking in the Czech re s u l t s. The University of Missouri launc he d Republic – among them a vibrant labor the American University in Bulgaria, which movement and a strong Catholic church – as well as an early economic “shock treatment” has had success in teaching journalism. shift to capitalism.8 In Warsaw, however, the Rutgers University

3 2 RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE media center was plagued with internal focused on Central and Eastern Europe.9 problems and lost its U.S. funding. In “Five years after the dramatic end of Moscow, New York University’s Center for C o m m unism, too ma n y me d i a in the re g io n , War, Peace and the founded especially outside the capitals, continue t he Russia n - A me r ican Press and Info r ma t io n struggling along in an in-between world: C e nter (RAPIC), now the Press Developme nt half free, unprofitable, demoralized, Institute. RAPIC focused on print training de p e nde nt, living hand to mouth, unc e r t a i n and grew to 19 field offices. Despite a whether they have a future,” USAID said. promising beginning, it became an expen- IREX won the contract for the program. sive quagmire of union problems and other Promedia emphasized practical business management issues that served as a needs for self-sustaining media organiza- cautionary example of what to avoid.6 tions, rather than “exercises in journalism theory.” 1 0 Independent newspapers appeared every- w h e re. Cox Newspapers invested in Wa r s a w ’ s The Knight International Press Fellowships So l idarity paper, Gazeta Wyborcza. In Pra g u e, served as a model for Promedia. The 23-year-old American Lisa Frankenberg National Forum Foundation (now Freedom started the Prague Post, a successful weekly House) was a partner, as was ICFJ, which English-language newspaper. A few blocks brought the journalism expertise IREX away, editor John Seigenthaler worked to lacked. But the consortium arrangement revive the venerated old Czech newspaper, d id not work well, accord i ng to a subsequent Lidove Noviny. USAID assessment. ICFJ withdrew after 18 months, dissatisfied with the progress of U.S. GOVERNMENT AID EXPA N D S , the project and USAID’s micromanagement 1 9 9 6 - 2 0 0 0 of it.

In 1996, Marvin Stone disbanded the Initially, Promedia was beset with endless International Media Fund because USAID field studies, a chaotic work planning funders wanted tighter control over media p ro c e s s, inc o ns i s t e n t aims and poor coord i - development. USAID had won a turf battle nation. While IREX worked on training, in- with USIS over managing media aid, which country activities and association building, meant that government-funded media Freedom House identified future leaders for development projects now had to serve study tours and ran the Romania program. USAID’s policy objectives. At that point, T he USAID assessme nt directed its harshe s t “helping independent media was not seen c r i t icism at Fre e dom Ho u s e, which vigo ro u s l y as an independent activity,” one IREX disagreed with the report’s conclusions.1 1 v e t e r an re c a l l s. “Those do i ng the assistanc e to independent media were looked on more Nonetheless, Promedia made a positive a nd mo re as age nts of the U.S. go v e r n me nt , difference. It strengthened the Croatian as indeed they were.” Journalists Association and founded a R o ma n ian circ u l a t io n - a u d i t i ng org a n i z a t io n USAID had been funding Internews for that re p re s e nts 60 public a t io ns. In Slovakia , five years without seeking competitive bid s . Promedia and the local television associa- In 1995, USAID sought proposals for tion designed a technical template for a Promedia, a four-year, $18 million program “ mo del station,” and it ne g o t iated re duc e d

3 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES p r ices so statio ns could upgra d e equipme nt . developed training in newspaper editing, In Ukra i ne, it established a stude nt ne w s - re p o r t i ng, gra p h ics and business opera t io n s. paper at the state university’s journa l i s m department. The law firm of Covington & Internews, also financed by millions of Burling, working pro bono with Promedia, dollars in USAID media development analyzed proposed laws, engaged in contracts,1 6 expanded into 22 countries. program design and policy debates and Its trainers focused first on building local trained media lawyers. Internews organizations staffed by local trainers. Throughout the 1990s, it was By 1998, the project’s assessors found, immersed in broadcast development, s o me me d ia were still struggling, some were launching TV stations in provincial cities, successful and free, and quite a few were linking them into program-sharing profitable. “Only a few are demoralized, networks, enlisting them to produce and rarely do these organizations live ‘from programming and sponsoring news awards hand to mouth.’ None of the media leaders competitions. Internews hired lawyers to interviewed felt the field lacked a future,” fight for media laws and defend embattled the report found.1 2 journalists. Ann Olson, a Knight Fellow who worked in Russia, said that Internews INTERNEWS AND IREX: COMPETING FOR “made independent TV in Russia what it is, MEDIA DEVELOPMENT 13 step by step, because it was the one on the ground when everything started, and In 1999, USAID allocated $48 million for grew as independent TV grew. The impor- Promedia II, a second round of contracts. tance of that mutual growth cannot be IREX won the bulk of the work;1 4 ICFJ got underestimated.” 1 7 the contract for Georgia. In Bosnia, IREX built a small commercial Sarajevo news Internews and IREX, which compete for agency into the only independent, national many of the same contracts and sometimes news agency. It also poured resources into work together in the field, evolved from Nezavisne Novine, a Bosnian Serb daily different cultures, missions and ideology. w h ose editor lost both legs from a car bomb in October 1999 but who re t u r ned to work IREX established itself in Wa s h i ngton, D.C., (joking that he was a “limited edition” of during the Cold War by using government his former self). IREX planted a satellite- grants to sponsor scientific and cultural fed TV transmitter in a hotel room in exchanges with the U.S.S.R. Even though Srebrenica, a bombed-out, devastated IREX today is becoming more of a media c o m munity that otherwise had no televisio n . development organization, it still does at Rich and Suzi McClear, working with IREX, least half of its work in nonmedia areas.1 8 wrote effective business plans for radio stations in the former Yugoslavia, Slovakia, Internews was founded by peace activists Albania and elsewhere. Veton Surroi, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It televised publisher of the Koha Ditore newspaper in “space bridge” forums to foster dialogue Kosovo, gave IREX high marks for its work between U.S. and Soviet citizens. Still there.1 5 Throughout the region, IREX headquartered in tiny Arcata, Calif., created freedom of information and Internews approaches its development Western-style civic defamation laws and work with the goal of creating local

3 4 RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE organizations in each country that can are former Knight Fellows,” he said. carry out the media development, industry “…We’re not a human rights organization. representation and media monitoring.1 9 We do not lobby against or for certain These organizations typically recruit the governments.” Even before the new Bush most promising local broadcasters and administration policy, Pomar acknowledged train them to make Internews-contracted the existence of “daily tension” with programs. The result is a pool of shared government officials, but said IREX staff programming and a powerful network of “stood their gro u n d” against such pre s s u r e. Internews alumni in the Russian broadcast Rich McClear, a veteran IREX trainer, industry who provide lasting impact even defended the organization’s independence as a combination of a weak advertising and noted that IREX has continued to sector, unscrupulous politicians and media support some promising media outlets that oligarchs undermine the independence of displeased the U.S. government.2 4 most stations.2 0 It was not clear as of this writing how the Selling U.S.-style objectivity and balance Bush administration’s emphasis on getting to journalists in the transitional societies a pro-U.S. response for its aid would affect where Internews and IREX work is more these two large U.S. government-funded difficult than providing urgently needed me d ia de v e l o p e r s. The success of their work b u s i ne s s , technical, ma r ke t i ng, ma na ge me nt de p e nd s, para dox ic a l l y, on their me d ia and legal assistance.2 1 Some American clients’ independence not only from their “media missionaries” have criticized own governments but also from foreign Internews for emphasizing commercial go v e r n me n t s, inc l ud i ng the United States.2 5 skills over journalistic values in its development of independent broadcasting. DISAPPOINTING RESULTS: In fairness, however, it must be noted that INDEPENDENT MEDIA STILL ELUSIVE Internews sponsors journalism awards competitions and offers other incentives The environment needed to nourish that stress quality. independent media in the former Soviet bloc does not yet exist. There are about The rap among journalists against IREX, 20,000 officially registered newspapers in on the other hand, has been that it was Russia, but only about a third of them sometimes too eager to please its U.S. publish.2 6 These are the primary sources of government funders. Internews recently local information for most of the country. developed an explicit code of ethics that A USAID analysis concluded: “A majority of prohibited accepting journalism content the regional newspapers are not economi- directives from any donor.2 2 Several IREX cally viable, managing to survive only with insiders and other media developers said political or business underwriting. Their IREX has not always maintained that presence poses a major problem for the distinction as it moved from academic g r owth of inde p e n de nt re g io nal print me d ia . exchange to media developer. IREX It also makes it difficult for international President Mark Pomar disputed that view, donor agencies to … discriminate between saying that IREX’s mission was to build publishers genuinely aspiring to independ- a civil society, not the advancement of ence and others who have become partisan government policy.23 “Most of our trainers to one degree or another.” 2 7

3 5 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

USAID feels television development has that are independent and those that are been more successful, but many stations, political shills, Aslamazyan said. “The not able to sustain themselves on Russia’s concept of reputation does not really work. anemic advertising industry, fell victim It is not possible to say who is good and to shady investors. By 1995, rival media who is bad.” 29 moguls Boris Berezovsky (ORT) and Vladimir Gusinsky (NTV) had accumulated Russian journalists cannot challenge enough TV stations (as well as newspapers powerful institutions or the government and magazines) to fiercely challenge the w i t h out worrying about re p r i s a l s. Crusading Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin. journalist Grigory Pasko, who documented While some important journalism was the Russian Navy’s mishandling of nuclear done, particularly on the war in Chechnya waste, was jailed for 20 months; American and other embarrassments to the Putin financier Boris Jordan, installed as NTV government, Berezovsky and Gusinsky director, was fired following aggressive generally used the media as political coverage of the government’s handling of weapons instead of trying to develop civil the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis society through a watchdog press. in which 129 hostages were killed. NTV has been a focus of debates about freedom “ T he me d ia didn’t learn too well to pre s e r v e of speech since 2001 when Gazprom, the themselves,” said Manana Aslamazyan of government-connected natural gas I n t e r news Russia. “They gave ma ny pre t e x t s monopoly, took it over.3 0 to be closed, to be punishe d , to be silenc e d . ” Putin’s allies used the courts to close What has happened to media in Russia down Berezovsky and Gusinsky and pursue has been repeated, in some fashion, in them on criminal charges stemming from most former Soviet states. A downward irregular business practices. “Formally economic and political spiral afflicts them speaking, the government never closes the all, making it harder for media to establish media down for speaking freely. There are a financial footing. Many, if not most, always some econo m ic, some business issues locals who invest in media know they are to be used as a pretext,” Aslamazyan said. going to lose money, but do so in order to accrue political or financial influence.3 1 Even Radio Echo, which broadcasts news and analysis to 70 cities as part of Much of the media training in the former Gusinsky’s network, is back under the state Soviet republics has been focused on control. Putin has effectively reinstated advertising revenue, market research and go v e r n me nt cont rol over the most important the production of programs with broad media in the guise of neutralizing his audience appeal, such as soap operas, political rivals. There still are 600 to 700 game shows and news. Official and social television companies working in Russia,2 8 corruption is endemic, and officials are more than half of them calling themselves hostile, sometimes violently so, toward independent, but Putin controls the journalists who unmask it. Self-censorship important national television and radio is a way of life for most local journalists, channels as well as the major newspapers who may accept payoffs to write or avoid and magazines. Unfortunately, the public certain stories. does not differe n t i ate between those me d i a

3 6 CLOSE-UP: MEDIA ASSISTANCE IN BOSNIA

Even in freer Central and Eastern Europe, The international community plowed an the privatized media have not consistently estimated $7 million to $10 million in media practiced reliable consumer or watchdog development money into the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, to counter state media used journalism. In the Czech Republic and in Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic’s “ethnic Hungary, politicians control broadcast cleansing” campaign against Bosnia.3 3 Some councils that give out licenses. Broadcast of the mo ney was used successfully to support o w nership is not tra ns p a re nt, account a b i l i t y the important alternative Radio B92 in Serbia. is rare, and journalism is often amateurish. After the 1995 Dayton peace accords, the U.S. government invested another $23 million – Convincing journalists to question govern- augmented by 17 million euros from the ment action is still difficult in many of European Union – on developing independent t hese count r ie s . Czech journalist Jan Urban media as part of the overall effort to establish concluded that the challenge of media democracy in the region. Media supported by development in post-Communist societies this aid ultimately played a central role in the Milosevic’s fall from power.3 4 was like trying to “teach old cats to bark.” 3 2 By 1996, as the peace accords went into effect, CONCLUSION: ANY SIGNS OF PROGRESS? 110 newspapers and ma g a z i ne s, 41 ra d io statio ns, 17 television stations and four news agencies 35 It would be a mistake to assess too harshly were operating in Bosnian-controlled territory. Typical projects included the Swiss-financed t he me d ia de v e l o p me nt and tra i n i n g do ne Free Elections Radio Network, which covered the in this region – or to be overly pessimistic Bosnian areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Britain’s about the future. The stain of Commu n i s m Department for International Development, IREX had de c a des to soak into the social, politic a l and the Open Society Institute collaborated and economic fabric. The cleansing forces on the influential newspaper Nezavisne Novine, which remains one of the best and most of democracy may take just as long. successful Bosnian papers.36 Thanks in large part to these altruistic media development efforts, trained The assistance helped keep some opposition journalists are in place throughout Russia information flowing during and after the and the other new states, local journalism conflict, but the International Crisis Group concluded in 1998 that due to continuing associations exist that fight for better political and economic instability there had media laws, and even a civic journalism been “few breakthroughs” in developing stable p r oject is under way in a number of Russia n independent media in Bosnia. The biggest cities, including Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region, disappointment was the Open Broadcast where the TV station R-40 is working with Network (OBN), a $20 million effort in 1996-97 of the U.S. Information Service, the European the regional court to establish a system of Union, several European governments and the justices of the peace.3 9 Open Society Institute. OBN, based in Sarajevo, was a network of new television stations that There is also progress in Bosnia. Following sought international support in order to the OBN debacle, a more genuine compete with partisan state broadcasters. Instead, said former IREX Bosnia director Robert grassroots effort, the five-station Mreza Gillette, these affiliates became “serfs in their Plus network, was launched in August own land” with no say in the management or 2001 with $500,000 from USAID. It turned ownership of the venture. OBN evolved into a a profit five months later. “After six years centralized operation run out of the Office of of assistance,” said IREX’s Gillette, “a the High Representative (the international official who was governing postwar Bosnia), critical mass of reasonably professional, private, independent Bosnian media had (Continued on next page)

3 7 CLOSE-UP: MEDIA ASSISTANCE IN BOSNIA

(Continued from previous page) now reached a point where they can sustain themselves – if Bosnia’s economy with directors who lived outside the country. continues at least the slow growth it has Its grassroots credibility was nil.3 7 The network ended up competing with member stations, shown over the past several years, and if treating them as affiliates and then broadcast- they survive the international community’s i ng over their covera ge areas on its own tra ns - policy caprice.” 4 0 mitters. OBN also undermined the local market- place by paying inflated, foreign-style salaries Perhaps the biggest commercial success for on-air talent. The ICG labeled OBN a “disaster which should be scrapped.” The donors with- story is in Po l a n d, whe re major bro a dc a s t e r s drew their support. a nd print me d ia enjoy econo m ic inde p e n d - e n ce and relative fre e dom from go v e r n me n t A scorched postwar landscape is hardly fertile control. Gazeta Wyborcza paid off enor- ground for civil society and its key facilitator, mously for its investors and its corruption independent, “honest broker” media. Even Sarajevo’s once-heroic Oslobodjenje newspaper, stories have toppled government officials. celebrated in the United States for its daily Unfortunately, political scandal touched publication during the siege of the city, has Gazeta itself in 2003, but whether it fallen on hard times and lowered its standards damaged the newspaper or affected its role in today’s corrupt, internationally run state. At in the community is not yet known.4 1 least two critical lessons emerge from this history: Successful media development requires the concurrent creation of an “enabling” The institutional roots of open media economic and political environment; and the cling tenuously to these newly sovereign development of independent media takes much territories. A 2003 USAID study concluded longer than one might expect. that its media programs in Russia, if ended Radio B-92 director Veran Matic cautions further today, would leave behind “only two that donors should avoid forced, artificial enduring institutional legacies: Internews ventures. “Only those initiatives which have Russia and its community of independent taken root and become an integral part of the television broadcasters [and] … a looser social fabric of the area in conflict stand a group of jurists specializing in media chance of yielding satisfactory results,” he said. “Initiatives from the outside … can never do issues and drawing on the expertise and more than mimic cultural patterns, this mimicry contacts of the Moscow Media Law and is obvious to the local community, and the Policy Center.” Media watchdogs such as information it carries is disregarded.” 3 8 the Glasnost Defense Fund and the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, supported by such NGOs as OSI, would also be likely to survive, the USAID study said.4 2

3 8 RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

LESSONS LEARNED AND UNMET NEEDS ne c e s s a r y, mo ney to pay salarie s,” ICG said.

1. A media operation run by a foreign 6. Sustainability is the next big challenge. government will lack the credibility of an Independent media in countries where i nde p e nde n t local voic e. Western prof e s s io na l p o l i t i c ia n s or olig a rc hs abuse them for self- standards and salaries can distort the interest need alternative sources of ma r ketplace for the local me d ia. It is better influence – economic independence, inter- to support local entrepreneurs. national pressure or local public support. Public defense of media will evolve only 2. Money went in too fast, with too little with a more professional and self-critical planning, pacing or coordination. press corps. In Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine and neighboring republics, it is important 3. Focus on quality over quantity. “The not simply to set up foreign-funded media very number of media organs and interna- that expect to live from grant to grant. tional media projects dilute the impact of Where appropriate, capital should be alternative media,” the International Crisis provided, perhaps on the Grameen Bank Group concluded. Krishna Kumar and Laura principle – a broadcast association, for Randall Cooper’s 2003 USAID assessment example, lends money to one station, and determined that RAPIC “never separated until it is repaid no other loans will be the wheat among its clients – publications made, making it a priority of the entire likely to make their own way financially as broadcast community to have the initial well as politically – from the chaff.” 43 loan repaid. Public-private models like NPR and PBS should be considered. 4. One-time equipment donations don’t ensure a media operation’s survival, and 7. More legal and policy work is essential. may serve only to enrich the media owner. Neither lawyers nor journalists in these Equipment should remain the property of emerging democracies know much about the donor to ensure its correct use, ICG local or international media laws.4 6 proposed. In Serbia, donors and the Association of Independent Electronic 8. Build organizations that do their own Media set up a trust in the Netherlands to training and mentoring. hold equipment. In Slovakia, IREX did matching grants with the stations holding 9 . A motivated news aud i e n ce may be even title, but with what amounted to a lien.4 4 more important than total press freedom. Public cynicism, along with corruption and 5. Stay for the long haul. Early media political interference, hamper the develop- training programs in the post-Communist ment of independent media. world were faulted for focusing on capital cities and one-time workshops with little 1 0 . Regular do nor oversig ht and evalua t io ns systematic follow-up. They needed better m ig ht pre v e nt pro b l e ms like those at RAPIC language skills and integration of local (now PDI) in Moscow. resources, a study for USAID concluded.4 5 “If a project is worth backing, it should be 11. Greater coordination among media given sufficient financial support to make developers and policy advocates would save it a long-term success, including if money and improve effectiveness.

3 9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

12. Quality benchmarks are needed for 19. If journalists or organizations don’t p r of e s s io nal print and bro a dcast journa l i s m . want the training, don’t force them into it. “Don’t waste your time sending trainers to 13. Self-censorship is a big hurdle. reluctant people who say, ‘It’s free, so we might as well do it.’ Concentrate on people 14. Media assistance varies widely. Donors who are eager to have you,” advised James or contractors do not have a “global media Greenfield.4 7 development strategy,” Monroe Price of Yeshiva University noted, a gap that may 20. As civil society develops in a country, be inevitable given differing cultures and the NGOs tend to become more specialized, needs. Even so, funders should understand with some focusing on monitoring media clearly the long-range regional strategies content, others working on freedom of that shape their investments. How information legislation, etc.4 8 important to the funder is marketplace viability? Objectivity?

15. In some regions, journalism schools should be reformed to provide continuing midcareer education. In other places, midcareer training is not yet accepted and needs to be developed. Professional journalism organizations and centers will be better in some places than academic institutions.

16. Having one organization monopolize media development in any country is not ideal. “If it’s not a strong organization, the country suffers,” noted one developer.

17. The success of independent journalism depends largely on a country’s other political and economic factors, “including market economics, a legal framework and media policy, as well as public service journalism training.”

18. Be flexible, “look at the opportunity of the moment,” said IREX’s Mark Pomar. “That opportunity very much depends on the local partner.”

4 0 RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

4 1 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

COUNTRY REPORTS assassinated in December 2002. Internews has an organization in Yerevan that offers Russia training and media law support to 50 The history of post-Communist media broadcast stations. The Open Society development in the former Soviet Union Institute Assistance Foundation- has been summarized above. Key U.S. spent $86,000 on media in 2000. With media development organizations in Russia the Yerevan Press Club and Internews, it are: Internews, OSI, IJF, IREX, Freedom sponsored a journalism and violence House, ICFJ/Knight Fellows and the Media workshop. It also supported publication Viability Fund. In 2001, IREX Promedia of new journalism textbooks and J-school took over the Press Development Institute education for practicing journalists. (formerly RAPIC) with a $3.5 million Internews has brought together Georgian, contract from USAID. Kumar and Cooper’s Armenian and Azerbaijani broadcasters to analysis for USAID provides a solid create the region’s first television news overview of the history of U.S. government ma g a z i ne. IREX works with print journa l i s t s. work in the region.4 9 Albania Media problems are severe. Although IREX has trained journalists and developed government control is stricter than in programming since 1995. The Open Society Russia, the private press manages to play Foundation for Albania (OSFA) spent an opposition role in politics – but it’s $277,000 on media in 2000, including a a dangerous business. In July 2001, cross-border project with the Association President Heydar Aliyev took over the of Greek Publishers. This project will be leading Baku television company, whose expanded to media in Macedonia and president, Faig Zulfugarov, then sought Montenegro, with matching funds from a political asylum in the United States. Canadian government foundation. OSFA Internews has an organization in Baku. me rged its me d ia tra i n i n g with the Albania n IREX does some Internet training. Media Institute and will continue funding it for a limited time. Belarus Government criticism is dangerous for Armenia journalists. Internews and IREX are active Newspapers are political organs and are here. The World Free Press Institute not reliable. For the most part, the public collaborated for three years on a training is uninformed. “In Armenia in the past program with the Belarusian Association two years, there has been a resignation of of Journalists, funded by the Eurasia a president, a shootout in the Parliament, Foundation, but a financial scandal at the and six months ago the government was U k ra i n ian Eura s ia Founda t ion of f i ce killed it. on the verge of a peace agreement with Azerbaijan, yet little of this information made it to the regions of the country, and almost none was covered by the pluralistic regional media,” said one Internews developer. Tigran Nagdalyan, chairman of Armenia’s Public Television and Radio, was

4 2 RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Bosnia-Herzegovina Czech Republic (See “Close-up: Media Assistance in Bosnia,” (See “Close-up: Lidove Noviny vs. Gazeta Page 37; also see Serbia, below.) Wyborcza,” Page 32.)

IREX is completing a three-year, $15 Although the Czech Republic was deemed million USAID contract in Bosnia. Fund for to have “graduated” from needing media an Open Society-Yugoslavia spent $1.2 assistance, public and private broadcast million, and Open Society Fund-Bosnia- me d ia are struggling to ma i ntain inde p e nd - Herzegovina spent $252,000 supporting ence from political influence. The Center independent media in 2000. Efforts to for Independent Journalism closed in improve Balkan journalism continue at all 2000, following the departure of Pew, Ford, levels, including small projects like Boston and most of Soros’ activities. The Freedom public radio station WBUR’s 10-year-old Forum gave its library to the U.S. Embassy. exchange program, which brings about 25 Chains from , Switzerland and the Balkan print and broadcast journalists to Netherlands own most newspapers. Boston each year to work for two months Broadcast ownership is mostly opaque. at local media outlets. It is funded with Vladimir Ze l e z ny, a shady Czech ent r e p re ne u r $300,000 from the U.S. government. whose market-dominating TV NOVA was funded by American investor Ronald Bulgaria Lauder, not only ran off with the station’s Open Society Foundation-Sofia spent profits, but used his scandal-mongering $229,000 on media in 2000. It spun off its “Ask the Director” to build his Media Development Center, which now has political power by attacking President other funding. The American University in Vaclav Havel and his liberal democratic Bulgaria, started by the University of allies. The Czech Parliament crafted a Missouri, has a good journalism school. disastrous press law in 2000 that allowed IREX trains broadcasters at its studio in subjects of news stories the “right of Sofia, works on media-law reform and was reply” regardless of the truth of the instrumental in establishing ABRO, the original article. Newspapers rebelled and local radio and television association. published blank news pages to demon- strate what the law’s impact would be, Croatia but then they dropped the issue. Only IREX provided business training and other when international press groups picked assistance to Radio 101 in Zagreb. With up the fight, using a scathing European the BBC, IREX helped connect local tele- Union report on the proposed law, did vision stations through program sharing the politicians retreat. and a fiber optic system. IREX also set up a satellite system. Open Society Institute- Georgia Croatia spent $229,000 on media in 2000, Real journalism can be dangerous here. supporting pockets of resistance to the Reporter Georgi Sanaya of Rustavi-2 government, which uses state-controlled television was shot to death in July 2001. media to limit civil society. His killer remains free. But there is public

4 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES support for courageous reporting. In which has a successful training program October 2001, the state threatened to for Roma journalists. Algis Lipstas of OSI shutter Rustavi-2 after it aired reports on has he l pful ins i g hts on the role of the me d i a government corruption, but when KGB c e nters thro u g hout the re g i on. The Hu ng a r ia n goons entered the station it turned its live press is the most privatized in Eastern cameras on them. Thousands of people Europe, but also the one with the most surged into the streets to protest the foreign investment. Nearly 80 percent of government’s actions. Then-President newspapers are foreign owned.5 1 Broad- was forced to dismiss c a s t i ng is influenced by politic s. The go v e r n - not only the corrupt officials identified ment appoints only loyal party members to in the broadcast, but his entire cabinet. the board that oversees national television The Open Society Georgia Foundation a nd ra d io. The result is cont e nt ge r r y ma nde r - spent $106,000 on media work in 2000, ing. Budapest Mayor Gabor Dems k y, a including an Internet training program for member of the oppositio n , couldn’t get his 15,000 young people, and anti-corruption Hungarian Independence Day speech on and investigative journalism projects. ICFJ the air in 2000, the first time in nine years is working effectively with print media on it wasn’t broadcast. a USAID contract. Former Knight Fellow Margie Freaney heads the Caucasus School Kazakhstan of Journalism and Media Management The environment for media development is in Tblisi. Internews and IREX have been harsh. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has active here.5 0 thwarted open media and other aspects of democratic culture. In January 2003, The biggest issue here is not lack of opposition journalist Sergei Duvanov was training, but structure of the media. sentenced to three and a half years in Journalists, who make about $30 a month prison for allegedly raping a young girl. when they are paid at all, lack incentives Human rights and media organizations for professionalism. Media outside Tblisi called the trial politically motivated and are tightly controlled. Conferences are part of the government’s repression of the viewed as pleasant, but ineffective. The media. Internews has been active here. most constructive work is long-term and local with people who speak Georgian. Kosovo One American doing development work in The media development story in Kosovo Tblisi said a recent journalism graduate includes pre-conflict, conflict and post- who could spend a few years training and c o n f l ict phases.5 2 To day’s fragile post-conflic t reporting would do more good than a setting provides a natural proving ground planeload of experienced journalists who for the fundamental tension between hate- fly in for a conference. mongering and free speech. The New York Times complained in an editorial that the Hungary Organization for Security and Cooperation This is still a hotbed of U.S. media assis- in Europe (OSCE) media regulators were tance. Soros’ highly regarded regional muzzling some news organizations, but Network Media Program, run by Gordana analyst Stacy Sullivan contended that the Jankovic, is in Budapest. IJF also has a suppression of hate speech was necessary Center for Independent Journalism there, to stabilize the country. “The allegations

4 4 RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE frequently being printed or broadcast in h a rassed du r i ng an election and helped law- Kosovo’s me d ia are da nge rous and de t r i me n - yers from the Macedonian Press Center in tal to creating peace in the region,” she S kopje de f e nd journalists against de f a ma t ion. said. “The New York Times suggested that there was a healthy and vibrant press in Moldova Kosovo before the war and that, left to Several Soros foundations have supported their own devices, Kosovars would simply the Independent Journalism Center in recreate this. However, this conception Chisinau, which has developed media law of the pre-war media space is mistaken. and offered seminars for civil servants The OSCE should be vested with a more and journalists on implementation of a vigorous mandate to end incendiary new access to information law. Soros broadcasts and nationalistic mudslinging Foundation-Moldova spent $77,000 on currently taking place in Kosovo’s media media, making international journals and space, because such words are detrimental newspapers available through libraries. to the peace process.” 5 3 It publishes an on-line newsletter. IREX does Internet training. IREX helped to rebuild the broadcasting system in Kosovo, which assured national Montenegro coverage before the elections, and IREX helped create the MINA news agency established the KosovaLive news agency. and MEMO 98, an NGO that trains media Kosava Foundation for Open Society (KFOS) mo n i t o r s. IREX also supported the de v e l o p - and IREX have supported RTV 21 and Koha ment of Blue Moon TV, using trainers from Vision. KFOS funded media training for its Slovakia pro g ram. Open Society Ins t i t u t e - Kosovar students at American University Montenegro spent $208,000 on media in Bulgaria. KFOS spent $68,000 on media in 2000. OSI also works on freedom of work in 2000, including a library and information access, electronic media Internet program to give isolated re g u l a t ion, bro a dcast pro duc t ion and, with populations access to global information. five other do n o r s , supports the Mo nt e ne g r i n Internews has a modest radio training Media Institute, which promotes regional operation in Pristina that creates cross- cooperation and offers education for Balkan programming. It also teaches radio, journalists and media professionals. video and Internet skills at the University of Pristina and at Kosovar radio stations. Poland The Institute for War and Peace Reporting Independent media are vibrant. Gazeta and Internet provider IPKO created the Wyborcza is one of the biggest media Balkan Media Resource Center, which uses success stories in the post-Communist a Ford Foundation grant to provide Kosovo world, even though it was recently journalists in Pristina with free Internet embarrassed by a scandal involving its access. The Institute also operates a news parent company’s attempt to purchase a service that disseminates local stories. television station. Radio and television have effective legal protection against Macedonia outside interference. The Stefan Batory T h e Open Society Ins t i t u t e - Ma c e do n ia spent Foundation (a Soros unit) spent $70,000 $181,000 on media in 2000. It provided on media in 2000, including support for legal assistance to journalists who were investigative reporting and a media

4 5 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES campaign against corruption that inspired Open Society Fund-Bratislava spent 30 media groups to launch their own $108,000 on me d i a in 2000, inc l ud i ng work anti-corruption activities. for passage of a freedom of information act and an FOIA handbook for state Romania administrators. IREX concentrated on local Radio is big. Knight Fellows and others t e l e v i s ion, he l p i ng the local TV associa t io n , offer training at the Center for L o t o s , with org a n i z a t ion, digital conversio n Independent Journalism in Bucharest. and training. IREX also helped create the IJF also took over the third year of a Slovak Independent News Agency, which journalism school at the University of provides a news feed for other media. Bucharest. The Open Society Foundation- Romania spent $47,000 on media in 2000, Slovenia focusing largely on education, health, Open Society Institute-Slovenia, which Roma programs, mediation and economic closed in 2000, spent $187,000 on media, development and rural access to founding an institute for Internet research communication and education. a nd a debate center and spons o r i ng int e r n a - tional study trips for Slovene journalists. Serbia Its programs were transferred to the Peace Fund for an Open Society-Serbia and IREX I nstitute in Ljubljana, ano t her Soros pro j e c t . supported the Association of Independent Electronic Media, including Radio B92, Ukraine which played a major role in the election Journalists Georgy Gongadze and Ihor that overthrew Slobodan Milosevic. IREX Oleksandrov were murdered in 2000 and gave B92 business training and other 2001, respectively. Their attackers remain assistance. IREX also helped media outlets u n p u n i s he d. The go v e r n me n t is “re l ic e n s i ng ” pay for the Beta independent news service, many of the 600 licensed broadcast and provided newsprint grants that were media outlets to assume more control in key to the survival of important ne w s p a p e r s anticipation of parliamentary elections. such as Blic and Danas. Internews is Media ownership is nontransparent. There c r e a t i ng bro a dcast pro g ra m m i n g from of f ic e s is no freedom of information law. Self- in Belgrade and Sarajevo. Media Develop- censorship, forced by criminal libel suits, me nt Loan Fund’s Prague of f i ce supports the tax evasion charges and other forms of Banja Luka Reporter. media harassment, continues. Ongoing support for legal assistance to media is a Slovakia high priority.5 5 USAID grants IREX (print) Since the end of the Vladimir Meciar and Internews (broadcast) about $1 regime in 1998, the fear that confronted million each annually for media develop- journalists is largely gone, according to ment. USAID also funded formation of 30 Rich McClear. IJF’s journalism program at regional press clubs through the Ukrainian Academia Istropolitana Nova was no longer Market Reform Project. Reporters Sans offered by 2003.5 4 From 1999 to 2001, Frontieres does some seminars with French IJF had not only created that journalism experts at the Institute of Mass Info r m a t io n , program but trained about 450 judges in and German foundations finance the media issues, with help from Mark Wolf, Academy of Ukrainian Press. The Ukrainian a U.S. District Court judge from Boston. Broadcasters Association, created with

4 6 RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE aid from the U.S. National Association of Broadcasters and Internews, is developing well because the broadcasters took over its management after initial help. The association, assisted by Internews and IREX, in December 2001 defeated a negative law on political advertising and agitation. Yet many broadcasters, still dependent on NGO grants, have not established economic independence or a public service mission.

4 7 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

1 Price, Mapping Media Assistance, op. cit., elucidates the coverage. The journalists generally dismissed the American mission and history of the media development efforts in the model of providing neutral coverage of both sides of an issue. former U.S.S.R. Said one old Soviet reporter in Moscow with some outrage, 2 Baumeister, a former CBS producer and editor of the Trenton “Let me get this right. For 70 years we have been waiting to Times, served as vice president of James Greenfield’s all- say what we think. Now you’re telling us not to do this?” volunteer Independent Journalism Foundation. He later worked 22 The author chaired Internews’ task force on ethics and with IREX in Central Europe. drafted its code of ethics. 3 Manana Aslamazyan, Internews. (OSI says it doesn’t have 23 Critics included several former IREX staff, other media good estimates for the amount invested to date on media trainers and IREX competitors. Pomar delegated IREX decision- development.) making power to the people in the field, which was a “huge 4 Kumar and Cooper, “Promoting Independent Media in plus” for effective work, according to one insider. But the local Russia”, p.31. U.S. embassies played too big a role in agenda-setting for at 5 IJF’s 2000 budget was $1.2 million, including a three-year least one trainer, who left after concluding that IREX had Knight grant of $250,000 a year that expired in 2002. shifted from an NGO to a “government-operated NGO.” The 6 See Kumar and Cooper, op. cit., pp.26, 36, for detailed author interviewed Pomar by telephone in December 2001. analysis of RAPIC. 24 Rich McClear, memo to the author, summer 2002. 7 Andy Glass, interview, November 2001. (Close-up) 25 USAID, The Role of Media in Democracy: A Strategic 8 Gazeta’s heroic stature may have dropped a notch by an Approach, op. cit, p. 12. editor’s involvement with a confusing political insider scandal 26 Dmitri Surnin, Media Viability Fund, letter to Eric Newton, early in 2003. Peter Green wrote about Gazeta editor Adam Knight Foundation, July 2002. Michnik’s difficulties in “Polish Tale of Bribery and/or Politics 27 Kumar and Cooper, “Promoting Independent Media in and/or Journalism,” The New York Times, Feb. 12, 2003. Russia”, op. cit., p. 9. Earlier, Timothy Garton Ash wrote a positive piece about the 28 Persephone Miel, e-mail to author, August 2002. development of Gazeta from a thin underground rag to 29 Aslamazyan, comments at an Internews conference, Prague, Poland’s most powerful daily in “Helena’s Kitchen,” The New January 2002. Yorker, Feb. 15, 1999. (Close-up) 30 The New York Times, “Russian Court Frees Reporter,” Jan. 9 The countries were: Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, 24, 2003; Associated Press, Feb. 5, 2003. Croatia, Serbia/Montenegro, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania and 31 Marjorie Rouse, Internews, telephone interview, Nov. 20, Bosnia. 2001. 10 Development Associates, Evaluation of the USAID 32 Jan Urban, “Until Old Cats Learn How to Bark,” Media Professional Media Program in Central and Eastern Europe, Studies Journal, Freedom Forum, Fall 1999. (commissioned by USAID/ENI Office of Democracy, Governance 33 For detailed analysis of media assistance in the former and Social Reform), October 1998. Yugoslavia, see: International Crisis Group, Media in Bosnia 11 Ibid. and Herzegovina, 1998; Robert Gillette, Building and Protecting 12 Ibid. Media in Bosnia: A View from the Field, paper for the American 13 The author is an unpaid member of the Internews board of Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Pittsburgh, directors. Nov. 22, 2002; and Rich McClear, Suzi McClear and Peter 14 IREX won contracts for Yugoslavia (including Serbia, Graves, “I Called for Help and 100,000 People Came” (the Montenegro and Kosovo), Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, author saw a draft of this report dated Dec. 9, 2002). The Croatia, Macedonia, Romania and Ukraine. It said in 2002 that author also relied on a memo prepared by IREX for this report. it also had government contracts for $7.7 million in Kosovo, (Close-up) $3 million in Montenegro, and $3.5 million in Russia. 34 McClear, McClear and Graves, ibid, p.1 of Dec. 9, 2002 15 Surroi, interview, Prague, October 2001. (Draft). (Close-up) 16 Internews raised $107.7 million in government funding 35 International Crisis Group, op. cit. (Close-up) over the decade; it has raised another $17.7 million from other 36 Gillette, op. cit. Gillette headed IREX’s operations in Bosnia funders since 1987, President David Hoffman said in a until fall 2001. (Close-up) December 2001 interview. 37 Ibid.; also International Crisis Group, op. cit. (Close-up) 17 Olson, interview, December 2001. also 38 Monroe Price and Peter Krug, The Enabling Environment for editorialized that Internews had launched a “revolution” and Free and Independent Media, USAID Center for Democracy and was “one of the more successful agents of change in the Governance, Dec. 1, 2000. (Close-up) former Soviet Union.” 39 For more information, contact Kira Magid of Internews, 18 IREX President Mark Pomar, interview; Mark Whitehouse and [email protected], or Vladimir Danilichev, Rich McClear, memos to the author. [email protected]. 19 Price, Mapping Media Assistance, op. cit., p.7. 40 Gillette, op. cit. 20 Kumar and Cooper, “Promoting Independent Media in 41 Peter Green, “Polish Tale of Bribery and/or Politics and/or Russia”, op. cit., praises Internews’ specific contributions to Journalism,” The New York Times, Feb. 12, 2003. Russian media. 42 Kumar and Cooper, “Promoting Independent Media in 21 For example, the author of this report went to Russia in Russia”, op. cit., p. 35. 1993 at the request of New York University’s Center on War, 43 Ibid., p. 36. Peace and the News Media to train journalists in election 44 McClear, memo to the author, summer 2002.

4 8 RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

45 Development Associates, Evaluation of the USAID Professional Media Program in Central and Eastern Europe, op. cit. 46 Conclusion of participants at a January 2002 Internews regional meeting in Prague convened by the author while serving as a paid consultant to Internews. 47 Greenfield, interview, Nov. 8, 2001. 48 OSI Network Media Program report, Perspectives of the Media Developments in the Transitional and Developing Societies, Budapest, June 2001. 49 Kumar and Cooper, op. cit. 50 Interview with a regional U.S. official familiar with both IREX and Internews, November 2001. 51 Joel Rubin, “Transitions – A Regional Summary,” Media Studies Journal, Freedom Forum, Fall 1999. 52 See Stacy Sullivan, “Kosovo,” in Monroe Price, ed., Restructuring the Media in Post-Conflict Societies: Four Perspectives, background paper for the UNESCO World Press Day Conference in Geneva, May 2000. 53 Sullivan, ibid, p. 42. 54 Patti McCracken, e-mail to the author, June 26, 2003. 55 Report from Internews Ukraine, December 2002.

4 9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

50 REGIONAL CHAPTER: LATIN AMERICA

atin America, with a mature media Governments and their corporate allies can i ndu s t r y, a culture of fre e d om and some “embargo” news organizations by denying L of the best journalists in the world, them access to advertising. This happened would seem to have little in common with in El Salvador when a ra d io station re p o r t e d Russia and Eastern Europe. Yet, as news- corruption involving earthquake-relief papers and broadcasters in the former money. In Gua t e mala, the country’s leading Communist countries move beyond privati- ne w s ma g a z i ne, Cro n ica, blamed go v e r n me nt z a t i on and become subject to the olig a rc h i c blacklisting for financial problems that led forces of corrupt ownership and political to its 1998 sale to a right-wing business pressure, they begin to resemble media in group. Latin A me r ica, whe r e owners and politic a l l e a d ers have tra d i t i o nally colluded to de c i de To some extent, the media themselves what is acceptable as “news.” perpetuate this situation by accepting tainted advertising money. Several organi- In Latin America, newspapers have histori- zations are interested in counteracting cally set the political agenda, although these practices. Rosental Alves, the Knight politicians in some countries, such as Chair at the University of Texas who Ve nezuela, are mo re conc e r ned about cont r o l specializes in Latin American journalism, of the airwaves. That is why the rise of said loans could be more viable in Latin mo re inde p e nde nt, investigative ne w s p a p e r s, America than in regions that have no such as Mexico City’s Reforma, is so capitalist tradition. The Media Develop- i m p o r t a n t. Faced with legal, and some t i me s ment Loan Fund would like to provide p h y s ical, attacks, these newspapers de s e r v e “bridge” capital that could sustain media i nt e r n a t io nal support and the ent i re portfo l io organizations during periods of embargo, of me d ia de v e l o p me nt assistance – tra i n i n g , but MDLF is new to the region, and it is fellowships, legal aid and more. unclear how involved it will become. Also, there may be legal remedies. The Inter- The pressures on the Latin American press American Court of Justice, based in Costa may be less overt than the physical threats Rica, has ruled that such embargoes are and takeovers in Belarus and Kazakhstan. prohibited, opening the way for possible The challenges may even look like normal lawsuits by the press. c o nc e r ns of the ma r k e t p l a c e. But they of t e n seek the same end: political coerc io n . Latin Latin American journalists also need A m e r ica has a sho r t a ge of capital for invest- professional training and education about ing in independent media. In most of the the role of a free press in a democracy. region, government advertising is the media’s main source of income, and other “People who are journalists don’t know advertisers follow the government’s lead. how to be journalists or how journalism Thus, independent media, if unwilling to works in a free society,” said Alves. “You support the government in exchange for also have a need to educate judges and its advertising patronage, can be squeezed public officers about what a responsible out. In some countries, only one or two free press is about.” a d v e r t i s i n g age nc ies cont rol the ma r ke t p l a c e and even own the media outlets outright. The most serious problems exist in the

5 1 CLOSE-UP: THE CELAP STORY

In the midst of the wars in El Salvador and rural areas and the judicial systems that N ic a ra g ua, and the U.S. arrest of Ma nuel No r ie g a still uphold insult laws dating back to the in Panama in 1989, the U.S. government Napoleonic Code. The International Center invested money for media in Central America in order to help support the development of a for Journalists is in the midst of a three- democratic culture. From 1988 to 1997, USAID year project funded by the McCormick p ro v ided nearly $14 million for the Latin Ame r ic a Tribune Foundation to educate journalists Journalism Project (LAJP) in Costa Rica, throughout Latin America on such issues. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. Florida International University launched the project in Miami and then in 1996 ceded its On the plus side, said Alves, Latin operations to the Center for Latin American American journalists want to learn how Journalism (CELAP) in Panama. North Americans do journalism, creating an opportunity for “partnerships we would During LAJP’s decade of operation, it trained never have seen before.” Unfortunately, some 6,800 journalists. Although some skeptical Latin Ame r ican journalists dismissed the pro j e c t resources are more limited than ever. Some as a U.S. public relations ploy, LAJP had a U.S. funders, hurt financially by stock positive impact on the quality of Cent ral Ame r ic a n market declines, are unable to continue at j o u r nalism, accord i ng to an assessme nt do n e previous levels. The Freedom Forum, which for USAID by the Center for Democracy and once invested $100,000 a year in Latin Governance.1 America, has canceled all international Despite organizational problems with Florida programs. I nt e r na t io nal University – its re c o rd - ke e p i ng a nd curricula were lacking and its textbooks were MEDIA OWNERSHIP: THE BIGGEST not ready in time to be of much use in the OBSTACLE t r a i n i ng – it helped establish an effective tra i n i ng program, a Spanish-language journalism review (Pulso del Periodismo) and an annual awards Daunting obstacles confront those hoping c o m p e t i t ion (Pre m ios de PROCEPER) that pro v i de s to improve the quality of journalism in incentives for quality journalism. Journalists Latin America. Corruption and low salaries trained by CELAP were less willing to accept are major detriments, as are security censorship and more aware of the importance of strong, independent media serving democracy, threats, drug trafficking, the influence of assessors found. military and authoritarian regimes, and censorship pressure applied by political as CELAP’s leadership receives mixed reviews. On well as commercial interests. the one hand, its board contains respected academics such as Knight Chair Rosental Alves, and courageous journalists, such as Roberto USAID expressed special concern about Eisenmann Jr., who fought against Noriega and the concentration of media ownership in founded Panama’s best newspaper, La Prensa. C e nt ral Ame r ic a . 3 In Ho n du ra s, for exa m p l e, On the other hand, the board also includes six families control most of the nation’s politically connected publishers who have media, providing former President Carlos alienated some of the new independent media. There is disagreement about whether CELAP is Flores Facusse with favorable access smart to have brought these powerful publishers de n ied his oppone n t s. In Gua t e mala, fewer into the fold or less effective because it has than a dozen families and a handful of been co-opted by them. individuals control the media.4

(Continued on next page) Throughout Latin America, owners may discourage reporters from critical business

5 2 LATIN AMERICA journalism because “businesses ultimately (Continued from previous page) have social, political or economic links to conglomerates that own the reporter’s CELAP: LESSONS LEARNED2 outlet,” the USAID assessment found. “This system allows freedom of expression 1. Quality-of-journalism projects need to for media owners rather than their engage media owners. This may be a delicate proposition, but managers need to endorse employees. In such a system, unless reforms if they are to be instituted. More owners have a true interest in improving projects should specifically target owners. their profession instead of simply maximizing profits, reporters cannot hope 2. The program created a network of alumni for a change of conditions.” 5 j o u r na l i s t s, who spread their kno w l e dge to peers and to younger journalists. Their impact depended on their professional standing and Economic security for independent media willingness to train others. is, therefore, paramount. John Lavine of Northwestern University’s Media Manage- 3. There is a demand for issue-specific, ment Center recounted the words of a advanced journalism courses on the environment, education, health, women’s Paraguayan newspaper owner who had just issues, human rights and social justice, been released from prison. “In the U.S., indigenous rights and economics. freedom of the press and all those things matter,” he said. “… Here, the first thing 4. Ethics training reduced newsroom corruption. we must be is an independent business. 5. Personal safety issues and lack of manage- If we’re not, the go v e r n me nt, or the chu r c h , ment support inhibited the promotion of or the dictator will own us, and all the investigative journalism. laws in the world won’t be able to help”6 6. Legal changes, while necessary, are insuf- There are some encouraging changes to ficient since current laws are ignored. Training about legal journalistic rights is a good idea, build on. Investigative reporting by as is eliminating archaic laws that suppress independent newspapers has played an free speech. important role in the downfall of some corrupt leaders.7 Mexican President 7. News writing, balance, editing, in-depth Vicente Fox’s decision to end under-the- reporting and technical production were improved. table subsidies of pro-government newspapers led to the near-bankruptcy of the prominent newspaper Excelsior, which New York Time reporter Tim Weiner, writing when Excelsior was sold in December 2002, called “an exemplar of the corrupt tradition of political advertising masquerading as news.”

THE JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS PROGRAM

Journalism in the Americas is an ambitious initiative launched in August 2002 to

5 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES address the weaknesses in Latin American OTHER NEEDS AND LESSONS LEARNED media development: Lack of coordination among donors and recipients;8 training 1. Journalism training programs need re du nda n c ies in investig a t i v e, business and evaluation. USAID’s assessment of CELAP is economic reporting; isolated efforts that unusual. More oversight would weed out fail to compleme nt each othe r ; 9 a nd spora d ic, ineffective programs. The Knight and uncoordinated U.S. Embassy programs. McCormick Tribune foundations have improved their programs and focus due to Headed by Alves, the University of Texas systematic evaluation by outside assessors. professor, Journalism in the Americas will incubate training programs (focusing on 2. Journalists need legal advice and Mexico and Brazil), offer workshops to representation (as well as international more than 500 journalists, create Internet- attention) to combat harassment by based learning modules and sponsor an punitive politicians using outmoded laws. annual training forum. CPJ, IFEX and Libertad’s e-mail lists are i m p o r t a nt he re. A large r, collaborative effo r t The program is underwritten by $3.6 on media law and policy could be helpful. million in grants from the Knight and McCormick Tribune foundations, the Inter 3. Local partners are essential. “Parachute” American Press Association and the journalism trainers from USAID should at International Center for Journalists. ICFJ least be followed up with local partners to will use its IJNet web site to track media improve relevance, credibility and impact. laws and other support efforts, provide training tips and serve as a means for 4. Programs need to expand beyond big Latin American networking. ICFJ already cities. A country-by-country focus may be publishes a Spanish-language web site more effective than a regional focus. (www.icfj.org/libertad-prensa) devoted to its Medios y Libertad de Expresion project. 5. A version of the Inter American Press It should be expanded into Portuguese. Association is needed for television and radio journalists, perhaps with an Jo u r nalism in the Ame r icas will also inc l ude emphasis on cross-platform training. a Michigan State University conference on environmental journalism in Latin America; 6. More culturally relevant publications, a World Affairs Council project that will books and case studies are needed. Knight take U.S. editors to Latin America with the Fellow Ken Dermota wrote a manual for goal of improving U.S. media coverage of investigative journalists in Chile that he the hemisphere; a Florida International would like to expand for other countries. University tra i n i ng center in Peru; pho t o j o u r - nalism workshops in Mexico, Panama, 7. Journalism teachers need to be taught. Argentina and Peru; two annual Harvard Establish a program for faculty to visit Nieman fellowships for Latin American newspapers. Support the jobs and j o u r nalists; and U.S. visits by Latin Ame r ic a n curriculum for full-time, trained faculty. journalists and trainers through the Inter Invite journalism professors to the media American Press Association’s Gateway training sessions. Program.

5 4 LATIN AMERICA

CENTRAL AMERICA & WEST INDIES

5 5 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

8. Be wary of alliances with local of 20 percent, an illiteracy rate of 30 universities. Some are too old-fashioned. percent, a sizable population of street Others may splinter the journalism children and rampant urban violence, has a community by being overly competitive. relatively stable democracy and economy. News media are “healthy and robust,” COUNTRY REPORTS10 Cowan said. “The days of censorship are a thing of the past; investigative journalism Argentina is alive and well. A variety of viewpoints Argentina is a nation in trouble. It is are expressed in the nation’s major media defaulting on $140 billion in foreign debt. outlets.” The poverty rate exceeds 50 percent and the political class has been repudiated. Un f o r t u n a t e l y, journalism can still be de a d l y Virulent anti-Americanism abounds, rooted in Brazil. At least 10 Brazilian journalists in the economic crisis. Argentina has a have died on the job since 1992, Rosental long tradition of well-written newspapers, Alves reported in CPJ’s ma g a z i ne, Dange ro u s but investigative journalists suffer harass- Assignments. Drug traffickers assassinated ment, and the press in general is strained Globo Television reporter Tim Lopes in by the downward financial and political June 2002 after he won the nation’s top s p i ral. The org a n i z a t i on Pe r iodistas de f e nd s journalistic prize, the Premio Esso, for free press and denounces violence against exposing the traffickers. To honor Lopes, journalists. The newspaper El Liberal of Journalism in the Americas’ first workshop Santiago del Estero is facing lawsuits filed was held in Brazil in August 2002, drawing by 4,000 women affiliated with the ruling 65 Rio de Janeiro journalists. “Lopes’ party, seeking $19 million for material that death has energized Brazil’s journalism had already been published by another community, and that’s exactly what he paper. A government invasion of privacy would have wanted,” Alves wrote. suit against journalists from Clarin, the national daily, was dismissed, but the Brazilian journalists are required to hold Supreme Court upheld an action against university journalism degrees in order to Noticias, a newsmagazine that reported work. Sadly, most journalism faculty have fo r m er Pre s ide nt Carlos Me nem’s ex t r a ma r i t a l never worked in the prof e s s ion, and mo de r n affair. That ruling prompted Periodistas newspaper techniques, such as enterprise and the Committee to Protect Journalists reporting or humanizing stories, are rare. to file a complaint with the Int e r - A me r ic a n C o m m i s s ion on Hu man Rig hts in Wa s h i ng t o n . Chile Potential local partners include the Chile Brazil School of Journalism and Diego Portales Investors are punishing Brazil for electing University, a private, nonprofit institution President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who in Santiago. Ken Dermota was there as a promises reform for the poor through his Knight Fellow through August 2000. He Workers Party. This huge country has said the practice of journalism has 80,000 journalists in 31 chapters of the deteriorated in the decade since the end National Federation of Journalists. Michael of Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s 17-year Cowan, a 2000 Knight Fellow, reported dictatorship. Television Nacional, the that Brazil, despite an unemployment rate most-watched network, is owned by the

5 6 LATIN AMERICA state. President Ricardo Lagos, a Socialist Guatemala in of f ice for the past three years, is pushing T he press is inde p e nde n t but weak econo m i - for repeal of a law that allows journalists c a l l y. A few fa m i l ies own most of the me d i a to be imprisoned for criticizing judges, and support the leading politicians. One military commanders or cabinet members,1 1 positive anomaly is the number of rural even for publishing mundane facts that are pirate community radio stations that have already part of the public record. arisen since the 36-year civil war ended in 1996. “While television, cable and the Colombia Internet are making inroads throughout In Cartagena, writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez the continent, radio remains the most founded the Foundation for New Iberian- powerful mass medium in the region,” American Journalism. Seven journalists wrote Knight Fellow Maria Martin, an NPR were killed in an extraordinary six-month producer, in 2003. These stations face spate of violence in 2001, the IAPA opposition, and a new law (supported by reported. Media are beset by economic the national broadcasting association) p ro b l e m s. The best ne w s p a p e r, El Espectado r, limits bandwidth allocation.1 3 Soros- has lost so much money it cut publication supported organizations made grants in from daily to weekly. Colombia, once Guatemala totaling $112,711 in 2000, capable of documenting its own abuses, primarily in media work. “has shifted to a country incapable of policing and monitoring itself,” said Frank Haiti Smyth of CPJ. Maria Cristina Caballero, who The local Open Society Institute affiliate, received CPJ’s International Press Freedom Fondation Connaissance et Liberte, spent award in 1999, came to the United States $40,000 on media work in 2000. for Friendly and Neiman fellowships after receiving death threats for her coverage of Mexico Colombia’s drug wars and massacres of President Vicente Fox launched a new era peasants. When she returned to Colombia in Mexican journalism three years ago in August 2002, new Pre s i de nt Alvaro Uribe, when he announced his intention to end pressured by both leftist and rightist political payoffs to reporters. The news- m i l i t ia s , had abrogated cons t i t u t i o nal rig h t s. paper Excelsior, for decades the voice of “It is not easy to know which is more the PRI, the former ruling party, nearly scary, the ghost of urban terrorism or the folded when the subsidies ended. La ghost of authoritarianism. Colombians Jornada, the longtime leftist tabloid, and need … pro t e c t i on against both,” Caballero the newer, flashier Reforma and El Norte, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece.1 2 do investigative journalism. They have good writers and tough editorials, and Costa Rica have run into some problems as a result.1 4 Costa Rica is home to the Inter-American A Monterrey family intent on having an Court of Justice (part of OAS), where cases i nde p e nde nt, Ame r ican-style paper fo u nde d can be filed to support journalists. Efforts R e fo r ma in 1993. It is the largest circ u l a t io n , a re under way to bring press law into accord nontabloid national newspaper in Mexico with the American Convention on Human and has a center-right political philosophy. Rights, which Costa Rica ratified in 1970.

5 7 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Bureaucracies in Mexico’s 31 states have Newspapers and newsmagazines have not adopted Fox’s reformist approach and t ra d i t i o nally been the most important me d ia serious problems remain for local and in Mexico because the educated elite regional journalists. Between 150 and 240 reads them. The masses, for the most part, journalists are harassed or attacked each don’t read newspapers. Estimates of year in Mexico, particularly along the Spanish illiteracy are as high as 70 perc e nt . Mexico-U.S. border.1 5 Journalists also lack T he Int e r net re a c h es only 2 perc e nt of the fraternal cohesiveness, with the older population. Reporters use U.S. government generation, to a great extent, still web sites and similar data sources to expecting bribes. obtain information about their own country that is denied to them locally.1 8 Radio is not developed fully in Mexico, said Peter Lauffer of Internews. A powerful Academics and human rights activists are radio network and indigenous language working with the Fox administration to stations could reach millions of illiterate draft a Mexican freedom of information people not served by television or news- act, but some media activists say the p a p e r s. The re is pirate ra d io with low-power administration’s proposed replacement for stations, but civic groups have not won the punitive 1917 press law does not go permission from the government to far enough. In May 2001, the Universidad broadcast. Commercial radio is not news- I b e r o a me r ic a na, the Mex ican As s o c i a t ion of oriented. Most noncommercial radio is run Newspaper Editors, the Foundation for or funded by the state.1 6 Information and Democracy, the Reporters F r aternity of Mex ico and several ne w s p a p e r s Mexicans prefer television to newspapers convened a meeting in Oaxaca, which as a news source, an April 2001 poll by p ro d uced the “Oaxaca Declara t ion,” support- Reforma found. A quarter of Mexicans have ing the right to information. . Grupo Televisa, which has held a half-century Investigative Reporters and Editors has monopoly, captures 80 percent of the an office in Mexico City. The Fundacion television audience and is seen as a Manuel Buendia helps journalists in mouthpiece for the PRI, the political party jeopardy and publishes the journal Revista that held Mexico’s presidency for 70 years. Mexicana de Comunicacion. Universidad The other 20 percent of the television Iberoamericana journalism coordinator audience belongs to Grupo Azteca, a Omar Raul Martinez Sanchez, who heads struggling 10-year-old company. Canal 40, the Buendia foundation, said Mexican once part of Azteca, broadcasts J-schools teach only public relations and independent news programming in the technical training without discussing Valley of Mexico. Mexico’s 1970s-era journalistic or democratic values. broadcast law establishes licensing procedures that, in practice, are widely believed to be political. There is no transparency about licensing decisions or the financial backers of the licensees. There is no appellate process.1 7

5 8 LATIN AMERICA

Nicaragua 1 Noreen Janus and Rick Rockwell, The Latin American Journalism Project: Lessons Learned, World Learning Inc., for Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, the daughter of USAID, December 1998. (Close-up) former President Violeta Chamorro, runs 2 Ibid, p. 3. (Close-up) the Fundacion Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, 3 Ibid. In Central America, such media giants as HBO, CNN, Disney, ESPN, and CBS of the United States and Angel Gonzalez a pro-democracy foundation that also of Mexico may crowd out the development of local voices. ICFJ works for freedom of expression and fights does not agree that this is a big factor since most of these poverty in Nicaragua. networks are available to only a small audience. However, this ownership trend, which also is controversial in North America, bears watching. Peru 4 Ibid., p. 16. The country is recovering from the 10-year 5 Ibid., p. 2. 6 Lavine, interview, Nov. 27, 2001. rule of the corrupt authoritarian Alberto 7 The Freedom Forum has funded Rutgers Professor Silvio Fujimori. President Alejandro Toledo’s Waisbord to write a book about the growth of investigative popularity has fallen from 70 percent to reporting in Latin America. 8 Whayne Dillehay, interview, October 2001. less than 20 percent since his election in 9 Rosental Alves, interview, Nov. 14, 2001. 2001, and the privatization process has 10 More information available from Committee to Protect been halted. Instituto Pre n sa y Socie dad in Journalists, Attacks on the Press, 2001, and from IJNet, www.ijnet.org. Lima monitors attacks on press freedom 11 Clifford Krauss, “Chile’s Leader Remains Socialist but Acts and has a toll-free number journalists can Like Pragmatist,” The New York Times, Dec. 10, 2001. call if they are attacked, which happens 12 Maria Cristina Caballero, “Is Colombia Doomed to Repeat its Past?” The New York Times, Aug. 10, 2002. especially in remote areas. Canal N, Peru’s 13 Maria Martin, “Community Radio, Breaking Sound Barriers,” new cable TV station, broke the story of KNIGHTline International magazine, Winter 2003. corrupt spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos 14 A Reforma reporter who wrote a story about the mayor of Mexico City based on the local equivalent of an official GAO that led to fall of Fujimori regime. “Media report was sued for criminal defamation. owners and their political allegiances also 15 Peter Lauffer, Internews Network, proposal for study of changed, becoming more critical of the media in Mexico, June 29, 2001. 16 Ibid. government,” said Knight Fellow Mandalit 17 Ibid. del Barco. The Open Society Institute may 18 Ibid. open a human rights organization in Lima 19 Martin, “Community Radio, Bre a k i ng Sound Barrie r s,” op. cit. that presumably would assist with media work.

Uruguay Knight Fellow Maria Martin found in 2002 a mature and sophisticated radio sector. Overall, the media are resource-poor, and a decade of military dictatorship left a legacy of media self-censorship.1 9

Venezuela Populist strongman President Hugo Chavez cares more about controlling broadcast than print. His chief political opponent, Caracas Mayor Alfredo de Peña, is a former television talk show host.

5 9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

60 REGIONAL CHAPTER: AFRICA

REGIONAL OVERVIEW1 which is often ignored. Management training in the media business is also No region needs more media help than needed. It is helpful, for example, that Africa, a continent marked by fragile the Institute for the Advancement of democracies, weak institutions, widespread Journalism (IAJ) has created five annual illiteracy, little access to technology and a Foster Davis Fellowships to teach leader- dangerous health crisis. In order to bolster ship skills for newsroom management to government accountability, independent, African journalists at the Poynter Institute p rof e s s io nal journalists are critically ne e de d . in Florida.

State control of media is rampant. There Despite a hu ge inc rease in AIDS aware ne s s, are few trained independent broadcasters reporting on health and women’s issues is or print journalists, and they often lack spotty and superficial. Papers generally the means to carry out their trade, working don’t have “women’s” or “health” sections. on a sho e s t r i ng with ant i q uated equipme nt . Taboos are rampant, particularly about Most of the population does not have AIDS. One promising area is in U.S. grants access to newspapers. Nevertheless, some for radio projects, which, in the name of Africans do make money in the media, t e a c h i ng Afric a ns “how to be great de e j a y s, ” particularly in radio.2 And journalism can encourage programming about HIV/AIDS affect democracy in some places. Ghana education. a n d Senegal are success cases, whe r e me d i a changed the way the countries work, Capital to purchase new printing presses according to Joan Mower, former head of and computers is needed; used equipment t h e Fre e dom Forum’s int e r na t io nal pro g r a ms. that will fall apart is not useful.

The African press follows the European European organizations and the U.S. tradition of partisan newspapers. In some government, using the Media Institute of countries, such as Angola and Rwanda, Southern Africa (MISA), have done most of there is no notion of reporting both sides the African media development. From 1985 of a story. Across most of Africa, political to 1993, Africa accounted for about half news dominates coverage. Government the work of the International Center for papers espouse the go v e r n me nt line; othe r s Journalists.3 ICFJ has sent 27 Knight reflect the opposition. Reporting typically Fellows to nine countries in Africa in the is based on “leaks” from a politician. last seven years. ICFJ helped reform the Mu l t i s o u rce stories or inde p e nde ntly verifie d t e c h n ical universities (Te c h n i k o n s) thro u g h - information is rare. Economic news is out South Africa, developed journalism based on government or corporate press school curricula in Ethiopia and Botswana re l e a s e s, with little or no ana l y s i s. Enviro n - and ran anti-corruption training in Nigeria. mental reporting is almost nonexistent. It has strengthened media centers in Za m b i a, Ke nya, Ghana, Senegal and Uganda , African journalists generally want more and developed community radio in South training, ranging from how to use a key- Africa. ICFJ’s new McGee Journalism board to web development. Basic writing Fellowship in Southern Africa sends some- could be impro v e d, as well as copy-editing , one to southern Africa each year.

6 1 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Policy efforts and legal help are needed. set up FM stations. The downside of short- In Nigeria, for example, the constitution range broadcasting is fragmentation. When supports a general, weak, but ineffective, Congo was breaking up, for example, a claim to press freedom.4 Connecting fearful population turned to the radio for journalism and legal groups regionally news, but there was no one voice that can head off repressive new laws. MISA could speak to the nation as a whole.6 The headquarters in Namibia signaled to Netherlands and the United States have Botswana that a repressive media law was strengthened FM capacity, but there is no about to be passed; the Botswana chapter plan to network FM stations. had missed it. International attention also is important. “Without … international INTERNET: THE NEXT GREAT MEDIUM pressure, the local policy work is not effective,” concluded Ann Hudock of World Internet access and policy are at a critical Learning, a USAID media developer.5 stage in Africa. “The potential of Internet in Africa is staggering,” concluded a 2001 RADIO: THE HOTTEST MEDIUM Carnegie Corp. magazine story. Six years a go, only 11 African count r ies had Int e r n e t South African community radio has been access. Now all 54 have permanent o n e of the most successful in the world, du e connections, and a competitive market for in large part to assistance from the Open Internet service providers is growing Society Foundation for South Africa, head- across the continent.7 Africa’s information quartered in Cape Town. Frances F o r t u ne, famine can be eased through the d i rector of the Ta l k i ng Drum Stud io in Sierra “leapfrog” technology of the Internet, the Leone, has also been active in developing article predicted. local community radio. Andrew Kromah, owner of KISS-FM in Bo, Sierra Leone, and Internet-enabled communication, SKY-FM in Freetown, exposes c o r r u p t io n education and commerce ventures are in u nder the nom de guerre M r. Owl. He re c e i v e d the biggest cities and smallest towns. In a special ICFJ award in October 2002. Nairobi, Kenya, African Virtual University, www.avu.org, links students from 24 Most African radio is AM government African colleges to classrooms and libraries b r o a dc a s t i ng, especially in the Fra nc o p h o ne worldwide. In Togo, Internet-based countries, but the most popular and a c c e s - telephone services connect towns that sible medium is FM ra d io; call-in sho w s are have never had phone service. Craftspeople the most typical kind of program. There is from Cameroon sell their woodcarvings via a great need to develop quality newscasts PeopleLink, www.peoplink.org. A women’s on such private, profitable ra d io statio ns as fishing co-op in West Africa negotiates Joy FM in Ghana or Radio Phoenix in Za m b ia . prices with overseas buyers for its 7,350 members. In the 1970s and 1980s, subnational ide n t i t ies became a stro ng fo rc e, and sho r t - “Even in the poorest sections, [the range FM broadcasting found a role. In Internet] is too cheap to ignore. It is more Zaire and Congo, ethnic religious groups cost-effective for the poor than the rich,” used FM because it was cheaper and noted Daniel Wagner of Literacy.org.8 He clearer. In Nigeria, Muslim fundamentalists urges media developers to consider the

6 2 AFRICA growing interdependence of literacy and LESSONS LEARNED AND UNMET NEEDS technology and to focus their effort on the bottom quarter of the “digital divide” 1. Radio journalism training holds great because “the upper three-quarters will take potential. This is the favored medium in care of itself.” Yet most information Africa, but news programming is poorly technology developers are looking toward done. the middle class because it holds the greatest potential for commercial success. 2. Internet training and support could play an important role in independent media Despite these recent gains, Africa still lags and democracy development. behind the rest of the world in Internet use. Outside of South Africa, there is an 3. Bottom-up initiatives work best. The estimated one Internet user for every 750 most popular programs are homegrown. people. Globally, the ratio is one in 35. In North America, it is one in three.9 4. Such basic supplies as computers, paper and pens are always needed (except Africa has a plethora of information perhaps in Johannesburg). technology obstacles – the absence of a telephone infrastructure, an uneducated, 5. Basic reporting skills are deficient: How illiterate workforce, and unsupportive to write a lead, how to conduct an political policies. “African governments are interview, how to find information, how to the big barrier to progress in this area as report both sides of a story. in most areas,” said former United Nations aid worker Nancy Hafkin.10 6. Media resource centers are useful in some countries. The Internet connects and empowers news organizations, making them a force for 7. Workshops on graphics and design change, said Tim Carrington of the World would also be helpful. Papers lack logic in Bank Institute, citing the example in story and ad placement. Zambia of people downloading a banned newspaper and distributing it on the 8. Journalists need encouragement to streets.1 1 One of the institutions teaching b reak the taboo against HIV/AIDS re p o r t i ng . journalists computer-assisted reporting and Internet skills is Institut Superieur des 9. Training is needed in environmental and Sciences de l’Information et de la economic reporting. Communication (ISSIC) in Senegal. 10. Ethiopia and Eritrea need special help.

1 1 . Good (not used) print i ng presses would be very helpful.

12. International and local organizations need to collaborate to combat repressive laws and support endangered journalists.

6 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

COUNTRY REPORTS The Ghana Journalists Association is an active organization of private and public journalists. It needs money to convert its ENGLISH-SPEAKING WEST AFRICA government-donated building into a training-oriented press center. Contact: English-speaking journalists in West Africa Gifty Affenzi-Dadzie, president. are, for the most part, relatively sophisti- cated compared to those elsewhere i n The West Africa Journalists Association is A f r i ca. In Nige r ia, Africa’s most populous a regional press-freedom group that na t ion, and Ghana, the first African count r y received a $100,000 Ford Foundation grant to attain independence, the British left a in 2001. It lacks leadership. Its former legacy of a vibrant media. Despite years head, Kabral Blay-Amihere, is a well-known of dictatorship and repression in both investigative journalist. nations, their current media scene is quite strong. In contrast, devastating civil wars The Media Foundation for West Africa in Sierra Leone and Liberia have destroyed strives to do media analysis in the region, most media. Overall, there is a shortage but the group needs money, according to of good journalists, many of whom left for Mower. It held a major regional conference safer professions, such as advertising, in in Burkina Faso in 2000. Contact: Kwami the 1980s. Media need to be developed Kari-Kari. now as a busine s s , but those in charge do n ’ t have management training. Most media Liberia “have some public information functions, Under former President Charles Taylor, but they have other [ethnic, religious or Liberia was an unsettled and dangerous political] agendas. They are not really … place for journalists. Journalist Hassan [independent] media,” says Nigerian Bility was held incommunicado for four journalist Dapo Olorunyomi of the Panos months in 2002 after being accused of Institute. conspiring against Taylor.12

Ghana Search for Common Ground, www.sfcg.org, The Africa Institute of Journalism and operates Talking Drum Studio, which Communications offers good intensive produces 30 hours a week of radio training courses and a two-year diploma programming. program. Knight Fellows Remer and Virginia Tyson were impressed with The Liberian Institute of Journalism is an director Kojo Yankah. independent group that has done a series of workshops, including computer training The Ghana Institute of Journalism is the funded by the Freedom Forum. It is run by p r i mary postgra duate school for journa l i s t s. a Libero-American, Vinicius Hodges. Although standards are relatively high, with many courses taught by working The Press Union of Liberia received journalists, the facility is run down and $35,000 from the National Endowment for lacking technical resources. Contact: David Democracy for workshops in 2001. Newton, director.

6 4 AFRICA

6 5 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

The Association of Liberian Journalists in T he Inde p e ndent Journalism Centre, which the Americas, based in Boston, represents publishes the Nigeria Media Monitor, is Liberian journalists in exile. Contact: Isaac the best-known media-training group. Bantu, ex-BBC reporter. Babafemi Ojudu, the editor of The News and Tempo, is a key player. Nigeria Unlike most other West African countries, The Institute for Media and Society is an N ige r ia enjoyed a free press from 1859 unt i l NGO based in Nige r ia run by cartoonist 1966, when the media were nationalized. Akin Akinbulu. The Freedom Forum and Even under colonial rule, Nige r i an journa l i s m the Ford Foundation have funded it. flourished, creating a tradition of profes- s io nal, investigative re p o r t i ng. Un f o r t u na t e l y, The Ford Foundation has also given six years after Nigeria gained its independ- $280,000 to the Independent Television ence in 1960, a military coup took over Producers Association of Nigeria and the news media and tightened access to $140,000 to Inter-press for conflict information. After a brief democratic resolution. resurgence, Africa’s most virulent military regime took power in 1980. Beneath a Panos Institute created a manual on diver- veneer of democracy, layers of ethnic and sity coverage used in most of the nation’s religious forces vie for influence. The journalism schools. It is funded by the private media sector languishes, despite Open Society Initiative for West Africa, some loosening of laws and new business World Bank Ins t i t u t e, Ford Founda t ion and investments. There are 45 journalism the U.S. Institute for Peace. s c ho o l s, 18 of which award de g r e e s. Nige r ia needs media management, not journalism International Center for Journalists training, said Dapo Olorunyomi of the and Cassals and Associates are working on Panos Institute.1 3 a USAID-funded anti-corruption training project. ICFJ will offer workshops on how Nigeria’s Muslim culture can complicate to use investigative reporting techniques journalism. When the Miss World contest to cover corruption. was held in Lagos in the fall of 2002, Isioma Daniel, a 21-year-old reporter for Internews created Media Rights Agenda the newspaper This Day, unwittingly in Lagos, which is run by Edetaen Ojo, sparked riots that led to 250 deaths and [email protected]. Internews made her the target of a fatwa death recently added an Internet lawyer to decree. Daniel wrote that the contestants its Lagos office. were so lovely that “in all honesty, [Mohammed] might have selected a wife Sierra Leone from one of them.” In the ensuing civic Search for Common Ground operates a eruption, the offices of the newspaper Talking Drum Studio, directed by Frances were burned and Daniel, a Christian who Fortune in Freetown. It has done a lot studied in England and aspires to be a to develop community radio. journalist in the United States, was forced into hiding to avoid local security police.1 4

6 6 AFRICA

T he Int e r n a t io nal League for Hu man Rig ht s, The Open Society Initiative for West Africa www.ilhr.org, has run some monitoring and has an office in Dakar. training programs.

The International Foundation for Election EAST AFRICA Systems, www.ifes.org, is planning some election and media training. Burundi This is a very da nge rous place for journa l i s t s T he Na t io nal Endo w me n t for Demo c racy has and trainers. Talking Drum Studio has been given mo ney to Radio Bo for equipme n t . very successful under the circumstances.

ICFJ recognized Andrew “Mr. Owl” Kromah, Ethiopia and Eritrea owner of KISS-FM in Bo and SKY-FM in The desperate needs of journalists make Freetown, for his campaign against Ethiopia a special case. The Committee to corruption. Protect Journalists found in the summer of 2002 that the Ethiopian government still suppresses alternative voices despite the FRANCOPHONE AFRICA end of its two-year border conflict with Eritrea. “In Ethiopia, which was Africa’s Mali foremost jailer of journalists until recently, The Maison de la Presse is home to the three reporters are now serving time for Freedom Forum library. It is well used and their work, while more than 40 others has three computers with Internet access. have fled abroad to avoid trial for alleged Maison has a strong director, Sadou press offenses. The picture is even bleaker Yattara. It receives some government in Eritrea, where leaders banned the entire money. private press in September 2001,” wrote Yves Sorokobi, CPJ Africa program Panos runs an office in Mali. coordinator.1 5

Niger Sorokobi said Ethiopia’s press corps is The National Endowment for Democracy fighting government plans to create proxy gave $20,000 to independent Radio Anfani private newspapers with cash from the for programming. strongest political group in the ruling coalition, the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Senegal Front. The front also has political and The African Women’s Media Center in Dakar business ties to Meganet Corp., which was created by the International Women’s controls a news service and Radio Faana, Media Foundation. the only private broadcaster in a country.1 6

Institut Superieur des Sciences de l’Infor- Media development efforts in Ethiopia: mation is a Senegal-supported training center for journalists, teaching computer- ➢ The U.S. government spent $120,000 assisted reporting and Internet skills. between 1996 and ’98 on journalist training.

6 7 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

➢ Duke University brings Ethiopian ➢ The World Free Press Institute did a journalists to the United States each workshop in Nairobi, one of eight year. workshops in East Africa.1 7 ➢ The Freedom Forum twice sent University of California, Berkeley, Rwanda professor Neil Henry to Ethiopia to The U.S. government gave some media develop journalism programs at private development money after the 1994 Tutsi Unity College, the nation’s only school genocide, but it wasn’t much, said Joan offering real journalism courses. Mower, who trained English-speaking radio and print journalists there in 1996. The ➢ World Bank Institute did some nation has no daily newspaper. (A paper is economic training. trucked in from Kampala, Uganda.) “Ten million people have no daily paper because ➢ There is a professional group, the there’s no one who will lend money for a Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ printing press,” Mower said. Rwandan Association, run by Kifle Mulat, which journalists found out only by chance that fights for press freedom. a new media law was about to be passed.

Kenya Internews made a documentary of the Nairobi is a favorite venue of international Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal that has been media developers. Among Kenya’s plethora shown to audiences throughout the of media organizations: country, including to prisoners who allegedly participated in the massacre. ➢ The Network for the Defense of “For the African continent, seeing a former Independent Media in Africa does minister sitting in a cell, that in itself is monitoring. Run by Sam Mbure, it is a sending a very powerful message. It means member of IFEX. this is real. Now we are answerable,” said Agwu Ukiwe Okali, registrar for the United ➢ The Media Institute, a member of IFEX, Nations International Criminal Tribunal for was run by former journalist David Rwanda.1 8 Makali, but he left in 2000 to study at Columbia University. It is unclear who Tanzania is leading the institute. The Tanzania Journalists Association is effective. Contact: Joe Kadhi, who teaches ➢ The Mohamed Amin Foundation, which journalism at the United States Interna- focuses on training broadcasters and tional University, which put together some photographers, was inspired by one of impressive workshops for the Freedom Africa’s best-known journalists, Mo Forum. Amin, whose early pictures of the Ethiopian drought led to the famine In Arusha, Internews supplies English- coverage in the 1980s. He was killed on language coverage of the International War an Ethiopia Airlines flight hijacked over Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda and does other the Indian Ocean in 1996. His son, media development work. Salim Amin, runs the foundation.

6 8 AFRICA

Uganda T he U.S. go v e r n me nt gave about $2 millio n The Uganda Journalists Association to Voice of America and World Learning in represents independent journalists. the 1990s for training and to strengthen Contact: Charles Onyango-Oddo of the media organizations. Monitor newspaper. Most good Ugandan journalists attended Makerere University. UNESCO collaborated with Switzerland - b a s e d There is a vibrant print press, but Foundation Hirondelle, www.hirondelle.org, broadcasting needs development. The to do ra d io worksho p s, primarily for wome n . U.S. government gave about $350,000 for media training in the mid-1990s. Botswana The government of what had been one of Zambia Africa’s most respected liberal democracies Zambia’s newspapers are either anti- or cracked down on the press in 2001. pro-government with no semblance of Proposed legislation would allow the balance, according to Mower. Mike Daka, government to decide which newspapers the executive director of the Zambia can operate and to seize any publication I nstitute of Mass Commu n i c a t io ns (Za m c o m ) , at will. ICFJ helped the University of is “the strongest person I worked with in Botswana’s Gabarone campus develop a Africa,” said Mower. Andy Mosher, deputy top-notch journalism department serving foreign editor of The Washington Post, was five southern African countries. This is a Knight Fellow at Zamcom, which has home of ICFJ’s McGee Journalism received money from a number of funders, Fellowship, which brings an American i nc l ud i ng the U.S. and Za m b ian go v e r n me nt s, journalist to southern Africa each year. and runs a full range of training. Democratic Republic of Congo This is another difficult country for SOUTHERN AFRICA journalists. Journalists in Danger keeps up with abuses of journalists. The U.S. Media freedom has eroded in much of the government has a Central Lakes media region since 2000. ICFJ inaugurated the project designed to bring journalists from McGee Journalism Fellowship in Southern diverse areas together for peer discussion. Africa, which is based in Botswana and An outbreak of violence in 2003 has s e nds an Ame r ican fellow to southern Afric a further complicated such work here. each year. Namibia Angola The Media Institute of Southern Africa, A closed government and an ongoing civil based in Windhoek and headed by Luckson war make Angola perilous for journalists. Chipare, is the top monitoring Rich in oil and diamonds, Angola needs organization. It got $800,000 from the more international as well as local news U.S. government. It holds conferences, coverage. publishes reports and contributes to journalists’ legal defense funds. The National Endowment for Democracy has given $20,000 for media and peace training.

6 9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

South Africa Zimbabwe The Institute for the Advancement of Journalists and democratic activists are Journalism, www.iaj.org.za, located at the under siege. A delegation from the World University of Witwatersra nd, is an exc e l l e nt Press Freedom Committee visited Harare in organization set up by Allistair Sparks and s p r i ng 2001. Amo ng its disturbing find i ng s : the late Donald Woods and now run by Hugh Lewin. This is the premier regional ➢ A so-called freedom of information law training organization, Mower said. It crafted to control the news media receives money from U.S. government and through licensing of journalists and a other sources. It has a relationship with press council system. the Poynter Institute. ➢ Increasing violence against journalists. Open Society Foundation for South Africa is based in Cape Town and has an office in ➢ Public verbal abuse of journalists by Johannesburg. It was handing out about government ministers. $5 million in grants annually, including some to community radio and other media ➢ Official abuse of criminal defamation projects. Program officer Jean Fairbairn, laws to stifle news coverage. [email protected], pushed community radio projects. “Jean developed training Geoff Nyarota, editor of The Daily News, on election coverage which resulted in was charged with criminal defamation for community radio stations being cited by an article he wrote on a U.S.-based lawsuit two monitoring groups for providing against President Robert Mugabe. The the best election coverage,” said Bill paper was bombed, and two foreign Siemering of the Open Society Institute.19 c o r re s p o nde nt s, Joseph Winter and Me rc e d e s Sayagues, had to leave the country. Foundation for African Media Excellence in Johannesburg was founded by Jerri E dd i ng s, fo r merly of the Fre e dom Forum. Her partners include Edward Boateng of CNN and Doyin Abiola of Nigeria.

Rhodes University in Grahamstown is aggressive about bringing Africans into journalism. Guy Berger, the head of the j o u r nalism de p a r t me nt, is skilled at securing international support and funding. Educator Betty Medsger went on a Freedom Forum assessment trip. Adam Powell and others have worked with Berger on Highway Africa, an annual media and technology conference.

7 0 AFRICA

1 This section is based largely on a memo to the author from Joan Mower. 2 Joy FM in Accra, Ghana, is popular and is a moneymaker. The Daily Nation media company in Kenya, owned partly by the Aga Khan, has long made a profit. Sud Communications in Senegal has profitable newspaper, radio and Internet operations. 3 Whayne Dillehay, e-mail to author, Dec. 19, 2001. 4 Mower, op. cit. Nigeria previously benefited from a sophisticated, vigorous journalism sector. 5 World Bank Institute/USAID media policy meeting, op. cit. 6 Dapo Olorunyomi, World Bank Institute/USAID media meeting, op. cit. 7 Daniel Akst and Mike Jensen, “Africa Goes Online,” Carnegie Reporter, Spring 2001. 8 Wagner spoke at a Harvard University conference, October 2001. 9 Ibid. 10 Hafkin, Harvard conference, op. cit. 11 Carrington, World Bank Institute/USAID media meeting, op. cit. 12 CPJ, Dangerous Assignments, Fall/Winter 2002, p. 3. 13 Olorunyomi, op. cit. 14 Judy Bachrach, “It’s a Mad, Mad Miss World,” Vanity Fair, March 2003. 15 Yves Sorokobi, “War and Words,” Dangerous Assignments, Fall/Winter 2002, p. 8. 16 Ibid. 17 Clay Haswell, e-mail to the author, July 4, 2002. They also held workshops in Uganda and Tanzania. 18 Okali’s quote, which appeared originally in The New York Times, is from Internews’ 2000 annual report. 19 Siemering, memo to the author, July 10, 2002.

7 1 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

72 REGIONAL CHAPTER: THE MIDDLE EAST

REGIONAL OVERVIEW pan-Arab newspapers, and regional satel- lite channe l s, inc l ud i ng Al-Ja z e e ra, Lebane s e To understand the importance of independ- Broadcasting Corporation and the Middle ent professional media, just look at the East Broadcasting Centre, which is run out cost of their absence in the Middle East. of London, pro v ide news outside of go v e r n - Most Arab count r ies severely re s t r ict me d ia , ment control, Campagna noted. Affluent thwarting the possibility of even-handed, Middle Eastern viewers can bypass the fact-based journalism. For decades, the of f ic ial me d ia via satellite dishes and access sanctioned news coverage has diverted international as well as regional program- a t t e nt ion from local account a b i l i t y, enflame d ming.2 Bahrain’s emir is pushing political passions and sharpened biases rather than reforms that may improve media freedom. elucidating facts. America has been a favorite surrogate target. After the 9/11 Still, professional, balanced journalism terrorist attacks, Americans were stunned is not available to most Middle Eastern by the enmity of the Arab world toward citizens. “The practice of freedom of the United States and the extent to which speech is still some t h i n g new in Arab me d i a . it blames the United States for its social Objectivity is a very subjective issue,” and economic troubles. said Al-Jazeera editor Hafez Al-Mizari.3 For years, the governments of Egypt and T he Middle East – and some Muslim na t io ns Saudi Arabia have escaped public account- in North Africa – missed out on the post- ability for economic, political and other Cold War trend toward democracy, as Joel problems by encouraging their national Campagna pointed out in the Committee media to blame the United States and by to Protect Journalists’ 2001 survey.1 Media punishing any criticism of the government. are either controlled outright, with no Egypt’s leading newspaper editor sugge s t e d room for dissent, or unde r m i ned by dra c o n - that the United States poisoned relief ian laws, censorship and hara s s me nt . packages in Afghanistan and deliberately The most extreme examples were Saddam dropped food supplies in areas that had Hussein’s Iraq and Libya. Algeria, Jordan been land-mined.4 Unfortunately, the and enacted stiffer press-related Egyptian press is the media opinion leader c r i m i nal laws in re c e nt years. Most count r ie s of the Middle East. ban or confiscate foreign publications deemed unfavorable to the government. Preposterous conspiracy theories about Campagna documented how journalists are Jews creating the World Trade Center a t t a c k e d, jailed and mu rde red with impunity attacks are commonly believed throughout across the region. the region. In 2002, Egyptian television broadcast “Horseman Without a Horse,” a A few oases of progress can be found. 41-part series based on the infamous anti- Private publications have sprung up Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders a l o ng s i de cont rolled me d i a in some count r ie s. of Zion. The series, which was also seen in Courageous journalists, such as those Syria and , was “an artistic work working for Morocco’s Le Journal which only reveals the Zionist schemes to Hebdomadair and Demain Magazine, and seize Palestine,” said Mohammed Sobhi, a Lebanon’s weekly Al-Nahar, continue to popular Egyptian actor who starred in and struggle. The Internet, new Europe-based produced the program. The drama’s

7 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES protagonist was a “journalist” who gave nity for Middle Eastern journalists and credibility to the Protocols.5 activists, and Dubai has set out to be the regional Internet hub. CPJ estimated the Why didn’t Americans spread the idea of number of Internet users in the Arab world open journalism through the Middle East would double to eight million by 2003.7 as zealously as they did in the post- Communist world? The answer lies in a Locals who promote press freedom pay c o m b i na t ion of re g io nal factors: Long s t a n d - dearly. In Jordan, for example, journalists ing Arab hostility toward the United S t a t e s must belong to the Jordan Press Associa- because of its support of Is r ael; U.S. go v e r n - tion in order to work. In 2000, the ment disinterest in undermining the organization expelled its own secretary- a u t hority of autocrats who otherwise were general, Al-Hadath editor Nidal Mansour, he l pful to na t io nal oil and security int e re s t s ; for starting the Center for Defending the a n d the lack of local de m o c r acy mo v e m e n t s Freedom of Journalists. The association necessary to sustain independent media. declared Mansour no longer a full-time journalist and said he had accepted In 2002, some media development was foreign funding for CDFJ, a violation of under way in Lebanon, Jordan and Qatar. the association’s rules. Mansour also lost BBC and the Foundation had his newspaper job.8 training centers in Lebanon. The State Department was planning several three- Jordan’s first woman newspaper editor, month media projects in the Middle East Mahassen al-Emam, left the same press and Gulf States. ICFJ had a Voice of association after its leadership attacked America contract to train Al-Jazeera her for accepting foreign money to television journalists. conduct a training conference. Al-Emam, recipient of the 2002 Knight International But since open media emerges as part of a Fellowship Award, established the Arab democratic culture, the Middle East has Women Media Center in December 1999 in been ill-prepared for American-style media Amman, to strengthen women’s role in development. This remains true when Arab media. Most regional governments change comes from outside military and official press oppose AWMC. Knight intervention, as it did in Afghanistan and Fellow Joanne Levine conducted training Iraq, instead of from within, as part of a there in 2002-03.9 social movement, as it did in the former Communist bloc.6 It is too soon to tell The U.S. government did undertake some whether the U.S.-led Iraq war would plow limited media development work in the the ground for democracy or lead to 1990s, mostly in the West Bank and Gaza.10 greater anti-American backlash. I n t e r news started the Ara b ic Me d ia Int e r ne t Network (AMIN) www.amin.org, in 1996 to Print journalism, particularly from Egypt, post Palestinian and other Arab newspaper shapes elite and political opinion through- articles and to monitor journalism attacks. out the Middle East. Te l e v i s i on is important , AMIN has had no funding for two years, but radio is the medium of choice for most but it draws more 80,000 users a month, Arab citizens, as it is in other undeveloped according to Internews. regions. The Internet also offers opportu-

7 4 THE MIDDLE EAST

In 1996, the Ford Foundation, Internews the station’s and a U.S. and the Open Society Institute helped tank shell that killed two international create a television station at Al-Quds journalists at Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel. University in Ramallah. Modeled after American public television, it offered an Better strategies for approaching the alternative to the authorized propaganda Middle East’s chronic media problems are and game shows typical of the region, urgently needed. David Hoffman of broadcasting sessions of the Palestinian Internews argued in 2002 for aid to Legislative Council and a Palestinian- develop professional, independent media Israeli version of “Sesame Street.” One instead of the Bush administration’s of the station’s founders, Daoud Kuttab, propaganda approach toward the Middle endured a week in Palestinian jail for East. “People who have been pro p a g a nd i z e d airing a legislative debate on corruption all their lives welcome the alternative of in the Palestinian Authority. On April 2, fact-based news,” he contended in a 2002, Israeli soldiers sacked the station – Foreign Affairs magazine article. Independ- destroying video archives, equipment and ent media don’t automatically guarantee cameras – and briefly detained the staff.11 moderation, he said, but they at least offer “new space for moderate voices that can Military and terrorist activities pervaded combat anti-Western propaganda.”14 the region in 2003. The U.S.-led Iraq war, Hoffman noted that the World Bank’s World which was unpopular throughout the Development Report found that countries Middle East, appeared to undermine the with private, independent media had a l re a d y limited opportunities for U.S. me d ia better economies, less corruption and development. In the midst of the ceaseless higher rates of education and health.15 cycle of suicide-bombings and military reprisals in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the international press sometimes found itself targeted or excluded. In April 2002, for example, Israeli soldiers attacked reporters with tear gas and stun grenades as they covered Is rael’s assault on Rama l l a h.1 2 In a series of raids that mo nth, Is ra e l de s t r oyed all local Pa l e s t i n ia n television capacity – 15 stations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, said Whayne Dillehay of ICFJ. Some of it has since been rebuilt.

After the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the Palestinian Authority barred journalists from covering street celebrations.13 The Committee to Protect Jo u r nalists was aske d to investigate two U.S. military incidents w h ich killed journalists du r i ng the Iraq war, including a missile attack on Al-Jazeera’s operations in Baghdad that killed one of

7 5 CLOSE-UP: AL-JAZEERA, ‘THE TINY STATION WITH THE BIG MOUTH’ COUNTRY REPORTS

For Americans, the most controversial news organization in the Middle East is Al-Jazeera Algeria television, which received and broadcast Osama Under the Information Code of 1990, bin Laden’s videotapes after the 9/11 attacks. journalists can be imprisoned up to 10 Al-Jazeera was started in 1996 by the foreign years for publishing “false or misleading” ministry of Qatar and some former Arab information that “harms state security.” employees of the BBC. It was a feisty operation by Mideast standards. Al-Jazeera soon was They can be fined or jailed for defaming ruffling Middle Eastern rulers by broadcasting the president. The government has not interviews with Israeli leaders and some critical investigated the murders of 58 reporters coverage of Arab regimes.1 6 “Sixty Minutes” and editors killed between 1993 and 1996. profiled the new network, calling it “the tiny ICFJ trained Algerian journalists how to station with the big mouth.” use investigative reporting techniques to By Sept. 11, 2001, Al-Jazeera seemed to have cover human rights issues, but it is not dropped the BBC approach and become overtly surprising that newspapers rarely tackle anti-American. Critics nicknamed the station, sensitive subjects. Fellow journalists which is funded with $30 million from Qatar, harassed Habib Souaidia when his book, the Bin Laden Broadcasting Corporation.1 7 “Day in and day out, Al Jazeera deliberately fans the The Dirty War, exposed Algerian human flames of Muslim outrage,” professor Fouad rights crimes. Foreign journalists are Ajami charged in The New York Times magazine, monitored and restricted.2 2 arguing that even when the station interviewed U.S. officials it set them up with biased Egypt insinuations. Al-Jazeera provided one of the Arab world’s few opportunities to watch Out of Egypt comes some of the most President Bush and other U.S. officials tell their influential – and implausible – journalism side of the story after 9/11. But there is no in the Middle East. Insult laws were passed doubt that Al-Jazeera heels to popular Arab in 1995 and immediately 99 journalists sentiment. For example, it canceled on were imprisoned.23 The state owns the “technical” grounds a planned interview with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on April 5, broadcast media and shares in the major 2002, because of protests from Palestinian ne w s p a p e r s. Newspapers are strictly lic e ns e d , of f ic ia l s, nearly 150 Arab journa l i s t s, and a cro w d and President Hosni Mubarak appoints gathered outside the network’s Arab League t heir editors. Few inde p e nde nt papers ex i s t . summit headquarters. Yasser Abed Rabbo, A recent television series gave credence to Palestinian information minister, said it wasn’t “appropriate that a war criminal [Sharon] be the anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of given a chance to appear on an Arab media the Elders of Zion. Journalists who “incite platform.”1 8 Ironically, Al-Jazeera exemplifies hatred,” “harm the national economy” or some of the worst aspects of U.S. media culture. offend a foreign head of state can be crim- “They are sensationalist, the political version inally prosecuted. The American University of Jerry Springer,” said Lebanese newspaperman Hisham Melhem.1 9 Nevertheless, Al-Jazeera is in Cairo offers some journalism courses. seen as less biased than other Arab media and thus was “embedded” for a while with U.S. Iran forces in Iraq in an attempt by the U.S. govern- A power struggle between moderate and ment to communicate with Arab viewers. hard-line forces produces cycles of (Continued on next page) liberalization and restriction on media and de mo c ra c y. Pre s i de nt Mo h a m mad Khatami’s election in 1997 resulted in social and

7 6 THE MIDDLE EAST political reforms and the emergence of a (Continued from previous page) liberal press that took on such issues as official corruption. In 1999, Ayatollah Ali (such as Al-Jazeera), while prohibitively expensive for most Arab citizens, Khamenei started closing moderate publi- is one of the least censored media in the Middle cations for perceived transgressions. When East. A half-dozen other Arab-owned satellite Salam published a government document channels preceded Al-Jazeera. The relatively outlining moves to curb press freedom, it staid Middle Eastern Broadcasting Centre, for sparked the largest student protests since instance, owned by a relative of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd, has a slightly larger news audience the Islamic revolution. The Khamenei than Al-Jazeera and twice as many viewers.20 government approved the new law anyway. S i nce the cra c kdown began, the go v e r n me nt Islamic fundamentalists are also taking to the has banned 54 newspapers.2 4 airwaves. Al-Manar television in Lebanon and Al-Mustaqbal in the West Bank town of Hebron are tied to and Hamas, said David In 2001, a parliamentarian who denounced Hoffman of Internews. “Because these stations the anti-press measures was jailed for employ higher standards of journalism than libeling the courts, CPJ said. The same local state-run me d ia, they have enjoyed sizable year, investigative reporter Akbar Ganji audiences who come to them for the quality of received a 15-year sentence of prison and the news, if not the Islamist messages and propaganda they scatter within.”21 internal exile for attending a conference in Berlin on the Iranian reform movement. Guardian reporter Geneive Abdo and her husband, Reuters bureau chief Jonathan Lyons, fled the country in February 2001 amid harassment after they interviewed the jailed Ganji.2 5 On a positive note, editors Mashallah Shamsolvaezin and Latif Safari were released from prison in 2001.

Tehran, a city of seven million, has about 1,500 Internet cafes, 450 of which were shut down for several months to protect the state telecommunications monopoly against competition from low-cost Internet phone service, CPJ said. In 2001, the government required Internet providers to relinquish their assets to the state. Conservative authorities control television and radio. Satellite dishes, which bring international programming into Iran, are popular, but authorities confiscated about 1,000 dishes and arrested some owners in 2001 in the wake of provocative bro a dc a s t s from U.S.-based Iranian opposition groups, CPJ said.

7 7 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Iraq Public Affairs officer Mary Xenikakis wrote Saddam Hussein executed journalists who in an e-mail to the author. “The great w e r e critical of him, his family or go v e r n - group of journalists I’ve been working with ment officials. Private Internet access was have been exploring, for the first time, fo r b i dden, as were mo de ms and cell pho ne s. what it means to go out and get a story on Fax machines could be used only with their own free will. I’ve found that being government permission, CPJ said. During self-supportive is turning into a challenge their assault on Baghdad in April 2003, for them.” She asked for nongovernmental U.S. fo r ces killed two journalists and injure d organizations to “take on a small role in four others when a tank fired on t he helping make the journalists of Iraq Pa l e s t i ne Hotel, whe re the int e r na t io na l succeed.” Equipment and training are both p r ess corps was based. CPJ is investig a t i ng needed, she said, noting that to her the incident. knowledge, Mosul was so far “the only city in Iraq that is trying to run its media Internews convened 75 Arab, Iraqi and independently.”2 8 Western media law experts in Athens in June 2003 to create a model media law for Israel postwar Iraq. The “Athens Group” hoped to Israeli media are mostly uncensored and develop more support within Iraq for the “ex t re mely lively,” accord i ng to CPJ. Restric- f r a m ework and then deliver it to the Un i t e d tions and hazards, however, increased Nations and the Occupation Coalition with the escalating violence. Gunfire from P ro v i s io nal Au t ho r i t y.2 6 G o v e r n me n t funde r s Israeli troops “was the most dangerous seemed divided on how to proceed, and immediate threat to journalists in however, as Andrew Natsios, the Bush Israel,” CPJ said in 2001. In some cases, administration appointee heading USAID, soldiers seemed to have deliberately expressed frustration that development targeted journalists.29 aid was not generating more positive publicity for the United States. His Jordan apparent new priority on public relations Press freedom has deteriorated since the over creation of truly independent media enthronement three years ago of King alarmed some media developers, who felt A b dullah II despite his promises to libera l i z e it would undermine their work not only media laws. The 9/11 attacks and the in Iraq, but around the world.27 subsequent U.S. war on terrorism p ro v ide d a pre t e xt to re s t r ict free ex p re s s i o n , CPJ A U.S. Army official in Iraq reported in re p o r t e d. It is a crime to “insult the dig n i t y July 2003 that newspaper, radio and of the king” or to incite others to do so. television journalists in the city of Mosul Jordanian officials barred Israeli reporters were interested in creating independent from covering the March 2001 Arab summit media, but uncertain how to proceed. in Amman, saying later that t hey simply “ We’ve had ma ny tre me ndous bre a k t h ro u g h s d i d “not wish to see Is r a e l i s. ” 3 0 Even with the media here. We’ve been teaching though the government technically ended t hem about mo dern techno l o g ie s, ma r ke t i ng , its own broadcast monopoly in 2000, there b u s i n ess ethics and much mo r e. Now we’ve are no provisions for establishing private come to what could be called a rut,” Army broadcast stations, according to CPJ.

7 8 THE MIDDLE EAST

7 9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

The state requires mandatory membership TV. The International Women’s Media in the Jordan Press Association. In 2000, Foundation protested when Raghida the group expelled Nidal Mansour, editor of Dergham, the diplomatic correspondent Al-Hadath, for starting a press freedom for Al-Hayat in New York, was indicted in organization, the Center for Defending the 2001 on the treasonous charge of “dealing Freedom of Journalists.3 1 The Arab Women with the enemy” because of her balanced Media Center, founded by Mahasssen al- reporting on a United Nations debate over Emam in 1999, has sponsored training the Lebanese-Israeli border.3 3 conferences for more than 350 journalists and nonjournalists despite government Morocco opposition. Al-Emam left the official press Hopes for greater political freedom after a s s o c ia t i on after 20 years as its only fema l e King Mohamed VI came to power in 1999 officer because it criticized her acceptance have faded. “The independent press of foreign funds. She now writes for - continued to push the limits of free and London-based Arab publications. expression – and just as quickly found them,” CPJ reported.3 4 The three liveliest Kuwait independent newspapers – Le Journal The Kuwaiti press is freer than most of Hebdomadair, Al-Sahiffa and Demain – its Middle Eastern counterparts. No one is were closed in 2000 but reopened in officially protected from media criticism 2001 under slightly altered names despite except the emir. After watching CNN du r i ng harassment from the government.3 5 the 1991 Gulf War, Kuwaitis joined in the I nt e r na t io nal support was critical to ke e p i ng re g io nal pro l i f e ra t ion of satellite statio ns.3 2 Le Journal operating.

Lebanon “ W hen an article is published in Le Jo u r na l , Much of the Lebanese press is unre s t r ic t e d, [it] is immediately going to have interna- but self-censorship is rampant, said former t io nal attent ion because it is go i ng to be Knight Fellow Ken Freed. reported in the French media, and other E u r opean count r i es are go i n g to pick it up,” There is some training. The Reuters noted Abdelslam Maghraoui of Princeton Foundation was still offering workshops in University. May 2002 in . ICFJ ran a three-year program on investigative reporting, He said Moroccan authorities want to selecting local reporters for internships at keep an appearance of a “liberal, moderate U.S. papers. ICFJ also worked to improve a nd de mo c ra t i z i n g” go v e r n me n t so it pre f e r s journalism departments at two local more subtle forms of media harassment. universities. Government interference is For example, Aboubakr Jamai, publisher of routine. Officials harassed journalists from Le Journal and Assahifa, said the govern- A l - N ahar for critical re p o r t i ng on Lebane s e ment asks advertisers to not use the military human rights issues and the S y r ia n newspapers and as a result they have lost p re s e nce in Lebanon. Po l i t ical fig u r e s use 70 percent of their advertising. They the media as private megaphones. Many remain the two “most important papers in own news outlets or pay off journalists. Morocco,” according to CPJ’s Hani Sabra.3 6 Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri promoted his election via his television station, Future

8 0 THE MIDDLE EAST

Palestinian Authority sought opinions on a web site about the U.S. government media development in relative beauty of the emir’s wife compare d the Middle East has focused mostly on the to that of a Qatari prof e s s o r, CPJ re p o r t e d.3 7 West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian National Authority’s “heavy-handed and Saudi Arabia arbitrary treatment of journalists has Recognizing that it couldn’t insulate its fostered an oppressive climate of self- population from BBC or CNN, the Saudi censorship in the Palestinian press,” CPJ royal family established its own network, concluded. The PNA closed Al-Jazeera’s London-based Middle Eastern Broadcasting Ramallah office for several days because it Centre. CPJ describes Saudi Arabia as “one broadcast an unflattering portrait of Yasser of the most closed societies in the world,” Arafat. It also prevented journalists from tolerating no political dissent, particularly covering anti-American street celebrations from the press. The government appoints after the 9/11 attacks. editors, and writers can be dismissed for any reason. Foreign journalists are Internews was active in the 1990s in constrained and monitored. Saudis circum- developing Palestinian broadcasting and vent restrictions with satellite dishes Internet journalism. The Ford Foundation (which are forbidden) or Internet cafes, and the Open Society Institute founded where “in-house hackers … connect users the Al-Quds Institute for Modern Media to banned sites.”3 8 and a television station modeled on PBS. The Israeli army destroyed the station, Syria along with 14 others, in April 2002, but President Bashar Al-Assad retrenched some have been rebuilt. The Arabic Media from his 2000 press liberalization after he Internet Network publishes Palestinian ran into resistance from conservatives, journalism. according to CPJ’s Joe Campagna. While Syria allows some independent media, “the Qatar margins of acceptable discourse are strictly ICFJ has a Voice of America contract to limited” under new decrees issued in assess the training needs of journalists September 2001, Campagna wrote. working for the Qatar Broadcasting Corp., the parent company of Al-Jazeera Still, public interest in serious journalism television. (See “Al-Jazeera close-up,” Page has been stirred. Syrian journalists report 76.) The emir of Qatar, Hamed bin Khalifa more freely in regional newspapers, such Al Thani, resisted U.S. Secretary of State as Al-Nahar in Lebanon and Al-Hayat in Colin Powell’s official requests after 9/11 London, and on Al-Jazeera television.3 9 to rein in Al-Jazeera. The emir invests $30 The U.S. State Department had warned million a year of state funds in the Lauren Ross of Internews in 2001 that satellite network. The emir abolished the Syrian officials might not even meet with Ministry of Information and ended formal her, but she found a tentative openness to newspaper censorship in the 1990s, but me d i a assistanc e. In fact, a Syrian minister self-censorship is widespread. One news- c o m p l a i ned to her that no one was re a d i ng paper editor was beaten by three relatives their papers (which are filled with fawning of a government minister he had criticized, coverage of the president), so they had to and an American was jailed for after he do something.4 0 The government runs all

8 1 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

I n t e r net servic e, and web sites about Is ra e l , sex or Syria’s poor human-rights record are blocked.

Turkey Turkish journalists have a strategic advan- tage over many of their neighboring colleagues: Their country wants to join the European Union, so it is revising media laws and is expected to release jailed journalists, CPJ reported. Two companies – the Sabah group and Dogan Medya – own much of the print and broadcast media. In 2001, Sabah lost some of its holdings to Dogan after its president was jailed for embezzlement and corruption. Turkish journalism still suffers from self-censorship and ideological prejudice, CPJ found. Private ra d i o and television statio ns, whic h have been proliferating, are sometimes censored or closed. There is no law governing Internet use, but an on-line discussion administrator was jailed when someone posted a harsh critique of government human-rights problems on his web site.4 1

United Arab Emirates T h e Emira t e s , especially Dubai, have de s i g - nated the mselves as a center for new me d ia . Dubai Media City was launched in 2001 as a regional news hub for international journalists. Internet City puts much of the government on line. Even so, the govern- ment blocks political and sexual content as it wishes. Print journalism is treated more h a r s h l y. Au t ho r i t ies detain or harass go v e r n - ment critics. Self-censorship prevails.4 2

Yemen Yemen has a lively opposition press, but journalists who criticize the government may be intimidated and jailed, CPJ reported. Broadcast media are generally pro-government.

8 2 THE MIDDLE EAST

1 Joel Campagna, “Overview: The Middle East and North 29 Campagna, op. cit. Africa,” CPJ, Attacks on the Press, 2001. 30 Ibid. 2 Roumeen Islam, draft World Development Report 2002, Ch. 31 Ibid. 10, op. cit. 32 Lauren Ross, Internews meeting, op. cit. 3 Hafez Al-Mizari spoke to the Nieman Foundation, Feb. 3, 33 Campagna, Attacks on the Press, 2001, op. cit. 2002. 34 Ibid. 4 The New Yorker magazine and New York Times Tom 35 Ibid. Friedman provided distressing reports after 9/11 about the 36 Hani Sabra, profile of publisher Aboubakr Jamai, Dangerous pervasive influence of the anti-American press in Egypt and Assignments, Fall/Winter 2002, pp. 20-22, CPJ. throughout the region. 37 Campagna, Attacks on the Press, 2001, op. cit. 5 Salah Nasrawi, “Egyptian TV plans to Air Series Based on 38 Ibid. Anti-Semitic Book,” Associated Press, Oct. 24, 2002. 39 Ibid. Historians have dismissed The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as 40 Lauren Ross, Internews, op. cit. a forgery created by Czar Nicholas II’s secret police to blame 41 Campagna, Attacks on the Press, 2001, op. cit. Russia’s problems on Jews. But in today’s Middle East, it is 42 Ibid. widely believed to be a factual revelation of a rabbinical cabal. 6 See Afghanistan section of this report. Because Afghanistan had no tradition of independent media, Western trainers were having trouble establishing even there in the fall of 2002. The idea of private media engendered suspicion and resistance, according to Ivan Sigal of Internews. 7 Campagna, op. cit. 8 Much of this section is based on Joel Campagna, “Overview: The Middle East and North Africa,” Attacks on the Press, 2001, Committee to Protect Journalists. 9 Joanne Levine, “She Won’t Stay Down,” KNIGHTline International magazine, Winter 2003. 10 Whayne Dillehay, interview, October 2001. 11 Daoud Kuttab, “Forced Off the Air in Ramallah,” AMIN, April 6, 2002. 12 “Israeli Soldiers Force Reporters Out of Ramallah,” The New York Times, April 6, 2002. 13 It was awkward for Americans to complain about this since the U.S. government barred reporting of most U.S. military activities in Afghanistan. The U.S. government reversed this policy and “embedded” journalists with U.S. and British troops in Iraq. 14 David Hoffman, “Beyond Public Diplomacy,” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2002, Vol. 82 No. 2. 15 The report later was expanded into The Right to Tell; The Role of Mass Media in Economic Development, op. cit. 16 Peter Johnson, “Al-Jazeera’s Stature Is Rising” USA Today, September 2001. 17 Hafez Al-Mizari, op. cit. 18 Zena Karam, “Arab journalists protest Al-Jazeera interview with Sharon,” Associated Press, April 5, 2002. 19 Hisham Melhem, Internews directors meeting, October 2001, Washington, D.C. 20 Melhem and Lauren Ross, Internews meeting, op. cit. 21 Campagna, “Overview: The Middle East and North Africa,” op. cit. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 24 Dangerous Assignments, Fall/Winter, 2002, CPJ. 25 Campagna, Attacks on the Press, 2001, op. cit. 26 The entire report and framework are available on the Internews web site, www.internews.org. 27 Jack Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle, op. cit. 28 Mary Rose Xenikakis, 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, U.S. Army, e-mail to the author, July 7, 2003.

8 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

84 REGIONAL CHAPTER: ASIA

REGIONAL OVERVIEW

After 9/11, the American attitude toward T he disappointed organizers inc l uded NGOs, media development in Central Asia shifted former journalists and intellectuals.2 from indifference to exigency. Despite security conc e r ns (he ig h t e ned by the mu rde r China’s media scene has liberalized since in Pakistan of Wall Street Journal reporter the government’s assault on pro-democracy Daniel Pearl) and a lack of infrastructure, de m o ns t rators in Tia n a n men Squa re in 1989, millions of dollars in funding was descend- but random crackdowns occur and pro- ing on Afghanistan as this report was de mo c racy workers can be punished severe l y, c o m p i l e d . The greatest need was for coord i - even exe c u t e d . Partly because the U.S.-China na t ion and an assessme n t of what aid would re l a t io nship fluc t uates on such issues as be effective. human rights, religion and free expression, C h i na re ma i ns largely unt o u c hed by U.S. In the Central Asian republics, democratic me d ia assistanc e. The Wales-based Tho ms o n advocacy of any kind is challenging. To Foundation has a small program, but most the south and east there are pockets of media NGOs have not ventured into this activity: East Timo r, Phnom Penh, Bang ko k unpredictable, high-stakes environment. a nd, most re c e n t l y, Afghanistan and Pa k i s t a n . I ndo ne s i a’s inde p e nde n t me d ia need support. The most important media advances in The Philippines, Thailand and India have China are being compelled by commerce. strong organizations, some of which have China views the Internet as essential to been helped by the Open S o c iety Ins t i t u t e, its success in the global marketplace (See K n i g ht Fellows, Int e r ne w s, the Freedom “China’s Internet Opening,” Page 89), so it Forum and othe r s. The As ia Founda t ion used provides the most tantalizing potential to be active but has receded.1 for open media development since the Communist revolution. The SARS (Severe T he ra p i d collapse of the Me d ia Watch pro j e c t Acute Respiratory Syndrome) crisis applied in Singapore illustrates the continuing new pressure on Chinese media controls, need for small grants to struggling local and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with its efforts. Lacking operating funds, founder accompanying corps of international press, Tan Cho ng Kee gave up after seven mo nt hs. may create special opportunities to train The organization had hoped to raise media Chinese journalists. standards and encourage fair reporting.

8 5 CLOSE-UP: AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN: WAR PUTS THEM ON THE MEDIA MAP

Media developers arrived in Afghanistan in the Internews assessed the Afghan media landscape in spring of 2002, soon after the overthrow of the February 2003. Some key points: Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime. They found no coordination, no Internet access and poor ➢ Radio is the main source of news for most security, said Whayne Dillehay of ICFJ. USAID Afghans. More than 85 percent of Afghan men sponsored three-month, $1 million media projects have a radio, a 1999 survey found. Radio in Central Asia. Internews used one of those grants to create the Open Media Fund for Afghanistan, programming under the Islamic fundamentalist which provides seed money for start-up media. Taliban regime was limited to religious or Internews also sponsored a newspaper covering government broadcasts. the formation of the transitional government, and it joined the BBC’s efforts to broaden Radio Kabul’s ➢ Radio Kabul broadcasts only in the morning reach in the country. The BBC spent an estimated and in the evening. Newscasts are written at $1 million to give the station two studios, an FM transmitter, training and a satellite system to the state-run Bakhtar News Agency and then rebroadcast news via shortwave.3 recorded for broadcast. International radio, including the BBC, , Voice of Also active in Afghanistan were the Institute America and Radio Free Afghanistan, is for War and Peace Reporting, Baltic Media Center available. (funded by the Danish government), AINA (a French group headed by National Geographic p ho t o g ra p her Reza),4 a nd Me d ia Ac t i on Int e r n a t io na l , ➢ Television and radio equipment is 1960s which specializes in reporting on humanitarian vintage, which limits program production. crises and assistance. ➢ Skilled broadcasters are scarce. Television was off the air during the Taliban regime.

➢ Print media is problematic. The Taliban destroyed most presses, and Afghanistan’s 36-percent literacy rate is among the world’s lowest. New newspapers were starting up, however, including 90 in Kabul alone.

➢ A press-freedom bill adopted in 2002 ended years of censorship and the Taliban’s total ban on free speech, but included troubling provisions requiring government licensing and limiting print ownership to Afghan citizens.5

After the war, critics feared that beaming Radio Fre e Europe-style broadcasts or public relations p ro p a - ganda into the region would be counterproductive. Without a strong effort to develop local news p ro duc e r s, they envisio ned me d ia becoming a pro b l e m instead of an engine for reform.

“Like Bosnia was before it, Afghanistan will probably be carved up into journalistic fiefdoms by local powers with an interest in keeping enmity alive, further fragmenting the country’s fragile s o c ie t y,” wrote Ant h o ny Borden and Edw a rd Gira r de t

86 ASIA

in The New York Times. “So far, international stations to operate. Nongovernmental media e f forts have focused on bro a dc a s t i ng news re p o r t e d associations are forming and are already informally by non-Afghans ... these efforts may do some advocating policy changes in large metropolitan go o d , but they will also soak up eno r mous amo u nt s c i t ies such as Ka rachi and Laho re. Major ne w s p a p e r s of precious aid. … What Afghans need most from cite inc reased fre e do ms to criticize the go v e r n me nt , their journalists [are] not explanations from the as well as increased intimidation from the o u t s ide world and its vie w s , but re l i able info r ma t io n Pakistani Secret Services (ISI). Internet cafes are and honest debate within their own society.” opening in cities from Peshawar to Balochistan, but major concerns about access to information State broadcasting returned to Kabul nine months still exist. The first universities dedicated to IT after the Taliban fell in November 2001. By summe r (information technology) education and develop- 2002, 15 regional or state radio stations were ment have opened. Yet officials have recently gone broadcasting, Ivan Sigal of Internews reported.6 on re c o r d stating that bro a dcast news not appro v e d The U.S. military and U.N. International Security by the government still will not be tolerated. Assistance Force installed medium-wave transmit- ters. Internet and also existed. “But “Meanwhile, the first exclusively Internet-based one voice is conspicuous for its absence,” Sigal nongovernment news service opened in July 2001, noted. “As of September 2002, only one private and has operated with a growing subscriber base Afghan radio station broadcasts in the country.”7 throughout the war in Afghanistan. … Pakistan is neither democratic nor open at this time, but the C o m me rc ial and no n p rofit ra d io have not flourishe d possibilities for media development and the free in Afghanistan as they have in other post-conflict flow of information are more promising than they countries, said Sigal, because Afghanistan has no have been for a decade. The first legislation tradition of independent broadcasting or impartial allowing for nongovernment broadcast media is a reporting. Indeed, the idea of private media tangible illustration of that change … a window of engenders suspicion and even resistance. More opportunity exists to explore, and possibly assist, important, unlike the recent political revolutions me d i a de v e l o p m e nt. Any such assistance must fo c u s in Eastern and Central Europe, Indonesia and Peru, on freedom of expression, news and information “the media were almost irrelevant to the fall of dissemination, and the development of independ- the Taliban” because it came about due to external ent electronic media. But the process is long, as military force, Sigal said.8 Pakistan’s transition to democracy may be protracted and difficult. Conditions for journalists Despite some advances, few there believe the in Pakistan today are perilous.”9 present peace will lead to long-term political stability and successful media reform, Sigal wrote. The Alfred Friendly Foundation created a new “Getting private radio stations on the air will fellowship in 2002 in the name of Wall Street require challenging entrenched cultural attitudes Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was murdered by and interests in the broadcasting bureaucracy, the terrorists in Pakistan. The fellowship will bring a ministries and in powerful political factions.” foreign journalist, preferably a Pakistani, to work for six months in a U.S. newsroom. In Pakistan, the U.S. war on terrorism altered government support for open media. An April 2002 Internews report provided an overview on the media environment:

“ P r ior to the new Western focus on Is l a m ic terro r i s t groups, Pakistan was moving slowly toward reducing government control of media. Now the West is offering Gen. [Pervez] Musharraf’s govern- ment strong incentives to cooperate in the fight against terrorism [which] … appears to be accelerating the trend toward media openness. A new broadcast law, passed in January 2002, will enable the first commercial television and radio

87 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

CENTRAL AND SOUTH ASIA: EMBATTLED in these nations would bring not just MEDIA stability, but hope. It would also mitigate the terrorist threat against the United Central Asia is home to the “Stans” – States by filling a dangerous information Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, void that breeds misunderstanding and Tu r k m enistan and Uzbekistan – fo r mer Sovie t fear. Governments impose what OSI called republics still encumbered by remnants of “extraordinary limits on foreign broad- Communist culture and autocratic leaders c a s t i ng.” Censorship is pervasive. The of f ic ia l who wield media for their own ends. News- media channel anti-American propaganda papers are neither factually reliable nor to an otherwise uninformed public, which comprehensive. Most people don’t read has very little access to independent them. Governments have shut down the sources of news or information.10 best Central Asia television stations on the pretext of licensing problems. Official In contrast, democratic India’s media censorship, self-censorship and corruption marketplace is relatively free, and full of in all aspects of socie t y, inc l u d i ng the pre s s tabloid gossip. CPJ reports, however, corps, are pandemic. Those rare journalists that some journalists have been attacked, who dare to expose corruption are targeted especially in Kashmir. for serious reprisals, even murder. Nepal’s once-open media were silenced and Media training here focuses on financial other civil liberties were suspended as of survival, emphasizing advertising revenue, Nov. 26, 2001, after the crown prince market research and program production killed 10 members of the royal family and (soaps and game shows) more than jour- then took his own life. nalism or ethics. The cast of media developers is familiar, mirroring other SOUTHEAST ASIA: BACKSLIDING ex-Communist bloc efforts: USAID through IREX and Internews, the Open Society Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia I ns t i t u t e, ICFJ, Fre e dom Forum (until 2002) loosened media restrictions in 2000, a and the Committee to Protect Journalists. promising development for the growth of civil societies. Civil unrest in Indonesia, OSI, through its North Caucasus Me d i a and ho w e v e r, and a harsh political shift agains t Civil Society Program, is active throughout independent journalism in Thailand Central and South Asia. diminished those hopes in 2001-2002. In Cambodia, the government of Prime Journalists from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Minister Hun Sen was seeking more Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan s t a nd i ng on the world stage, and Phno m recently formed the Central Asian and Penh became a haven for media develop- Southern Caucasus Freedom of Expression ment organizations, including those Network, www.cascfen.org. Based in Baku, w o r k i ng to help embattled me d ia in ne i g h - Azerbaijan, the group is led by Azer H. boring Burma (Myanmar). Hasret ([email protected]), who also runs the Azerbaijan press group IPIANC. The Philippines has “a tradition of free expression that makes it one of the most Developing civil societies and open media open societies in Asia,” CPJ said.

8 8 CLOSE-UP: CHINA’S INTERNET OPENING

Reporting by the respected Philippine China is the world’s largest unclaimed media Center for Investigative Journalism helped prize. AOL Time Warner and Rupert Murdoch’s force President Joseph Estrada from office News Corp. have contracts to operate in the ma i n l a nd re g ion near Ho ng Ko ng. Self-cens o r s h i p in 2001. appears to be key to commercial success. News Corp.’s Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV, which also CPJ, the World Press Freedom Committee, has two Chinese investors, broadcasts Taiwanese OSI, Internews, UNESCO, Scandinavian and Japanese soap operas, a dating game and media organizations and the World Bank other light fare that will not challenge Beijing’s authority. When the Communist leaders are active in Southeast Asia. complained to Murdoch about BBC reports that were critical of China, News Corp. dropped the A respected resource on media throughout BBC from the Phoenix TV network.11 Southeast Asia is Kavi Chongittavorn, [email protected], who edits The The Chinese seem freer to speak and read than to act, according to Elizabeth Rosenthal of The Nation magazine in Bangkok. He founded New York Times. Media liberalization is applied and heads both the Thai Journalists unevenly. Since the Tiananmen Square demon- Association and SEAPA, and he represents s t r a t i o ns, the go v e r n me nt has at times vigo ro u s l y both IFEX and Transparency International suppressed democracy and religious freedoms. in Bangkok. A 2002 Nieman fellow at For example, Hu Shigen, a physician, is only 10 years into his 20-year prison sentence for Harvard, he hopes to create a comparable advocating press freedom and trade unions. program in Southeast Asia to bring jour- Dissident Ren Wanding told Rosenthal that nalists to a local university for sabbatical several hundred activists like himself are studies. watched, have lost their jobs because of their political beliefs, and cannot publish their writings or have computer access.12

So far, the Internet has provided the best opening for independent journalists in China. Despite rules requiring that state media provide all web news, officials treat the Internet more liberally. The government generally looks the other way on stories that don’t involve narrowly defined political news, and it does not always apply onerous 1980s media laws to the Internet.

Although commercial web sites are barred from doing reporting, the People’s Daily, the official Chinese Communist Party organ, publishes stories online that don’t appear in the newspaper. It was the People’s Daily’s online edition, for example, that first reported the April 2001 collision between U.S. and Chinese military planes over the South China Sea and the 1999 U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. In 2001, when more than 40 teachers and students died from an explosion at a primary school in Jiangxi, Internet journalists reported that the government lied when it said students were not manufacturing fireworks.

(Continued on next page)

8 9 CLOSE-UP: CHINA’S INTERNET OPENING

(Continued from previous page) COUNTRY REPORTS

“We plan to adopt policies towards Internet me d i a that are pre f e re nt ial and mo re lenie nt than t h ose for tra d i t io n al me d i a,” go v e r n me nt of f i c ia l CENTRAL ASIA Qian Ziaoqian told of the . “It’s not possible to apply the Afghanistan past methods of managing traditional media to (See “Afghanistan and Pakistan: War Puts 13 the Internet.” Hundreds of local newspapers Them on the Media Map,” Page 86.) feed web portals like Sina.com and Sohu.com, giving Chinese access to information about their own country. Wall Street Jo u r n al columnist Ahmed Rashid, who works with Internews, said Television- Ensuring Internet openness is one of the most Kabul uses obsolete Russian equipme nt and tantalizing targets for commercial as well as a “dish made of Coca-Cola cans” so it can NGO media development work. China has about 60 million Internet users, a small fraction of the broadcast only five miles outside of Kabul. nation’s 1.3 billion residents. The state Ministry T he re re ma i n s a dearth of local ne w s, he said, of Information Industry said the Internet with BBC’s broadcasts drawing the mo s t industry’s annual business volume is nearly $840 v i e w e r s. Rashid warned Western do no r s that million. Will the Internet be regulated as recovery could be “a messy ordeal, with two television is, or licensed like a newspaper, or treated simply as a cash cow like the telephone steps forward followed by two steps back.” system? AOL Time Warner’s entry into the He said the United States should be actively Chinese market in fall 2001 was a positive step, engaged in the redevelopment and “sit on but how much self-censorship will it impose in top” of the count r ies and age nc ies involved.17 exchange for this commercial prize? Also active are USAID, the Institute for Wa r Despite its interest in joining the global digital and Peace Reporting, Baltic Media Center, revolution, China has secretly tried and AINA and Media Action International. imprisoned 33 people for online “subversion,” Amnesty International reported.14 Liu Diu, a Kazakhstan 22-year-old chat-room organizer, was arrested The repressive government recalled many for posting satirical essays online.15 Thousands of Internet cafes, closed after a fatal fire in broadcasting licenses in 2002 for alleged Beijing, were allowed to reopen only after violations of language and mass media i ns t a l l i ng sof t w a re that monitors e-mail account s laws. It also closed the country’s best and blocks many web sites. independent daily newspaper a few years ago. Internews is active. Its local director The Chinese government’s attempts to hide the 2003 SARS epidemic from its own population is Oleg Katsiev, [email protected]. and the world led to a severe global reaction, with international investors departing in droves Kyrgyzstan as this report was written.16 China’s interest in Internews provides legal support and reversing this problem, and in making the most t ra i n i ng for bro a dc a s t e r s. Ind ia na Un i v e r s i t y of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, may provide new opportunities for advocating open media is a major partner of the American Univer- and expression. sity in Cent ral As ia, orig i nally fo u n ded with help from the University of Nebraska. The Open Society Institute funds the university library and computer support. Faculty from t he United States teach a ra nge of subjects, including media law and ethics.18

9 0 ASIA

Tajikistan SOUTH ASIA Internews helped form the National Association of Independent Mass Media in Bangladesh Tajikistan in 1999. Media repression is The news media gained a measure of similar to that in the other “Stans.” freedom in 1991 when a civil rebellion toppled the military government, but Turkmenistan government threats against journalists are Media repression is similar to that in the still common. Reporter Tipu Sultan of the other “Stans.” news agency United News of Bangladesh, was beaten nearly to death in 2001 after Uzbekistan he reported on a politician allied with The nexus of political, economic and then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. After ethnic problems in Central Asia is the reports that cohorts of Social Welfare verdant Ferghana Valley, which extends Minister Mizammel Hossain embezzled across Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and flood relief money, Hossain told colleagues Kyrgyzstan.19 The region resists interna- in a private meeting, “Wherever you find tional attention or intervention. journalists, break their bones,” CPJ reported. Among the journalists murdered The Uzbek government is draconian in its in 2001 was Shamsur Rahman, senior re p re s s ion of journa l i s t s. Only int e r n a t io na l correspondent for the national daily pressure gained the release of Ruslan Janakantha and a frequent contributor to Sharipov, president of the Union of the BBC’s Bengali-language service.22 Independent Journalists of Uzbekistan, after his arrest for reporting human rights In late 2002, motivated by concerns that violations. Uzbek security services have critical reporting might portray Bangladesh intimidated Yevgheniy Dyakonov, founder negatively du r i n g the U.S. war on terro r i s m , of the on-line magazine Zone, and authorities cracked down on “information attacked his family.20 Government censors terrorism.” They arrested two European control newspapers, which are forbidden to and two Bangladeshi journalists who were indicate that stories have been altered. working on a documentary for Britain’s Newspapers cannot report on Russia, Channel 4. The Europeans were released; Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan, because they the Bangladeshis said they were tortured. have uneasy relations with Uzbekistan. A Reuters stringer was jailed for allegedly Nothing can be reported about border quoting a government official as saying conflicts, alcoholism, drug addiction, that al-Qaida may have been behind some na t u ral disasters involving hu man casua l t ie s , bombings in northern Bangladesh.23 agricultural problems, disease outbreaks, or criminal activity or investigations.21 Even though Bangladesh is a poor, primarily rural country, most of the print Internews and the Open Society Institute media are in the urban areas. More than Assistance Foundation-Uzbekistan operate 80 dailies publish in the capital, Dhaka, here. including five good English language newspapers.24

9 1 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Nearly half the population is illiterate, Pakistan i nc l ud i ng 71 perc e nt of the women, accord - (See “Afghanistan and Pakistan: War Puts i ng to the World Bank.2 5 In the past, mo r e Them on the Media Map,” Page 86.) than 80 perc e nt of newspaper advertising came from the government. Today, the Pakistan, which recently privatized its private sector accounts for 70 to 90 perc e n t radio and television, is undergoing a major of advertising in most leading newspapers. transition that would benefit greatly from Recently, the government granted private U.S. assistance. To be sure, working in this ownership of electronic media, and a region remains dangerous for Americans, as private satellite television channel (ETV) Daniel Pearl’s murder dramatized. draws as many viewers as the official Collaboration with other foreign and local government channel, BTV. Two private groups may help ease the danger for cable channels (Channel I and ATN Bangla) American developers. opened recently. Pakistan revoked its newspaper licensing The media have reported on corruption in law years ago so that the only legal power t he banking and fo re ign exc h a nge indu s t r ie s officials have had over the print press is ( re s u l t i ng in go v e r n me nt re f o r ms), unc o v e re d delay. “If you don’t get a license, you wait illegal allocation of residential lands, four months, and it’s assumed you have a exposed enviro n me n tal pro b l e ms and ra i s e d license,” said news agency owner Owais the public’s awareness of their rights. Aslam Ali, head of the Pakistan Press Foundation.27 Legal protections exist for On the negative side, many reporters are newspapers, but implementation is politically partisan and dependent on uneven, he said. Newspaper ownership is official handouts. Press independence is in consolidated among four large companies. its infancy, and the advertising market More training could solve most of the press remains weak, according to the World Bank freedom problems, he said. Ninety percent Institute.26 of readers get their news in Urdu from p u b l ic a t i o ns that are stro ngly ant i - A me r ic a n India and don’t carry international news. Two- India’s free press, notorious for its gossipy thirds of the population is illiterate. tabloids, is “probably the strongest pillar of its democracy,” CPJ said. Still, the Nepal Kashmir crisis has led to attacks on local Until the assassination of the royal family and foreign journalists. Tax inspectors in November 2001, Nepalese media were raided the leading newsmagazine, Outlook, relatively free (although they could face after it ran an exposé of the prime prosecution for reporting on the Maoist minister’s office. A commission was set up insurgency). After the assassinations, the to investigate the government after web government suspended most civil liberties publisher Tehelka.com filmed senior and arrested more than 50 journalists, CPJ officials taking bribes from journalists said. International response was muted. posing as arms dealers, but it “seemed One U.S. official stated, “We hear from more interested in investigating the news most mainstream journalists in Nepal that outlet’s questionable reporting methods,” they’re confident that they and their work CPJ said. will not be affected by the restrictions.”

9 2 ASIA

The comment was “met with surprise and SOUTHEAST ASIA frustration” by the country’s leading journalists, CPJ said. Burma (Myanmar) Few places are more hostile to journalism The Nepal Press Institute was established than Burma, which CPJ described as a in 1984 to expand the country’s 100-year- place “where one of the world’s most old newspaper industry with training and repressive dictatorships does its best to other services. The popular Gaon Ghar e ns u re that local newspapers carry any t h i ng newspaper was created with colorful but news.” The Ministry of Information and graphics and large fonts to reach rural Culture runs the largest television station; villages in 75 districts. the military controls the second largest.

9 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Even so, the Open Society Institute and The actress later denied having made the the Southeast Asian Press Alliance are demands. The radio station broadcast s u p p o r t i ng the Burmese pre s s. The Burme s e rumors (later proved to be false) that Independent News Agency covers Burma Cambodian Embassy staff had been killed f r om Thailand, whe re most me d ia assistanc e in Thailand in retaliation for the violence organizations are headq ua r t e re d. Thai in Phnom Penh. This incident is troubling j o u r nalist Kavi Cho ng k i t t a v o r n is well versed on several fronts: the media’s lack of pro- on me d i a de v e l o p me n ts he r e. fessionalism in reporting rumors, the over- reaction by the public and the arrest of the Cambodia j o u r n a l i s t s. Cambodia needs a mo re prof e s - Phnom Penh became a trendy capital for sional journalism sector, combined with media development after the Paris peace public education and reform of media laws. accords and elections in 1993. Knight Fellow Ann Olson moved here from Russia Cambodia is a “curious situation” since to launch IJF’s journalism program at the the print press is “unbridled to a degree Royal University of Phnom Penh. IJF rarely seen in most countries” while the conducted a major journalism training electronic media are controlled by the p roject aro u nd the 2003 electio ns. Int e r ne w s government, said A. Lin Neumann of the is cons ide r i ng starting a pro g ra m . 2 8 Committee to Protect Journalists.30 The opposition Sam Rainsy Party has been The re are few me d ia cons t ra i nts exc e p t repeatedly denied permission to start a de f a m i ng the king, said Kavi Cho ng k i t t a v o r n . radio station. The six television stations, He described a game journalists play to which once broadcast such innovative compete for foreign media aid: They programs as call-in talk shows with “attack the king, the newspapers are shut go v e r n me n t ministers, now are self-cens o r e d. down, and int e r na t io n al me d i a org a n i z a t i o ns The death of ousted Khmer Rouge leader come in.” At the same time, he said, Pol Pot in 1998 went unreported on radio Cambodia’s six competing media advocacy and television.31 The rush of funding into organizations “fight among themselves, so Cambodia in the 1990s lacked coordination the government has its way.”29 As a result, or long-term planning, Neumann said. it is better to ally with the tried-and-true Most efforts involved short-term seminars IJF and Southeast Asian Press Alliance for that lacked careful recruitment of partici- training, which is needed particularly to pants or follow-up. The Khmer Journalists promote investigative journalism against Association attracted help from the Asia corruption. Foundation in the early 1990s. The association became inactive after the 1997 In 2003, the owner of the Smbok Kmum coup. USAID has since funded a one-year radio station and the editor of the Rasmei certificate program in journalism at the Angkor newspaper were charged with University of Phnom Penh, whose teache r s inciting riots against the Royal Thai i nc l u de respected journalists Reach Sambath Embassy and Thai businesses in Phnom of Agence France-Presse and Kher Munthit Penh. The riots followed publication of of The Associated Press. comments by a Thai actress who allegedly demanded that Cambodia return the UNESCO and its partner donors, the Danish Angkor Wat temple complex to Thailand. and French governments, began the

9 4 ASIA

Cambodian Communication Institute in the building of the only daily newspaper, 1994 in with the Ministry of Information. Suara Timor Timur. They threatened and This relationship with the government beat foreign journalists. While some hampers its effectiveness because some Indonesian journalists were also attacked, journalists are leery of monitoring and many Indonesian newspapers took the side reprisals.32 Sek Barisoth is the director. of the military against the separatists and Australian peacekeepers. ISAI, the Jakarta- Indonesia based media center, studied the coverage Former President Suharto was a “visionary of the four mainstream Indonesian news- in understanding the power of television,” papers and concluded that they had but the he created uncritically relied on official Indonesian ironically contributed to his downfall in government information during the crisis. May 1998, Neumann said in a 2000 report for the Freedom Forum.33 Suharto launched Indonesian journalists are interested in Indonesia’s first satellite in the 1970s so h ig her prof e s s io n al standa rd s , but unc e r t a i n he could feed news about his nation- how to attain them. Universities offer building programs even to rural villagers. little. Envelopes of money are routinely Radio was the most popular medium, but distributed to reporters at press confere nc e s t he r e were 17 million television ho u s e ho l d s and other events. Journalists need to in Indonesia, and about 85 percent of p o l ice the mselves and clean up their corrupt households in major urban centers owned practices, Neumann said. The best training a television.34 seems to come news organi- Suharto relatives or friends controlled all zations, he noted. “It may take years to the private television networks through create an environment where quality various companies. But in 1998 when riots journalism is practiced at all levels,” he broke out in the midst of the Asian concluded.35 economic crisis, these media shrugged off their government censors and showed The Southeast Asian Press Alliance has p i c t u res of the mobs and of police sho o t i ng branches in East Timor and Jakarta. students. Suharto was forced out, and Internews has run $17 million in USAID- j o u r nalists re i n v e nted the ms e l v e s. Te l e v i s io n funded programs here since 1998, support- began running investigative reports, civic ing the emergence of television stations talk shows and live political coverage. and building the first television schools. Private radio stations multiplied from 762 It has also produced radio programming for in 1998 to 1,200 by 2000, Neumann said. more than 100 stations. In coordination Despite “harrowing accounts of individual with an Indo ne s i an women’s rig hts org a n i z a - harassment,” journalists reported few tion, Internews helped create Indonesia’s instances of government meddling under first women’s radio program, which reaches former President Abdurrahman Wahid. an estimated five million women.36 Internews also worked with the United The East Timor independence conflict in States to develop national television and 1999 created a new crisis, one in which radio in East Timor. Another Internews journalists became targets of violence. project, Reporting for Peace, teaches Anti-separatist militia attacked the journalists how to cover conflict without territory’s two radio stations and burned inciting more violence.

9 5 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim 1998 to promote professional radio c o u n t r y, and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks journalism and combat official newscast in the United States, the mainstream rebroadcast requirements. Eric Sasono Indonesian press reported that Israel or of Radio in Jakarta was the “the Jews” were responsible, CPJ noted. primary founder. Widespread anti-U.S. demonstrations fo l l o w e d . Ne u mann warned in 2000: “To d a y ’ s ➢ Persatuan Radio Siaran Swasta Nasional greatest threat to the press in Indonesia Indonesia is an association of radio may be not from government censors but station owners. While a creature of the from the street. Increasingly, mobs have Suharto government, the organization directed their fury and violent acts not at has a progressive wing that is challeng- newsmakers but at those who report the ing restrictive media laws. news.”37 ➢ Ikatan Jurnalis Televisi Indonesia, the An Internews study noted these other television journalists’ association, was Indonesian developments:38 started in 1998 by popular broadcaster Desi Anwar and others. It is meant as ➢ Institut Studi Arus Informasi, described an alternative to PWI. as a “fre e w he e l i ng circle of inde p e nde n t thinkers,” was founded in 1994 with ➢ A 1998 Asia Foundation project funded the resources of the weekly news- by USAID trained 200 newspaper and magazine Tempo, which was closed radio journalists. for political reasons. ISAI offers prizes for investigative journalism, Malaysia roundtables on media issues and The press is strictly controlled and almost support for progressive media laws. no independent news is allowed. “The sole bright spot in this bleak landscape is the ➢ Lembaga Pers Dr. Soetomo (Dr. Soetomo Internet,” said CPJ, “which has thus far Press Institute) is a training institution escaped government control or censorship, for print journalists founded by the largely because [Prime Minister] Mahathir manager of Media Indonesia, one of the (bin Mohamad) wishes to attract foreign country’s main daily newspapers. investment.” 3 9

➢ Persatuan Wartawan Indonesia (PWI) Philippines is the official journalists union. A study of Southeast Asian countries Journalists must join this government- ranked the Philippines highest in making oriented guild in order to work. public records available.4 0 The media are relatively free, but investigative journalists ➢ Aliansi Jurnalis Independen is a print- in rural areas have been murdered with o r ie nted org a n i z a t ion that competes impunity. Neumann of CPJ wrote about the w i t h PWI. It was founded in 1994 after shooting death of investigative reporter the go v e r n me nt closed severa l Edgar Damalerio on May 13, 2002, in ne w s ma g a z i ne s. Pagadian City. Even though witnesses identified the killer as a local police officer ➢ Forum Wartawan Radio was created in with a notorious criminal record, he was

9 6 ASIA not arrested. “In the countryside, far from Freedom Forum invested $50,000 in the capital, warlord politics, official establishing a headquarters for the Thai corruption and a breakdown in the judicial Journalists’ Association. Canadian training system have contributed to the fact that in television and broadcasting five years 39 journalists have been murdered since ago led to the formation of the Thai democracy was restored in 1986 – and all Broadcasters’ Association. “Thai journalists those cases remain officially unsolved,” don’t have proper training, and those who Neumann wrote.4 1 have proper training aren’t very good,” according to Chongkittavorn. His associa- The American Enterprise Institute ran a t i on, the most respected na t io nal journa l i s t series on access to economic information, group in Southeast Asia, addresses that working with the local Center for Media need by bringing academics and journalists Freedom and Responsibility.4 2 The Freedom t o ge t her to create midc a reer tra i n i ng courses. Forum canceled its Internet Library project.4 3 Some journalists are doing notable work. Prasong Lertratanawisute, editor of the Singapore biweekly business paper Prachachart, The authoritarian government pressures investigated the finances of a powerful the media so heavily that MediaWatch, a political deal-maker, leading to his nonprofit group created in March 2001 indictment and resignation.4 5 Amnat to improve professional journalism Jo ng y o t y i n g, editor of the Phak Nua Raiwan standards, closed seven months later. newspaper in Chiang Mai, was shot in an Donors “refused to finance MediaWatch’s assassination attempt in April 2000 and b u dget of $122,500 because they cons ide re d lives under the threat of death.4 6 media watching a political exercise,” concluded Lauren Ross of Internews. Radio remains the most important news source, especially in rural areas. The Thailand country’s 500 stations must carry feeds The Thai press was considered one of the f r om the go v e r n me n t’s Radio Thailand, but freest in Southeast Asia until Prime t hey can also bro a dcast their own pro g ra m - Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the country’s ming. In 2001, the Freedom Forum found richest man and telecommunications czar, that 145 of the stations were operated by reversed media freedoms established in the government’s public relations depart- Thailand’s 1997 reform constitution, said ment, 128 by the Royal Thai army, and 62 Kavi Chongkittavorn, founder of the Thai by the Mass Communication Organization Journalists’ Association. Shinawatra, who of Thailand. The government owns five of rose to power in 2001, has harassed the six television networks and the prime foreign journalists from the Far Eastern minister effectively runs the sixth. Economic Review and The Economist. He bought Thailand’s only private “It is one thing to launch a campaign in independent station, iTV, and used it to the newspaper for clean government, but monopolize the news flow and win office. it is quite another to build an institutional f ra mework into which the info r ma t ion, onc e NGOs have been more active than the U.S. reported, can be channeled,” Neumann government in media development.4 4 The said. “The most significant thing about

9 7 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

T h a i l a nd’s drive toward a mo re open socie t y South Korea is that the press now has real tools at its In the 1960s, the government gave away command in the drive to get at good radio receivers as part of a literacy stories,” including laws that are “giving campaign, which inspired the expansion of the country a real shot at a functioning, community radio. A liberalized newspaper t hough imperfect, ever-evolving de mo c ra c y.” 4 7 licensing law in 1987 unleashed the press. The number of daily newspapers grew from Vietnam six to 17 in Seoul, and the papers became The state owns all of the country’s nearly more diverse all over the country.4 9 500 media outlets and restricts what journalists can publish. The government Mongolia inspects all foreign news video transmitted Media are relatively free, but they lack out of Vietnam.4 8 International PEN and p r of e s s io n alism or a public - i nt e r est missio n . IFEX were working on the case of 20 Journalists worry that the growth of a sex- writers who were jailed or put under house oriented tabloid press will lead to govern- arrest following the accession of Le Kha ment censorship of all media. New private Phieu as general secretary of the radio stations in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, Communist Party in April 2001. In a series primarily broadcast music. None do of steps in 2002, authorities ordered state- significant news or information program- owned Internet service providers to block ming, said the Mongolian Foundation for politically and morally unacceptable web Open Society (MFOS). There are opportuni- content and further restricted the ties for effective media development. Bill country’s 4,000 Internet cafes, according Siemering of OSI and Knight Fellow Corey to a report on IJNET. For more information Flintoff of NPR were involved in a success- about PEN’s Vietnam campaign, contact ful rural radio project to serve the nomadic [email protected]. herders. MFOS provided equipment and building renovations to create five local radio stations. It also funds editorial NORTH ASIA quality projects at newspapers. Others developing local radio include UNESCO, North Korea USAID and the Press Institute of Mongolia. The Communist government controls all A pair of Mongolian trainers spent two media, and given the high level of tension years at the University of Missouri, which, between North Ko rea and the United States with IRE, developed course materials. A this is not a likely area for any We s t e r n local press institute offers a nine-month t ra i n i n g. The go v e r n me nt mo n i t o r s and training course and an Internet center for restricts movement of foreign journalists. journalists. Local media could not cover the historic trip by North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il China a c ross China. Criminal laws re s t r ict Int e r n e t (See “China’s Internet Opening,” Page 89.) access. Listening to foreign broadcasts or possessing dissident publications are China will always be in a class by itself. crimes against the state and may be Some media openness is allowed, but the punishable by death, CPJ reported. danger of government repression is

9 8 ASIA omnipresent. CPJ cautioned that China is the “world’s leading jailer of journalists.”5 0

China’s keen interest in participating in t he global econo my, re p a i r i ng int e r n a t io na l credibility following the SARS epidemic, and making the most of the 2008 Beijing Olympics provides unprecedented opportunities for media development. In 2001, AOL Time Warner and News Corp. obtained media contracts in southern China near Hong Kong, possibly opening the door for other independent media. News Corp., however, dropped BBC news from its China network after government complaints about its coverage, a conces- sion that some in the international media community consider too high a price to pay for access to the market.

Monroe Price’s Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy and the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University established a summer program on me d ia law, the World Tra d e Org a n i z a t io n and China. The program involved graduate students, academics, government officials, lawyers, regulators, business people and media professionals who studied such topics as U.S. and European media regula- tions, ownership and concentration policies and constitutionalism, new media licensing, Chinese media regulation and the impact of the WTO on media policies and intellectual property, according to Bethany Davis of the Oxford Programme.51

9 9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

1 Whayne Dillehay, interview, October 2001. 33 A. Lin Neumann, Freedom Forum report on Indonesian 2 ChannelNewsAsia.com; Lauren Ross, Internews. media, 2000. 3 David Hoffman, interview, April 1, 2002. (Close-up) 34 Kathleen Reen and Eric S. Johnson, Internews analysis of 4 Reza goes by only one name. (Close-up) independent broadcast media in Indonesia, Oct. 18, 1998. 5 Internews Web site, February 2003. (Close-up) 35 Neumann, Freedom Forum, op. cit. 6 Ivan Sigal, “Being Heard,” Dangerous Assignments, 36 Internews Report, Winter 2000-01. Fall/Winter 2002, pp. 23-4, CPJ. (Close-up) 37 Neumann, Freedom Forum, op. cit., pp. 4-5. 7 Ibid. Radio Solh in Jabal Saraj, 50 miles south of Kabul. It 38 Reen and Johnson, Internews, op. cit. This list of was originally funded by Northern Alliance defense minister Indonesian organizations warrants updating. When Internews Ahmad Shah Massoud with support from French NGOs, and was in Indonesia studying media development possibilities served as the voice of the Northern Alliance against the there, the atmosphere for reform was “heady,” Reen and Taliban. (Close-up) Johnson found. 8 Ibid. (Close-up) 39 Attacks on the Press, 2001, CPJ. 9 Internews funding proposal to OSI, April 2, 2002. (Close-up) 40 Roumeen Islam, draft World Development Report 2002, 10 Open Society Institute Central Eurasia Project policy Ch. 10, op. cit. statement, “Why Should Promoting Open Society Be a Part of 41 Dangerous Assignments, Fall/Winter 2002-03, CPJ. U.S. Anti-Terrorism Policy in Central Asia?” Neumann also completed a detailed report on the Philippines 11 Anthony Kuhn, “China Phoenix Rises,” IPI Reporter, Fourth media landscape for Internews in 2002. Quarter, 1999, International Press Institute. (Close-up) 42 Roumeen Islam, draft World Development Report 2002, Ch. 12 Elizabeth Rosenthal, “Chinese Freer to Speak and Read, but 10, op. cit. Not Act,” The New York Times, Feb. 12, 2003. (Close-up) 43 Ibid. 13 Anthony Kuhn, “China: Internet Boom Changes Face of 44 Kavi Chongkittavorn, “Press Freedom Under Attack,” The News,” IPI Reporter, Third Quarter, 2001, International Press Asia Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2002. Institute. (Close-up) 45 A. Lin Neumann, The Media and Political Change: Thailand 14 Christopher Bodeen, “Rights Group Details China’s 2001, Freedom Forum report on the Thai media, pp. 19-22. Crackdown on Internet Users,” Associated Press, Nov. 27, 46 Ibid. 2002. (Close-up) 47 Ibid., p. 34. 15 Rosenthal, op. cit. (Close-up) 48 Kavi Chongkittavorn, “Press Freedom Under Attack,” op. cit. 16 Interview with Jonathan Kauffman, , 49 Ibid. April 2003. (Close-up) 50 Committee to Protect Journalists, 2001 annual report. 17 Ahmed Rashid, interview in Internews Report, Spring 2002. 51 Bethany Davis, e-mail to the author, Aug. 2, 2002. 18 Herbert Terry, visiting professor from Indiana University, at American University of Kyrgyzstan, e-mail to an Internews colleague, August 2001. 19 Open Society Institute Central Eurasia Project policy statement, “Why Should Promoting Open Society Be a Part of U.S. Anti-Terrorism Policy in Central Asia?” 20 IFEX action alert, April 2, 2002. 21 Adele Lotus, “The Sound of Silence,” Dangerous Assignments, Summer 2001, CPJ. (Lotus is a pseudonym used by an Uzbek journalist.) 22 A. Lin Neumann, “One True Thing,” Dangerous Assignments, Summer 2001, CPJ. 23 CPJ e-mail update, Jan. 26, 2003. 24 Mahfuz Anam, “The Media and Development in Bangladesh,” The Right to Tell: The Role of Mass Media in Economic Development, p. 268, op. cit. 25 Ibid., p. 267. 26 Ibid., p. 274. 27 Owais Aslam Ali, interview, March 8, 2002. 28 Kathleen Reen, Internews directors meeting, op. cit. 29 Kavi Chongkittavorn, interview, November 2001. 30 A. Lin Neumann, Cambodia section in “Restructuring the Media in Post-Conflict Societies: Four Perspectives,” a background paper for the UNESCO World Press Day Conference in Geneva, May 2000. Edited by Monroe Price, Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy, Oxford University. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid.

1 0 0 1 0 1 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

102 BEYOND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

(Editor’s note: This article was first written the Islamic world. When antiterrorist ads when Afghanistan dominated the headlines, produced by the U.S. government were b e fore the U.S. invaded Iraq. Yet its argument shown recently to focus groups in Jordan, proves equally powerful today. Accordingly, the majority of respondents were simply we reprint it here with updates in italics.) puzzled, protesting, “But bin Laden is a holy man.” The widespread antagonism to U.S. regional policies themselves further limits what public diplomacy can achieve. By David Hoffman Until these policies are addressed, argues President of Internews Network American University’s R. S. Zaharna, “American efforts to intensify its message are more likely to hurt than help.” WEAPONS OF MASS COMMUNICATION As the United States adds weapons of “How can a man in a cave outcommunicate mass communication to weapons of war, t he world’s leading commu n ic a t io ns socie t y ? ” therefore, it must also take on the more This question, plaintively posed by long- important job of supporting indigenous time U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke, has open media, democracy, and civil society been puzzling many Americans. Osama bin in the Muslim world. Even though many Laden apparently still enjoys widespread Muslims disagree with U.S. foreign policy, public approval in the Muslim world particularly toward the Middle East, they (witness the skepticism in many Muslim yearn for freedom of speech and access countries toward the videotaped bin Laden to information. U.S. national security is “confession” released by the White House.) enhanced to the degree that other nations Indeed, the world’s superpower is losing share these freedoms. And it is endangered the propaganda war. by nations that practice propaganda, encourage their media to spew hatred, “Winning the hearts and minds” of Arab and deny freedom of expression. and Muslim populations has quite under- standably risen to the top of the Bush TERROR, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE administration’s agenda. Military operations abroad and new security Washington’s immediate response to the measures at home do nothing to address attacks of Sept. 11 was to try to figure the virulent anti-Americanism of out how best to spin its message. The government-supported media, mullahs, chair of the House International Relations and madrassas (Islamic schools). Moreover, Committee, Henry Hyde (R.-Ill.), called for as the Israelis have discovered, terrorism the State Department to consult “those thrives on a cruel paradox: The more force in the private sector whose careers have is used to retaliate, the more fuel is added focused on images both here and around to the terrorists’ cause. the world.” As a result, former advertising executive Charlotte Beers has been But slick marketing techniques and legions appointed undersecretary of state for of U.S. spokespersons on satellite public diplomacy and public affairs, and television will not be sufficient to stem even the Pentagon has hired a strategic the tide of xenophobia sweeping through communications firm to advise it. (Beers

1 0 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES resigned in March 2003 after an make use of the greatest weapon it has in unsuccessful tenure. ) its arsenal: the values enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Once the stepchild of diplomats, public The State Department should make the diplomacy has only recently taken its promotion of independent media a major rightful place at the table of national p r iority in those count r ies whe re oppre s s i o n security. The communications revolution breeds terrorism. It is no coincidence that has made diplomacy more public, exposing countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the once-secret work of diplomats to the Iraq, where the public has little access to global fishbowl of life in the 21st century. o u t s ide info r ma t ion or free and inde p e n de nt Mo r e o v e r, the cast of actors in int e r na t io na l news media, are the very places where affairs now includes nongovernmental terrorism is bred. Indeed, the unrelenting organizations, businesses, lobbyists, and unquestioned anti-Western propa- journalists and Internet activists. In an era ganda in those countries’ media creates of mass communications and electronic fertile ground for suicide bombers and transmission, the public matters. The would-be martyrs. The State Department “street” is a potent force and can under- should therefore apply strong diplomatic mine even the best-crafted peace pressure, including perhaps the threat agreement. of making future aid conditioned on compliance, to influence governments in Fully aware that the war on terrorism these countries to adopt laws and policies requires the cooperation of both world that promote greater media freedom. leaders and the Western and Muslim “streets,” Washington turned to the news Congress has begun to realize the impor- media to disseminate its message. At tance of media in reaching the Arab ho m e, Na t io nal Security Adviser Condo l e e z z a public, and it is considering appropriating Rice persuaded U.S. networks to limit $500 million to launch a 24-hour Arabic- videotaped broadcasts from bin Laden. And language satellite television station to abroad, Secretary of State Colin Powell and compete with Al-Jazeera and the half- Vice President Dick Cheney took turns dozen other Arab satellite stations that are strong-arming the emir of Qatar to rein in gaining in popularity. (The channel was the transnational satellite TV channel launched in 2004.) Ironically, Arab states Al-Jazeera, which the emirate partly funds. are equally concerned that their own When Voice of America broadcast an message is not reaching Americans. A week interview with the Taliban leader Mullah after the Sept. 11 attacks, information Muhammad Omar, its acting chief was ministers from the Persian Gulf states quickly replaced. U.S. psy-ops (Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, (psychological operations) radio messages the United Arab Emirates and Yemen) to Afghans – broadcast over Afghan gathered in Bahrain to discuss launching airwaves from transmitters on converted a new English-language satellite television EC-130 aircraft – sounded like the Cold War channel. (Though this plan did not gel, rhetoric of a 1950s-era . Link TV launched a daily translation of Mideast news, Mosaic, in 2003 and Al- Rather than resorting to censorship and Jazeera announced an English-language counterpropaganda, Washington should feed in 2004.) The question is whether

1 0 4 BEYOND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY overseas broadcasts leave any rudimentary p ress to de monize Ame r ica. The me d ia foundation in place on which the have thus provided the government a democratization of Arab and Muslim safety valve through which to redirect societies can begin. anger from local social and political failures. U.S. policymakers, meanwhile, In cont rast to the re s e nt me nt and suspic io n have willfully ignored this growing time that is likely to greet a U.S.-sponsored bomb of popular discontent as long as the satellite channel, a large market does exist oil has kept flowing and friendly regimes in the Middle East and the rest of the have remained in place. This Faustian Muslim world for homegrown, independent bargain threatens both the United States me d ia. People who have been pro p a g a nd i z e d and its Middle Eastern allies in the long all their lives welcome the alternative of run, as the events of Sept. 11 amply fact-based news – as experience in the demonstrated. America has been made former Soviet territories and post-Suharto captive to the repressive domestic policies Indonesia attests. Although having open of these authoritarian regimes. media does not automatically guarantee mo de ra t ion, it does at least open new space Nowhere is this threat greater than in for moderate voices that can combat anti- Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden is, in many ways, Western propaganda. A free press can also that country’s true son, a product of the become the advance guard for democracy contradiction between the sheikdom’s by facilitating multiparty elections, support for U.S. strategic interests and the freedom of expression, transparency of virulent anti-Americanism that the Saudis both government and business, improved cultivate and export from their mosques human rights, and better treatment for and madrassas. After the World Trade women and disenfranchised minorities. In Center and the Pentagon were set aflame, t he World Bank’s World Developme n t Report al-Qaida’s publicist-in-chief set light to 2002, an analysis of some 97 countries the tinderbox that is the Arab street. found that those with privately owned, local, independent media outlets had less For someone who scorned modernity and corruption, more transparent economies, globalization, and who took refuge in an a n d hig her ind i ces of educ a t ion and he a l t h . Islamic state that banned television, bin Laden proved remarkably adept at public THE DAMNATION OF FAUST diplomacy. In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, bin Laden turned to Al-Jazeera to Since Sept. 11, Americans have faced the reach the two aud ie nces that were essent ia l grim reality that hatred of the United States to his plans – the Western news media and has become endemic in many countries the Arab masses. Uncensored and uncon- around the world. U.S.-backed repressive strained by any of the countries where it is rulers such as the House of Saud in Saudi received, Al-Jazeera’s satellite signal Arabia, Suharto in Indonesia, and General delivered bin Laden’s exhortations directly Sani Abacha in Nigeria, while discreetly to some 34 million potential viewers making deals with their American patrons across the Middle East, northern Africa, and often enriching themselves from oil and Europe. Americans watched, revenues, have proven their piety to the mesmerized, as Al-Jazeera’s exclusive masses by enc o u ra g i ng the state-cont ro l l e d access to bin Laden and the al-Qaida

1 0 5 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES leadership in Afghanistan scooped the channels in the Arab Middle East, taboo- suddenly impotent Western news media. b re a k i ng int e r v iews with Is raeli leaders and The Bush administration, not knowing criticism of Arab regimes made Al-Jazeera quite how to react, has alternately courted seem, at first, like the Arab equivalent of and vilified the network. (By the time of CNN. After the second intifada began in the Iraq war in 2003, there was no longer September 2000, however, the network’s any courting.) coverage veered sharply toward the incendiary. As Professor Fouad Ajami Most Americans have heard of only Al- argued in The New York Times Magazine, Jazeera – and that only since it became “the channel has been unabashedly the sole conduit of bin Laden’s taped one-sided. Compared with other Arab exhortations. In fact, however, a half- media outlets, Al-Jazeera may be more dozen other Arab-owned, transnational independent – but it is also more satellite channels had begun broadcasting inflammatory. ... Day in and day out, to the Middle East five years before Al- Al-Jazeera deliberately fans the flames Jazeera went on the air. The dowdy Saudi- of Muslim outrage.” financed Middle Eastern Broadcasting Centre (MBC), a direct-broadcast satellite But Al-Jazeera is far from the worst of the channel run out of London, attracts a Arab and Muslim news media outlets, slightly larger audience than Al-Jazeera’s which generally see their role as “mobiliza- for its news programs and twice the tional” vehicles for an Islamic society audience overall. under siege from the forces of Western globalization, U.S. hegemony and Israeli A nd Al-Ja z e e r a’s access to the most want e d domination of Palestine. Western man in America has led many to journalists such as of exaggerate the impact of satellite broad- The New York Times, have highlighted casters in the Middle East. Although many some of the most egregious examples of television watchers in the Middle East the kind of partisan, inflammatory stories choose satellite TV because it is less cen- emanating from the Middle East. These sored, the prohibitive cost continues to include editorials in Egypt’s leading depress viewership. In addition, the newspaper, Al Ahram, suggesting that the international satellite stations cannot offer United States deliberately poisoned relief the local and national news that viewers packages and dropped them in heavily want. Finally, the reach of print media is mined areas of Afghanistan. Other oft- limited by low literacy rates. These draw- repeated stories assert that Jews were backs leave state television and radio warned to stay away from the World Trade channels the more practical and popular Center before Sept. 11 and that leather alternative. belts exported by the United States could sap male potency. That Al-Jazeera would one day come to be the chosen vehicle for anti-American The obstacles to winning the propaganda terrorists would have seemed improbable war in such a context are formidable. when the station first went on the air in Ajami enumerates them: “The enmity runs November 1996. After years of strictly too deep. ... An American leader being censored, state-controlled television interviewed on Al-Jazeera will hardly be

1 0 6 BEYOND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY able to grasp the insinuations, the hidden in Algeria or in the Palestinian territories. meanings, suggested by its hostile reporters. No matter how hard we try, we I ran, a country still do m i nated by funda me n- cannot beat Al-Jazeera at its own game.” talist clerics, where the conservative judiciary has suspended or closed at least MEDIA FRENZY 52 newspapers and magazines and jailed their most outspoken editors since 1997, The best way for Washington to reverse the provides a strong example of the pent-up tide in the propaganda war is to support demand for open media. When fully 80 those forces in the Muslim community that percent of Iranians voted for the reformist a re struggling to create mo d ern de mo c r a c ie s President Mohammad Khatami in August and institutionalize the rule of law. That 1997, they indirectly cast their ballots for the majority of the Muslim world disagrees the freedom of expression he champions. with many aspects of U.S. policy does not preclude those same people from also This demand for more media diversity will craving more independent and pluralistic only increase throughout the Middle East media based on Western-style objective and South Asia as regional satellite tele- journalism. In many Muslim countries, vision and radio channels continue to globalization and the communications encroach on the sovereign space of Muslim revolution are opening up new opportuni- nations. Pakistan is grappling with several ties for independent media that local Urdu satellite TV channels that emanate journalists and media entrepreneurs are from its rival, India. Satellite broadcasts eager to seize. Even repressive govern- produced in Los Angeles by the son of the ments will find this pressure hard to resist, former shah of Iran reportedly sparked because modern media are essential riots in his homeland after a loss by Iran’s gateways to the globalized economy. national soccer team. The French-based Canal Horizons satellite network has Media are also directly embroiled in the millions of subscribers across northern Middle East’s love-hate relationship with Africa. Faced with competition from America. Young people in particular – and satellite television, many Muslim states the majority of the populations of Egypt, have been forced to reconsider their Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran and Iraq are monopoly control over the media. State under 25 – are simultaneously seduced and television channels, freed from govern- repelled by American culture. The most ment censorship, would be well positioned popular show on MBC is Who Wants to be a to recapture audience share for their Millionaire? The same youths who shout national news programs. “death to America” go home to read c o n t ra b a nd copies of Hollywood ma g a z i ne s. In addition, as Western influences What the Iranian philosopher Daryush inevitably penetrate traditional Muslim Shayegan refers to as Islam’s “cultural culture – through film, satellite television, schizophrenia” – the struggle between international radio broadcasts and the tradition and Western secular modernity, Internet – citizens in these societies are between fundamentalism and globalization starting to notice the shortfalls of their – haunts the souls of many Muslims and state media’s stodgy, rigidly censored and sometimes erupts in factional violence, as propagandistic news. And these viewers

1 0 7 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES a r e voting with their re m ote cont ro l s. Whe n political process, you can really contain relatively independent and objective news them and make them part of the process.” reports were first broadcast on Russia’s Itogi news program, for example, the The question, moreover, is not whether a program became an overnight sensation. more pluralistic media will open the airwaves to Islamic fundamentalists; that Under pressure from both satellite stations cat is already out of the bag. In several and foreign media, many countries with Middle Eastern countries, Islamists already large Muslim populations have reluctantly operate their own stations. Al-Manar recognized the need to open their media television in Lebanon and Al Mustaqbal in space to privately owned, independent the West Bank town of Hebron are closely channels. Lebanon, Jordan and several of affiliated with Hezbollah and Hamas, the Persian Gulf states are now introducing re s p e c t i v e l y. Because these statio ns employ new commercial broadcast laws. Thirty higher standards of journalism than local independent television channels and 11 state-run media, they have enjoyed independent radio stations operate in the sizeable audiences who come to them for West Bank. Even Syria has allowed its the quality of the news, if not the Islamist first-ever privately owned and operated messages and propaganda they scatter newspapers to start publishing. Indonesia within. Citizens not necessarily sympa- is licensing its first independent local thetic to Hezbollah tune into al Manar to television channels, and the Nigerian balance the official lines they hear from parliament has authorized, though not yet Beirut and Damascus. implemented, a law to introduce commercial radio. The real issue, then, is whether moderate voices can be equipped to compete with But will stronger local media simply add these radical and government forces in the to the chorus of anti-Americanism and Muslim world. Those in the Middle East who strengthen fundamentalist Islamic voices? espouse alternatives to militant Islamism Might empowering the independent press must begin to compete at the same level, have unintended consequences, such as or they will be left without audiences. the fall of friendly regimes? True, the road toward free expression leads to many GATEWAY TO DEMOCRACY uncertainties. But there is ample evidence, from the Sandinistas of Nicaragua to the Experience in Eastern Europe suggests that A l b a n i an rebels in Ma c e do n i a, that bring i n g providing assistance to local, independent opposition groups into the body politic media is a vital way to promote freedom provides nonviolent alternatives to civil and democracy. As Soviet power waned in strife. Even some members of the Saudi the late 1980s, maverick local broadcasters ruling family are coming to understand the took to the airwaves with unlicensed logic of free expression as a more effective broadcasts, often pirating programs from safety valve than militant propaganda. Western satellites or playing bootleg In a recent interview with The New York v ide o t a p e s . In 1989 the first pirate statio n , Times, Prince Al-Walid bin Talal bin Abdul Kanal X, in Leipzig, East Germany, went on Aziz of Saudi Arabia said, “If people speak the air from a transmitter on the roof of more freely and get involved more in the Freedom House, after state television had

1 0 8 BEYOND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY stopped broadcasting for the evening. As President Vladimir Putin’s government the Soviet Union began to disintegrate, engineered the hostile takeover of NTV, dozens and then hundreds of pirate that country’s main national independent stations in Eastern Europe and the Soviet television channel, and in January 2002, republics sprouted up in basements, a Russian court ordered the closure of TV6, factories, and apartment complexes. The the last remaining independent national media revolution was on. broadcaster. In Ukraine, President Leonid Kuchma has been implicated in the Joining the fight, Internews, a nongovern- gruesome murder of an online journalist, mental media organization, created a Heorhiy Gongadze, who had been critical news exchange linking six independent of the regime. And free media outlets t e l e v i s ion statio ns in Russia. With tra i n i n g, continue to be repressed in the Central equipment and technical advice, these Asian republics and the Caucasus. barely viable stations began to grow and a t t ract aud i e n c e s. For the first time, people Despite these setbacks, independent media in Russia and the other former Soviet remain a force for democratization in republics were able to see local news, not each of the former Soviet republics. The just the broadcasts from Moscow. power of local, independent television is perhaps best illustrated by events in U.S. go v e r n me nt assistance for inde p e n de nt Georgia on Oct. 30, 2001. When Rustavi-2, broadcast media began in the wake of an enterprising station in whose t he collapse of the Soviet Un ion and the reporters had been trained in investigative Warsaw Pact and grew rapidly during journalism by Internews, uncovered the 1990s. In that decade, the U.S. Agency allegations of corruption and drug trading for International Development (USAID) in the Ministry of the Interior, the provided $175 million in media assistance government tried to shut it down. But as in Eastern Europe and the newly inde- officers from the Ministry of State Security pendent states of the former Soviet Union. arrived at the station, the news director All told, more than 1,600 broadcasters and broadcast the action live. Hundreds and 30,000 journalists and media professionals then thousands of people poured into the have benefited from U.S.-sponsored streets in protest. Two days later, then- t ra i n i n g and technical assistance pro g r a m s. President Eduard Shevardnadze was forced More than a dozen national television to dismiss the entire government. And networks emerged from these efforts, Rustavi-2 is still on the air today. reaching more than 200 million viewers. In the Balkans, where Slobodan Milosevic’s As a result, citizens in every city of the seizure of the TV transmitters surrounding former Soviet Union now have a variety of Sarajevo precipitated the civil war in channels from which to choose. Of course, Bosnia, independent radio and television there have also been serious setbacks on s t a t io ns, supported by the Soros F o u nda t io n , t he road to me d i a fre e dom. As inde p e nde n t USAID, European governments, and others, broadcasters in the region become stronger played critical roles in maintaining and reach larger audiences, they face de m o c ra t ic opposition. Radio statio ns bra v e d i nc re a s i n g pre s s u re from local autho r i t a r ia n constant harassment to bring alternative governments. In April 2001, Russian views and news from outside the region,

1 0 9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES making it impossible for Milosevic to The United States must turn its attention maintain his control on information – or, and resources to helping local Afghans ultimately, of his own country. develop their own media outlets. Local stations have an important role to play, In add i t i on to the inde p e n de nt bro a dc a s t e r s providing the community news on which that are on the front lines of conflict and civil societies are built and making a are often shut down for their troubles, dynamic contribution to local economies. thousands of other stations contribute to The United States and the international the building of a culture of democracy community should help train and finance and civil society in more banal, quotidian other nongovernmental, independent ways. Josh Machleder, an American channels that could set the standard for advising TV-Orbita in Angren, Uzbekistan, good journalism and lead through competi- explains, “Residents of the town call in tion. Finally, the international community when they have problems. The TV station must be prepared to underwrite Afghan does a news piece about it, it gets shown (and Iraqi) media, both public and private, to the town, and to the authorities, and since the economy cannot be expected to usually the problems are resolved. Thus, generate sufficient advertising revenue for the station makes government work. When many years to come. the authorities tried to close the station for broadcasting critical material, there (Update: In both Afghanistan and Iraq, was such a protest from sponsors and Hoffman’s argument has both lost and won. residents, that the station began working Radio Free Afghanistan is up and running, again within three days.” but at the same time U.S. government funds were directed toward local media enterprises, This kind of independent local broadcaster and new stations have been launched. In could help open the closed societies of Iraq, the governing council has endorsed a the Muslim world to democratic culture. framework for democratic media in post- Exposing journalists to international news Saddam Hussein Iraq, but at the same time standards can develop habits that will the costly Arabic-language channel is up moderate the tone of news reporting. If and running. In other words, so far the experience in non-Muslim countries is any United States has been able to fund both indication, well-produced, objective, direct broadcast and at least some local i n d ige nous journalism will get hig h er ra t i ng s media effort. How long that will continue than either exhortative reports from state is an open question.) news organs or more distant news from satellite broadcasters. Ultimately, audience As the war on terrorism moves beyond will always drive the media. Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush adminis- tration should likewise extend the media LETTING MUSLIMS SPEAK assistance program that the United States first pioneered in Eastern Europe to the Only indigenous news outlets can provide Middle East. In completely closed societies Afghanistan (and Iraq) with what it most such as Iran, and Libya, foreign broad- needs – independent sources of news and casting will continue to be essential to information that citizens from any ethnic providing outside information. But in group will recognize as fair and impartial. other countries where the opportunities for

1 1 0 BEYOND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY alternative local media exist, the United David Hoffman is president States should assist the development of of Internews Network, a independent newspapers, Internet service nonprofit organization that providers, online content providers, and supports open media world- local radio and television channels. wide. He is an expert on media policy and has worked To promote more balanced and moderate with local journalists in many regions includ- media, the United States can provide ing the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, expert assistance in media law and Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. regulatory reform and provide journalistic H offman, who had been a union organizer, training and technical assistance. was among the founders of Arcata, Calif.- Americans should lend their help with no based Internews in the early 19890s. strings attached, however – even when From 1987 to 1990, Internews cooperated those media criticize America. The United with ABC News to create the Emmy Award- States will appear duplicitous if it tries winning series Capital to Capital, which to support independent news outlets while linked U.S. and Soviet national lawmakers simultaneously manipulating information by satellite to discuss superpower relations. or engaging in counterpropaganda. Hoffman was project director of the series America falters when it does not keep faith and, in 1996, for Internews’ broadcasts of with its democratic ideals. U.S. govern- the proceedings of the War Crimes Tribunal ment support for independent media in for the former Yugoslavia. For the latter Eastern Europe has been scrupulous in this work, he received a European Commission regard. American support for media in award for broadcast commitment. Muslim countries should be held to the Hoffman has a bachelor’s degree in same high standard, especially given the political science from Johns Hopkins suspicion with which the United States is University and has completed doctoral work viewed there. at the University of Colorado. Sources: Internews, CJR. Freedom of speech and exchange of infor- mation are not just luxuries; they are the currency on which global commerce, politics and culture increasingly depend. If the peoples of the Muslim world are to participate in the global marketplace of goods and ideas, they will need access to information, freedom of expression, and a voice for women and disenfranchised minorities. That, more than any number of advertisements about American values, is what will bring light to the darkness from which terrorism has come.

Reprinted by permission of Foreign Affairs, March/April 2002. Copyright 2002 by the Council on Foreign Relations Inc.

1 1 1 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

112 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

(For updated, comprehensive information see Albanian Media Institute www.ijnet.org.) Trains Albanian journalists, conducts research in media development, publishes books and Academia Istropolitana Nova journalism manuals. The Independent Journalism Foundation’s journalism school in Bratislava, Slovakia. www.institutemedia.org Rr. Gjin Bue Shpata, No. 8 www.ainova.sk Tirana, Albania Palffyho kastiel Phone/Fax: 355-4-229800 Prostredna 13 355-4-267083 900 21 Svaty Jur, Slovakia 355-4-267084 Phone: 421-2-4497-0449-53 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 421-2-4497-0455 E-mail: [email protected] Alfred Friendly Foundation Alfred Friendly Fellowships brought 214 journalists Africa Institute of Journalism and to the United States from 72 countries between Communications 1984 and 2002. Former Friendly fellows include Offers intensive training courses and a two-year Alejandra Matus, a Chilean author who won a court diploma program. case that may restrict the definition of official secrecy in Chile, as well as top editors in Colombia P.O. Box LG 510 and elsewhere. Legon, Accra, Ghana Phone: 233-21-7011-524/525 www.pressfellowships.org Fax: 233-21-7011-526 1616 H St. NW E-mail: [email protected] Washington, D.C. 20007 Phone: (202) 737-4414 African Eye News Service E-mail: [email protected] Founded in 1995 by journalists fired from a local newspaper for advocating equal pay for black and Al-Quds Institute of Modern Media white reporters. Located in one of the country’s Works to develop the Palestinian audio-visual most rural pro v i nc e s, AENS is fina nc ially inde p e nd - media through training and production. Founded ent and owned by its employees. Its investigative by Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab. The journalism focuses mainly on human rights issues independent Al-Quds Educational Television began in rural areas. Recipient of the International Center b ro a dc a s t i ng in the Ramallah area in February 1997. for Journalists’ Knight award in 2000. www.alquds-tv.org Nelspruit, South Africa. Al-Quds Educational Television Contact: Justin Arenstein. Al-Quds University [email protected] P.O.Box 2335 Ramallah, West Bank AINA Phone: 972-2-2959274 A French group headed by National Geographic Fax: 972-2-2959275 photographer Reza. Supports democracy in Afghanistan through the development of media AMARC (The World Association of Community and cultural expression. Broadcasters) A Canada-based international agency that is part www.ainaworld.com of IFEX (International Freedom of Expression 122, Rue Haxo Exchange). The organization is active in Latin 75019 Paris, France America, where it serves the community radio Phone: 33-1-42-03-64-24 or 33-1-42-03-64-34 movement. AMARC-Africa, based in South Africa, Fax: 33-01-53-19-83-02 has done community radio training around the E-mail: [email protected] continent.

1 1 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

www.amarc.org American University Law School 705 Bourget St., Suite 100 Holds seminars for former Communist bloc jurists Montreal, , Canada H4C 2M6 and journalists. Phone: (514) 982-0351 Fax: (514) 849-7129 www.wcl.american.edu E-mail: [email protected] 4801 Massachusetts Ave. NW E-mail (Africa): [email protected] Washington, D.C. 20016 Phone: (202) 274-4000 American Bar Association, Central European and Contact: Prof. Herman Schwartz Eurasian Law Initiative www.abanet.org/ceeli/home Arabic Media Internet Network 740 15th St. NW, Eighth Floor T he Int e r n et’s largest source of Ara b i c - l a ng ua ge ne w s. Washington, D.C. 20005 Phone: (202) 662-1000 www.amin.org Fax: (202) 662-1597 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] C o ntact: Daoud Ku t t a b, dire c t o r, d k u t t a b @ a m i n . o r g

American Society of Newspaper Editors Arab Women Media Center Sponsors international visitor programs that bring Despite government opposition, has sponsored foreign journalists to the United States. Aids Latin training conferences for more than 350 journalists American print journalists through the Inter and nonjournalists since 1999. American Press Association. www.odag.org/awmc www.asne.org Post Code 11947 P.O Box 199 11690B Sunrise Valley Dr. Jabel Al Waibdeh - St-Mohd ali Al Sa`di– Reston, Va. 20191-1409 Amman, Jordan Phone: (703) 453-1122 Phone/Fax: 962-6-4648889 or 5059820 Fax: (703) 453-1133 E-mail: [email protected] Mahasen al-Emam, founder. American University in Bulgaria Operates a successful journalism school started by Article 19 the University of Missouri. Works to combat censorship and promote access to official information. Named after Article 19 of the www.aubg.bg Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 75V Cherkovna St., Fourth Floor, Suite 14 Sofia 1505, Bulgaria www.article19.org Phone/Fax: 359-2-9439280 or 9439281 Lancaster House Or: 1725 K St. NW, Suite 411 33 Islington High St. Washington, D.C. 20006-1419 London N1 9LH, UK Phone: (202) 955-1400 Phone: 44-20-7278-9292 Fax: (202) 955-1402 Fax: 44-20-7713-1356 E-mail: [email protected] American University in Cairo Offers some journalism courses. As-Safir Lebanese newspaper www.aucegypt.edu Contact: Hisham (Richard) Melhem, Washington P.O. Box 2511 bureau chief, [email protected] 113 Sharia Kasr El Aini Cairo, Egypt Association of Independent Electronic Media Phone: 20-2-794-2964 The association of radio and TV stations in Serbia Fax: 20-2-795-7565 and Montenegro. In late 2003, it comprised 28 radio and 16 TV stations.

1 1 4 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

www.anem.org.yu/anemnews/indexEn.jsp www.bbctraining.co.uk Marsala Birjuzova 3/IV 35 Marylebone High St. 1000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro London W1U 4PX Phone: 381-11-182 534 or 182-496 or 183-652 Phone: 44-0-870-122-0216 Fax: 44 0-870-122-0145 Association of Liberian Journalists in the E-mail: training@.co.uk Americas Works to promote a free press in Liberia, and Bridges to combat media censorship and the arbitrary Helps independent media learn management and detention without trial of journalists. b u s i ness pra c t ic e s. Founded by Prescott Low, fo r me r owner of the Quincy (Mass.) Patriot Ledger. www.liberianjournalists.org Isaac Bantu, a fo r mer BBC re p o r t e r, based in Boston www.bridges.org/media Phone: (781) 581-8018 PO Box 4163 E-mail: [email protected] Durbanville 7551, South Africa Phone: 27-21-970 1314 Atlantic Council of the United States Fax: 27-21-970 1315 Promotes U.S. leadership and engagement in Contact: Jolyon Nuttal, [email protected]. international affairs based on a central role for the Atlantic community. Brings foreign journalists to Bulgarian Media Coalition t he United States as part of its educ a t io na l A collection of media associations and free speech exc h a n ge program. organizations brought together by IREX; acts as a united front on media law issues. www.acus.org 910 17th St. NW, Suite 1000 www.bmc.bulmedia.com/EN/English.htm Washington, D.C. 20006 Slavianska str. N° 29 Fax: (202) 463-7241 Sofia 1000, Bulgaria E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 359-2-980-5856

Baltic Media Center Bush Radio Is developing independent radio in Afghanistan; A small station serving the townships on the an independent foundation funded primarily by the outskirts of Cape Town – a pioneer of noncommer- Danish government. cial local radio in southern Africa. www.bmc.dk Cape Town, South Africa Skippergade 8 Contact: Zane Ibrahim, [email protected]. DK-3740 Svaneke, Denmark Phone: 45-7020-2002 Cambodian Communications Institute Fax: 45-7020-2001 A media training center, a project of UNESCO and E-mail: [email protected] the government.

Ed Baumeister Phnom Penh, Cambodia London-based media development expert; former Phone: 855-23-362379 U.S. print and television editor and producer, formerly with IJF in Budapest and IREX in Central Canadian International Development Agency Europe. A major funder of independent media development projects. [email protected]. www.canada.gc.ca/main_e.html BBC Training & Development Communication Canada Helped connect local television stations in Croatia Ottawa, K1A 1M4, Canada through program sharing and a fiber optic system. Attn. Canada Site Phone: (800) 622-6232 or (800) 635-7943

1 1 5 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Center for War, Peace and the News Media A private, nonprofit organization dedicated to Conducts projects on media and conflict. A advancing cooperation between nations and no n p rofit org a n i z a t ion based at New York Un i v e r s i t y, promoting active international engagement by the which supports journalists and news organizations United States. worldwide. www.ceip.org www.nyu.edu/cwpnm 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW 418 Lafayette St., Suite 554 Washington, D.C. 20036-2103 New York, N.Y. 10003 Phone: (202) 483-7600 Phone: (212) 998-7960 Fax: (202) 483-1840 Fax: (212) 995-4143 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Central Asian and Southern Caucasian Freedom Management of Expression Network www.gipa.ge A network of press freedom groups based in Baku, c/o Georgian Institute of Public Affairs Azerbaijan, and headed by Azer H. Hasret, director 2 Brosse St. of the Azerbaijan press group IPIANC. Tbilisi 380008, Georgia Phone: 995-32-931466 934346 www.cascfen.org Fax: 995-32-931466 Contact: Azer H. Hasret, [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Margie Freaney, director, Centre for Media Freedom-Middle East and [email protected] North Africa Executive director Said Essoulami headed the Center for Defending the Freedom Middle East and North Africa Programme for Article of Journalists 19, worked with the International Centre Against www.al-bab.com/media/docs/cdfj.htm Censorship and initiated the Euro-Med Human Amman – University Street Rights Network. PO Box 961167, Code 11196 Amman, Jordan www.cmfmena.org Phone: 962-6-5160820 17 Harold Road Fax: 962-6-5160810 London, N8 7DE, U.K. Contact: Fadi al-Wadi, executive director, Phone/fax : 44-20-8341-4025 [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations Centro de Periodistas de Investigacion Russian media watchdog organization. Is creating a network of journalists and academics to cooperate in investigative stories. Investigative www.cjes.ru Reporters and Editors set up the office in 1995 at Zubovsky Bulvar 4, office 320 the request of Mexican journalists. It has expanded Moscow, Russia 119021 to Colombia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Phone: 7-095-201-7626 Peru and Brazil. IRE-Mexico provides newsroom and Fax: 7-095-201-7626 Internet training, organizes discussions with policymakers and sponsors an annual conference Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility on U.S.-Mexico border issues. Monitors and protects Philippine journalists. www.investigacion.org.mx www.cmfr.com.ph c/ Gamma, 1, despacho 1 2/F Ateneo Professional Schools-Salcedo Colonia Romero de Terreros 130 H.V. de la Costa, 1227 Makati Coyoacán Metro Manila, Philippines Mexico, D.F., CP 04310, Mexico Phone: 632-840-0903, 632-894-1314 Phone: 52-5-559-5958 Fax: 632-840-0889 Phone/Fax; 52-5-554-0250 E-mail: [email protected] 1 1 6 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

Pedro Armendares, executive director James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass E-mail: [email protected] Communication, Training and Research Supports independent media around the world, Centro Latinoamericano de Periodismo (CELAP) including Latin America. It works with local Journalism training center in Panama. partners, expecting a financial or in-kind contribution from them for the project. It hosts www.celap.net (in Spanish) Latin American and other journalists and offers Centro PH Aventura, Calle 79 Oeste, Internet-based courses. Mezanine, Local M-2, El Dorado Apdo. Postal 810-543 www.grady.uga.edu/coxcenter Panama City, Panama Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Phone: 507-236-6181 / 236-5712 / 236-8319 Communication Fax: 507-236-0587 University of Georgia E-mail: [email protected] Athens, Ga. 30602 Contact: Mirabel Cuervo de Paredes, Phone: (706) 542-5798 [email protected]. Fax: (706) 542-5036 E-mail: [email protected] Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Lee Becker, [email protected]. www.mott.org Mott Foundation Building Crimes of War Project 503 S. Saginaw St., Suite 1200 A collaboration of journalists, lawyers and scholars Flint, Mich. 48502-1851 dedicated to raising public awareness of the laws Phone: (810) 238-5651 of war and their application. Fax: (810) 766-1753 E-mail: [email protected] www.crimesofwar.org American University (MGC300) Committee to Protect Journalists 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW Advocacy for press freedom and the safety of Washington, D.C. 20016 journalists worldwide. CPJ also incubates local Phone: (202) 885-2051 press-freedom monitors, creating such groups E-mail: [email protected] as Instituto Prensa y Sociedad in Peru and Periodistas in Argentina. CubaNet Nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting a www.cpj.org free press in Cuba. 330 Seventh Ave., 12th Floor New York, N.Y. 10001 www.cubanet.org Phone: (212) 465-1004 145 Madeira Ave., Suite 207 Fax: (212) 465-9568 Coral Gables, Fla. 33134 E-mail: [email protected] (305) 774-1887

Covington & Burling Danish Agency for Development Assistance International law firm with offices in the Major funder of programs supporting independent Washington, New York, San Francisco, London and media. . Working pro bono, it analyzed proposed la w s, eng a ged in pro g ram de s i gn and policy de b a t e s , www.um.dk and trained media lawyers in Eastern Europe. Udenrigsministeriet Asiatisk Plads 2 www.cov.com DK-1448 København K, Denmark Contact: Kurt Wimmer, [email protected] Phone: 45-33-92-0000 Fax: 45-32-54-0533 E-mail: [email protected]

1 1 7 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Department for International Development www.eurasia.org (U.K.) 1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 1000 The British government department responsible for Washington, D.C. 20036 promoting sustainable development and reducing Phone: (202) 234-7370 poverty. Fax: (202) 234-7377 E-mail: [email protected] www.dfid.gov.uk Contact: William Horton Beebe-Center, executive 1 Palace St. vice president, [email protected] London SW1E 5HE, U.K. Phone: 0845-300-100 (from within the U.K.) European Union Phone: 44-1355-84-3132 (from outside the U.K.) Major donor to the cause of independent media in money, training, equipment and legal advice. Developing Radio Partners A new project created by Bill Siemering, formerly www.europa.eu.int of the Open Society Institute, which works with E-mail: [email protected] other nonprofit organizations as a resource for local radio development. Ford Foundation Funds media projects in Africa, including especially www.developingradiopartners.org Nigeria. With UNESCO, it gave start-up funding for Contact: Bill Siemering; [email protected] African Public Radio in Burundi.

Duke University www.fordfound.org Brings journalists from Ethiopia, Russia and other 320 E. 43rd St. countries for fellowships at Duke. New York, N.Y. 10017 Phone: (212) 573-5000 www.duke.edu Fax: (212) 351-3677 Durham, NC 27708 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (919) 684-8111 Joseph Gitari is East Africa director. Fax: (919) 681-8941 Contact: Ellen Mickiewicz, Dewitt Center, Duke Foundation for African Media Excellence University, [email protected]. Training and education programs, dialogue and advocacy. Established in 2001 by Jerri Eddings, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) formerly of the Freedom Forum. Her partners Works in media policy issues. include Edward Boateng of CNN and Doyinsola Abiola of Nigeria. www.epic.org 1718 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 200 www.fame-media.org Washington, D.C. 20009 PO Box 2893 Phone: (202) 483-1140 Saxonwold 2132 Fax: (202) 483-1248 South Africa E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 27-11-327-0269 Fax: 27-11-327-0242 Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association. E-mail: [email protected] A professional group that fights for press freedom, Contact: Jerri Eddings, executive director, closed by the Ethiopian government in 2003. [email protected].

Contact: Kifle Mulat, [email protected]; Foundation Hirondelle [email protected] A Swiss NGO that has worked in Liberia and other African countries. Eurasia Foundation Funds media projects, including a training program www.hirondelle.org in Belarus. A funder of the Media Development 3 Rue Traversière Loan Fund. CH 1018-Lausanne, Switzerland Phone: 41-21-647-2805

1 1 8 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

Fax: 41-21-647-4469 Fax: 505-268-5001 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Freedom House Ghana Institute of Journalism Major U.S. media development organization, The country’s primary postgraduate school for dealing with advocacy and training. Publishes an journalists. annual press freedom survey. 29th, Second Ave. www.freedomhouse.org P.O. Box 667 1319 18th St. NW Accra, Ghana Washington, D.C. 20036 Phone: 233-21-228336 Phone: (202) 296-5101 Fax: (202) 296-5078 Glasnost Defense Fund Works to defend endangered journalists in Russia Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Central and Eastern Europe. A German foundation with offices in Senegal, Botswana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and other www.gdf.ru countries. Although not a media organization, (mostly Russian; some articles in English) FES often runs election coverage programs for Zubovsky bul. 4, kom. 432 reporters, including one in Zambia. 119021 Moscow, Russia Phone: 7-095-201-4420 www.fes.de Fax: 7-095-201-4947 Godesberger Allee 149 E-mail: [email protected] D-53175 Bonn, Germany Phone: 49-0228-883-0 Global Internet Policy Initiative Fax: 49-0228-883-396 Employs lawyers in 16 countries to advocate for open Internet policies and to build local coalitions Friedrich Naumann Stiftung to do the same. An Internews project. A German foundation and a major funder. www.internetpolicy.net www3.fnst.de Slavikova 11 Karl-Marx-Str. 2 120 00 Prague 2, Czech Republic 14482 Potsdam, Germany Phone/fax: 420-222-725-688 Phone: 49-0331-7019-0 Robert Horvitz, program manager Fax: 49-0331-7019-188 [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] James X. Dempsey, director of policy Fundacion Manuel Buendia, Mexico c/o CDT Nonpartisan NGO dedicated to research and 1634 I St. NW, # 1100 training in mass media in Mexico. Washington, D.C. 20006 Phone: (202) 637-9800 www.cem.itesm.mx/dacs/buendia E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Omar Raul Martinez Sanchez. Hewlett Foundation Fundacion Violeta Barrios de Chamorro A major funder. A prodemocracy foundation that works for freedom of expression and fights poverty in Nicaragua. www.hewlett.org 2121 Sand Hill Road www.violetachamorro.org.ni Menlo Park, Calif. 94025 Edificio Malaga Phone: (650) 234-4500 Plaza España Fax: (650) 234-4501 Modulo B-9 E-mail: [email protected] Managua, Nicaragua Phone: 505-268-5000

1 1 9 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Hong Kong University Institute for Media and Society Brings together academic and working journalists A Nigeria-based nonprofit organization run by for training. It has taken over the Freedom Forum’s cartoonist Akin Akinbulu. Asia library. Akin Osiyemi St., www.hku.hk P.O. Box 16181 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria Phone: 852-2859-2111 Phone: 234-1-773-0308 Fax: 852-2858-2549 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Ying Chan, [email protected]. Institute for the Advancement of Journalism A major South African training organization. It created five annual fellowships to teach leadership Independent Journalism Centre skills for newsroom management to African Well-known media-training group in Nigeria; journalists at the Poynter Institute in Florida. publishes the Nigeria Media Monitor. www.iaj.org.za www.derechos.net/ijc 9 Jubilee Road Tejumola House, First Floor Parktown 24 Omole Layout Johannesburg 2193, South Africa New Isheri Road P.O.Box 2544 P.O.Box 7808 Houghton 2041, South Africa Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria Phone: 27-11-484-1765 Phone/Fax: 234-1-4924998 Fax: 27-11-484-2282 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Babafemi Ojudu, editor of The News and Contact: Hugh Lewin Tempo, [email protected]. Institute for War and Peace Reporting Independent Journalism Foundation Established highly regarded Centers for www.iwpr.net/home_index_new.html Independent Journalism in Bratislava, Bucharest Lancaster House, 33 Islington High St. and Budapest that often use Knight fellows. Offers London N1 9LH, U.K. help in basic journalism, research, database Phone: 44-20-7713-7130 building, circulation and business practices. Run Fax: 44-0-20-7713-7140 by James Greenfield with support from The New Contact: Lloyd Donaldson, experience in Russia York Times, Knight and other foundations. and elsewhere, [email protected]. www.ijf-cij.org Institute of Mass Information 40 E. 75th St., Suite 3A New York, N.Y. 10021 www.imi.org.ua Phone: (212) 535-7874 Vul. Artema 1/5, k.814 Fax: (212) 535-0002 P.O. Box 67 Contacts: James Greenfield: 02206 Kiev, Ukraine [email protected]. Phone: 380-44-212-1956 or 212-1966 or 212-1226 Fax: 380-44-461-9023 Indiana University E-mail: [email protected] A partner with American University in Central Asia. Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) www.indiana.edu Monitors attacks on press freedom in the Andean 107 S. Indiana Ave. region and provides effective advocacy and legal Bloomington, Ind. 47405-7000 support for journalists. Phone: (812) 855-4848 E-mail: [email protected] www.geocities.com/ipyspe Sucre 317

1 2 0 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

Barranco www.iidh.ed.cr/index.aspx Lima 04, Peru P.O. Box: 10081-1000 Phone: 51-1-247-3308 or 247-4461 or 247-4465 San Jose, Costa Rica Fax: 51-1-247-3194 Phone: 506-234-04-04 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 506-234-09-55 Contact: Ricardo Uceda, [email protected]. Inter American Press Association (SIP/IAPA) Institut Studi Arus Informasi The organization to which most Americans turn Offers prizes for investigative journalism, first when working to assist Latin American print roundtables on media issues and support for journalists. The American Society of Newspaper progressive media laws in Indonesia. Editors, Freedom Forum, Knight Foundation, McCormick Tribune Foundation and others have www.oneworld.org/isai/index.htm helped Latin Americans through IAPA. It does Jl. Utan Kayu No. 68-H training and combats anti-defamation laws in 13120 Jakarta, Indonesia Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Phone: 62-857-3388 Jamaica, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Paraguay Fax: 62-857-3387 and Uruguay. E-mail: [email protected] The IAPA has a respected training program on Institut Superieur des Sciences de l’Information subjects as diverse as reporting and advertising et de la Communication (ISSIC) sales. One IAPA project, funded by the Inter- Part of Sud Communications empire in Senegal. American Development Bank, accredits Latin Teaches courses in new media, including computer- American journalism schools. assisted reporting and Internet skills. With support from Knight and others, IAPA’s www.sudonline.sn (web site for newspaper and Impunity Project is attempting to unravel radio, in French) government complicities in the death of a number Headed by Babacar Toure and Dr. Abdou Latif of journalists, and has brought 15 cases to the Coulibaly. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The E-mail: [email protected] project got the Guatemalan government to accept responsibility for the 1980 disappearance and Inter-American Dialogue murder of journalist Irma Flaquer, and now her Sponsors annual conferences for policymakers, family is being compensated. journalists and civil-sector leaders to promote press freedom throughout the Americas. IAPA’s Chapultepec Declaration posits that freedom of expression is “society’s lifeblood” and that it is www.thedialogue.org “fundamental to the survival of democracy and 1211 Connecticut Ave., Suite 510 civilization in our hemisphere.” With major support Washington, D.C. 20036 from the McCormick Tribune Foundation, the Phone: (202) 822-9002 Chapultepec Project organizes national forums to Fax: (202) 822-9553 promote the declaration in each country of the E-mail: [email protected] Americas and awards an annual prize.

Inter-American Institute of Human Rights IAPA’s publication of media laws around the Was supported by the McCormick Tribune hemisphere has been a valuable resource for press- Foundation to promote press freedom among freedom groups, and its lobbying for legal reform legislators, judges, journalists and civil-sector has increased pressure in several countries, leaders in Paraguay and Venezuela, countries although lasting results are elusive. Priorities in that need an infusion of free-speech awareness. 2001-02 were a hemispheric summit for judicial Participants met several times over 18 months, leaders in Washington and the training of judges working between meetings on practical projects, at IAPA headquarters. such as the revamping of Paraguay’s press- freedom law.

1 2 1 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

www.sipiapa.com Ghana, Senegal and Uganda; and four fellowships Jules Dubois Building for community radio in South Africa. It has sent 1801 SW Third Ave. 27 Knight Fellows to nine African countries. Miami, Fla. 33129 Phone: (305) 634-2465 www.icfj.org Fax: (305) 635-2272 www.ijnet.org E-mail: [email protected] 16161 H St. NW, Third Floor Contacts: Ricardo Trotti, Julio Muñoz, Washington, D.C. 20006 [email protected] Phone: (202) 737-3700 Fax: (202) 737-0530 International Broadcasting Bureau E-mail: [email protected] International Broadcasting Board of Governors Contacts: David Anable, [email protected] Administers U.S. government-funded nonmilitary Patrick Butler, vice president, [email protected] international broadcast services. Donatella Lorch, Knight fellowships, [email protected] www.ibb.gov International Federation of Journalists Office of Public Affairs Runs the Media for Democracy in Africa program. 330 Independence Ave. SW Supported by the European Commission, the group Washington, D.C. 20237 is setting up independent press houses in Gambia, Phone: (202) 401-7000 Togo, Tanzania and Burkina Faso. Fax: (202) 619-1241 E-mail: [email protected] www.ifj.org Contact: Joan Mower, [email protected]. IPC-Residence Palace, Bloc C Rue de la Loi 155 International Center for Journalists B-1040 Brussels, Belgium A major media developer around the world. Phone: 32-2-235-22-00 Conducts development and training programs; Fax: 32-2-235-22-19| publishes IJNet (International Journalists’ E-mail: [email protected] Network) at www.ijnet.org. Administers Knight International Press Fellowships, International Foundation for Election Systems www.knight-international.org. A leading center of election information and re s o u rc e s. Pro v ides technical assistance in all are a s McCormick Tribune sponsors ICFJ’s Americas of election adm i n i s t ra t ion and electio n Program, headed by Panamanian journalist Luis ma n a ge me nt , supplies world governments with Botello, [email protected], in Washington. The first election observation and analysis. three-year project was a regional effort to promote codes of ethics and professional standards. It www.ifes.org produced (in three languages) a training video, 1101 15th St., NW, Third Floor “Journalism Ethics: The New Debate.” The second Washington, D.C. 20005 three-year project involves single-country Phone: (202) 828-8507 conferences with the goal of reaching working Fax: (202) 452-0804 journalists from remote cities and towns. International Freedom of Expression Exchange P r ojects in Africa have inc l uded efforts to stre ng t he n (IFEX) t h e journalists’ associa t ion in Addis Ababa, Ethio p i a , Created 10 years ago to consolidate the large and develop curriculum at the country’s only number of Western organizations promoting media journalism school; reform South Africa’s technical rights and policy into a global network to offer universities (Technikons) where most future training and other support. j o u r nalists study; and create a journalism curric u l u m at the University of Botswana, which serves five In the Americas, for example, it produces southern African countries and is base for the electronic alerts when journalists are attacked and McGee Journalism Fellowship in Southern Africa. It offers technical and institutional assistance. It has also offers anti-corruption training in Nigeria; helped to create local monitoring entities in fellowships for media centers in Zambia, Kenya, Argentina, Peru, Guatemala, Mexico and elsewhere.

1 2 2 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

www.ifex.org of IREX’s media projects offer small grants to 489 College St., Suite 403 media outlets, journalists, and media associations Toronto, Ontario M6G 1A5, Canada and NGOs. Contact: [email protected] or the local Phone: (416) 515 9622 IREX office. Fax: (416) 515 7879 E-mail: [email protected] T he Me d ia Sustainability Index, developed by IREX with funding from USAID, examines countries’ International League for Human Rights entire media systems by specifically analyzing Has run monitoring and training programs in Sierra freedom of speech, plurality of media available to Leone. c i t i z e n s, prof e s s io nal journalism standa rd s, b u s i ne s s sustainability of media and the efficacy of www.ilhr.org institutions that support independent media. 228 E 45th St., Fifth Floor New York, N.Y. 10017 For analysis, see: Internews and IREX: Competing Phone: (212) 661-0480 for Media Development, Page 34. Fax: (212) 661-0416 E-mail: [email protected] Russia and Central and Eastern Europe: IREX maintains offices and is active in Russia and 18 International PEN other European countries. IREX focuses on Worldwide association of writers. Promotes developing local capacity, offering the technical freedom of expression and works to defend writers and legal support necessary for building successful suffering from oppressive regimes. Worked in independent media systems. Vietnam to aid 20 writers who were jailed or put under house arrest in 2001. Middle East: Efforts are under way in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. www.internatpen.org 9 / 10 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Rd Asia: IREX is also active in 14 Asian and Eurasian London EC1M 7AT, U.K. countries. Phone: 44-20-7253-4308 Fax : 44-20 7253-5711 www.irex.org E-mail: [email protected] 2121 K St. NW, Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20037 International Press Institute Phone: (202) 628-8188 Global organization promoting freedom of Fax: (202) 628-8189 expression. Publishes an annual report on media E-mail: [email protected] violations around the world: The World Press Contacts: Mark Pomar, IREX president, Washington, Freedom Review. [email protected]. www.freemedia.at International Women’s Media Foundation Spiegelgasse 2 Media training and advocacy. It held workshops in A-1010 , Austria Nicaragua, Argentina and Ecuador in 2001 to Phone: 43-1-512-90-11 define its objectives. Created women’s media Fax: 43-1-512-90-14 associations across Africa, including the African E-mail: [email protected] Women’s Media Center, www.awmc.com, in Dakar, Senegal. An anonymous donor funded the International Research & Exchanges Board formation of the center; IWMF is seeking ongoing (IREX) funding. It has done training in health reporting, IREX established itself in Washington, D.C., during women’s management roles, etc. the Cold War by using government grants to sponsor scientific and cultural exchanges with the www.iwmf.org U.S.S.R. Today it has become a major media 1726 M St. NW, Suite 1002 development organization, funded by USAID Washington, D.C. 20036 contracts, particularly throughout the former Phone: (202) 496-1992 Yugoslavia and newly independent states. Several Fax: (202) 496-1977

1 2 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (202) 833-5740, 5741, 5742 Sherry Rockey, Latin America initiative: Fax: (202) 833-5745 [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Contacts: David Hoffman, Internews president, Internews [email protected]. Major nonprofit organization working in media Eric Johnson, Paris, Internews International, development, training and advocacy, supported by [email protected]. U.S. go v e r n me nt gra nts and other fund i n g. Curre nt l y Manana Aslamazyan, Moscow, Internews Russia, active in 30 countries. Since 1992, I nt e r n ews has [email protected]. t ra i n ed over 23,600 me d ia prof e s s io na l s in the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, the Middle East, Investigative Reporters and Editors Africa, Southeast Asia and Afghanistan in IRE set up a Mexico City office in 1995 that has broadcast journalism and station management. expanded to Colombia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and Brazil. Elsewhere, IRE For analysis, see: Internews and IREX: Competing helped develop course materials for a pair of for Media Development, Page 34. Mongolian trainers who spent two years at the University of Missouri. It worked with the Middle East: Internews is involved with AMIN and Mongolian Foundation for Open Society, on a rural Al-Quds Institute for Modern Media. WorldLink, a radio project that also involved Knight Fellow division of Internews, provides programming by and the University of Missouri. satellite to U.S. audiences, with funding from the Knight and Hewlett foundations. This includes www.ire.org news reports from broadcasters throughout the University of Missouri School of Journalism Middle East. Internews is also training Egyptian 138 Neff Annex journalists at Western Kentucky University in Columbia, Mo. 65211 p a r t nership with the Egyptian Jo u r nalists As s o c ia t i o n . Phone: (573) 882-2042 Fax: (573) 882-5431 Africa: As of 2002, Internews had organizations in E-mail: [email protected] Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania. In Nigeria, its Media Rights Agenda organization supported Jemstone Network independent media and has a lawyer working for Media training and consulting network in Amman; open Internet policy. In Rwanda and Tanzania, it offers workshops for journalists in the Middle East, focused on providing news about the Rwanda war- Europe and North Africa. It ran a senior editors’ crimes tribunal for African newspapers and symposium with the World Bank in Marrakech, international media via Africa News Online. Morocco. A European Union project.

Asia: Internews launched the first all-woman radio www.jemstone.net show in Indonesia, helped draft the broadcast P.O Box 850191 media law for East Timor, established a media Amman 11185, Jordan resource center in Thailand, and helped form the Phone: 926-6-585-3024 or 585-9980 National Association of Independent Mass Media in Fax: 926-6 585 3025 Tajikistan. In Afghanistan, Internews is setting up E-mail: [email protected] a radio network and is funding local journalists through its Open Media Fund for Afghanistan. Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy www.internews.org Awards research fellowships at Harvard’s Kennedy Internews, New York School of Government to domestic or international 164 W. 25th St., Suite 7F journalists, scholars and policymakers who are New York, NY 10001 interested in the influence of the press on public Phone: (212) 675-8295 policy and politics. Fax: (212) 675-8261 Internews, Washington www.ksg.harvard.edu/presspol/index.htm 1215 17th St. NW, Fourth Floor 79 JFK St., 2nd Floor Taubman Washington, D.C. 20036 Cambridge, Mass. 02138

1 2 4 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

Phone: (617) 495-8269 Communication Building A Fax: (617) 495-8696 Austin, Texas 78712 Phone: (512) 471-1426 John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Fax: (512) 232-7685 Major funder of training, development and Contacts: Rosental Alves, director, advocacy. Among other projects: Sponsor of the [email protected]. Knight International Press Fellowships, a program Inquiries: Dean Graber, designed to share professional expertise and offer [email protected] assistance to the media overseas. U.S. journalists are dispatched to foreign media organizations to Konrad Adenauer Stiftung lead training sessions. German foundation, a major donor to media development projects. www.knightfdn.org Wachovia Financial Center, Suite 3300 www.kas.de 200 S. Biscayne Blvd. Rathausallee 12 Miami, Fla. 33131-2349 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany Phone: (305) 908-2600 Phone: 22-41-24-60 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 22-41-24-65-91 Contacts: Hodding Carter III, president and CEO. E-mail: [email protected] Eric Newton, director of journalism initiatives, [email protected] Liberian Institute of Journalism An independent group that has done workshops, Le Journal Hebdomadair and Assahifa including computer training funded by the Casablanca, Morocco. Freedom Forum. It is run by a Libero-American, Aboubakr Jamai, publisher and editor Vinicius Hodges.

Journaliste en Danger www.lij.kabissa.org Works to promote and defend freedom of the press Corner of Broad and Johnson Streets in central Africa. Kashour Building, Second Floor, Post Box 2314 www.jed-congo.org (in French) Monrovia, Liberia 374, Avenue Colonel Mondjiba Phone: 231-227-327 Complexe Utexafrica-Galerie Saint Pierre E-mail: [email protected] Kinshasa/Ngaliema Democratic Republic of Congo Link Media Phone: 243-99-29323 or 99-96353 A division of Internews. Produces Mosaic: World Fax: 243-880-1625 News from the Middle East, TV news reports in E-mail: [email protected] English from a variety of Middle Eastern broadcasters. The daily series is supported by Rami Khouri Knight Foundation. Former editor of the Jordan Times, Amman. An American citizen whose family lives in Amman and www.worldlinktv.org Nazareth, he is a syndicated columnist and 705 Mission Ave. broadcast commentator, [email protected]. San Rafael, Calif. 94901 (415) 457-5222 Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas A professional training and outreach program for John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation journalists in the Americas, founded with a $2 Awards grants aimed at improving the diversity of million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight viewpoints and high-quality documentary content Foundation. available in radio and television. knightcenter.utexas.edu www.macfound.org University of Texas 140 S. Dearborn St. School of Journalism Chicago, Ill. 60603-5285

1 2 5 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Phone: (312) 726-8000 Fax: 41-22-908-05-71 Fax: (312) 920-6258 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Ed Girardet, Media Action International, Pakistan.

Rich and Suzi McClear Media Development Center – Sofia Highly regarded media developers. They are IREX Provides training for journalists and media veterans in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, management in Bulgaria, publishes media manuals, previously worked for the German Marshall Fund develops databases. and other clients. www.mediacenterbg.org [email protected] 6 Triaditsa Str., Second Floor Sofia 1000, Bulgaria Macedonian Press Center Phone/fax: 359-2-9889265 A watchdog group. Its lawyers defend journalists E-mail: [email protected] against defamation. Media Development Loan Fund www.press.org.mk A nonprofit venture-capital fund for independent str. Kuzman Josifovski Pitu 17 news organizations in developing democracies. Skopje 91000, Macedonia Since 1996, MDLF has extended about $15 million Phone: 389-91-165-922 in low-interest loans and program-related Fax: 389-91-165-944 investments. Of that amount, borrowers have E-mail: [email protected] repaid about $3 million in principal and interest. It made about $540,000 in grants in 2000 and Maison de la Presse $665,000 in 2001, most for technology-related Home to the Freedom Forum library. Has computers projects. It also provides management training and with Internet access. other assistance for some news organizations that may not qualify for a loan. MDLF is funded by the www.mediamali.org Canadian, Dutch, Swedish and Swiss governments, B.P. E2456 Rue 617 Porte 19 OSI-New York, and the Mott, MacArthur and Eurasia Bamako, Mali foundations. MDLF does not make loans in Phone: 223-22-19-15 Slovenia, Poland, Hungary (with one exception), Fax: 223-23-54-78 the Czech Republic or the Baltic states because it Sadou Yattara, director has determined that media organizations in those E-mail: [email protected] countries can borrow from commercial banks.

McCormick Tribune Foundation The Center for Advanced Media in Prague is a new- Funder of training, development and advocacy, media lab run by MDLF since 1998 that funds new- with particular focus on Latin America. media projects and offers technology training. It also operates in Warsaw and Moscow. In Prague, www.rrmtf.org the center supports Transitions-Online, a pro- 435 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 770 democracy magazine, and, in Bosnia, the Banja Chicago, Ill. 60611 Luka Reporter. Phone: (312) 222-3512 E-mail: [email protected] www.mdlf.org 45 W. 21st St. Media Action International, Pakistan and New York, N.Y. 10010 Afghanistan Phone: (212) 807-1304 Specializes in reporting on humanitarian crises Fax: (212) 807-0540 and assistance. E-mail: [email protected] Contacts: Harlan Mandel, www.mediaaction.org Harlan.Mandel@ mdlf.org. 42 rue de Lausanne 1201 Sasa Vucinic, [email protected]. Geneva, Switzerland Phone: 41-22-908-05-70

1 2 6 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

Media Foundation for West Africa www.moforce.com Media analysis in the region. Third Floor, ABC Place, Waiyaki Way P.O. Box 45048 www.mediafoundationwa.org Nairobi, Kenya P.O. Box LG 730 Phone: 254-2-444-8923/4/5 Legon, Ghana Fax: 254-2-444-8926 Phone: 233-21-242470 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 233-21-221084 Contact: Salim Amin. E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Money Matters Institute Contact: Kwami Kari-Kari, Its Wealth of Nations Index measures a country’s [email protected]. economic prospects based partly on media performance and public access to information. Media Institute of Southern Africa The top monitoring organization in Africa, with www.moneymattersinstitute.org support from the U.S. government and others. 176 Federal St., Second Floor Based in Namibia, it has multiple chapters and Boston, Mass. 02110 offices in other southern African countries. Phone: (617) 899-0373 Fax: (425) 795-8836 www.misa.org E-mail: [email protected] Private Bag 13386 Windhoek, Namibia Montenegro Media Institute Phone: 264-61-232975 Fax: 264-61-248016 www.mminstitute.org E-mail: [email protected] Brace Zlaticanin 12 Contact: Luckson Chipare, [email protected] Podgorica, Montenegro 81000, Serbia and Montenegro Media Rights Agenda Phone: 381-81-601270 Supports independent media and has a lawyer Fax: 381-81-624672 working for open Internet policy. E-mail: [email protected] www.internews.org/mra Moscow Media Law and Policy Center 10, Agboola Aina St. Has trained jurists in media law; funded partly by Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria USAID. Phone: 234-1-493-0831 Fax: 234-1-493-0831 www.medialaw.ru/e-index.html E-mail: [email protected] ul. Mokhovaya 9, k.338 103009 Moscow, Russia Media Viability Fund Phone: 7-095-203-6571 Makes low-cost capital loans and offers intensive E-mail: [email protected] business training in subjects ranging from financial Contact: [email protected] management to advertising. National Association of Broadcasters www.mvf.org.ru Trade association that represents the interests of 16 Strastnoy Bulvar free, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters. stroenie 2 Moscow 103031, Russia www.nab.org Phone: 7-095-246-1020 1771 N St. NW Fax: 7-095-246-8972 Washington, D.C. 20036 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 202-429-5300 Fax: 202-429-4199 Mohamed Amin Foundation Contact: [email protected] Trains broadcasters and photographers.

1 2 7 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

National Association of Independent Mass Network Media Program Media See Open Society Institute, below. An independent association of Tajikistan’s non- governmental broadcasters and journalists. www.osi.hu/nmp Formed with help from Internews. P.O. Box 519 H-1397 Budapest, Hungary Kamoli Khujandi 2 A, Apt 74 Phone: 36-1-327-3824 Khujand, Tajikistan Fax: 36-1-327-3826 Phone: 992-342-24-24-24 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] A. Lin Neumann National Endowment for Democracy Asia consultant, works with Committee to Protect Receives congressional funds for specific Journalists and others. initiatives, including some media projects. [email protected] www.ned.org The New York Times Company Foundation 1101 15th St. NW, Suite 700 Created the Independent Journalism Foundation, Washington, D.C. 20005-5000 an early media developer in the post-Communist Phone: (202) 293-9072 bloc which continues to sponsor Centers for Fax: (202) 223-6042 Independent Media in Slovakia, Hungary and E-mail: [email protected] Romania, as well as a project in Cambodia.

Nepal Press Institute www.nytco.com/contact.html Established in 1984 to expand the country’s 229 W. 43rd St. 100-year-old newspaper industry with training New York, N.Y. 10036-3959 and other services. Phone: (212) 556-1091 npiktm.org Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard Post Box 4128, Anamnagar, University Kathmandu, Nepal Conducts the oldest and best-known midcareer Phone: 977-01-264155, program for journalists in the world. Foreign and Fax: 977-01-264154 U.S. Nieman Fellows receive a 10-month appoint- E-mail: [email protected] me n t at Ha r v a rd, cho o s i ng their own course of s t udy in any of the university’s schools or Network for the Defense of Independent departments. Media in Africa A pan-African human rights organization that www.nieman.harvard.edu represents local and international media groups, 1 Francis Ave. fights for freedom of expression, monitors Cambridge, Mass. 02138 violations, trains journalists and operates the Phone: (617) 496-5827 Recasu program for sheltering stateless journalists. Fax: (617) 495-8976 Supporters include UNESCO, Ford Foundation, E-mail: [email protected] Norwegian Human Rights Fund, World Free Press Contact: Bob Giles, curator, [email protected] Institute, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and IFEX. Nordic/Southern African Development www.ndima.org Community Journalism Center P.O. Box 70147 Offers training in business and economics Nairobi, Kenya reporting. Freedom Forum funded its Malawi Phone: 254-2-66-51118 publishers’ forum. Fax: 254-266-50836 E-mail: [email protected] www.nsjtraining.org/home.php Contact: Sam Mbure, [email protected].

1 2 8 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

780 Francisco O. Magumbwe Ave., Fourth Floor OSI, funded by financier-philanthropist George P.O. Box 4537 Soros, (See George Soros, Page 19.) has focused on Maputo, Mozambique the former Communist bloc, working to develop Phone: 258-1-493400 the democratic “enabling environment” necessary Fax: 258-1-490880 for independent journalism and public access to E-mail: [email protected] information. OSI-Russia has spent about $36 million on broadcast, print and Internet Northwestern University Media Management development over the past decade, including $5 Center million in 2000. The current OSI-Russia budget for Business school operation that has trained many media and civil society is $2 million, but other OSI of Latin America’s top newspaper publishers. o rg a n i z a t io n s, which are both funders and opera t i ng The Creighton Scholars Fellowship Program brings fo u nda t io ns, pro v ide add i t io nal fund s. (In cont ra s t , two Latin American news executives to the center’s USAID and the European Commission work only executive program each year. McCormick Tribune is through grantees.) OSI foundations support media funding it with $250,000 from 1999 to 2004. and related initiatives on legal reform, Internet t ra i n i n g and access, libra r ie s, re a d i ng and educ a t io n . The center has energetic networking and collabora- tion with the Inter American Press Association OSI’s Network Media Program has spent $9.5 (cost and revenue studies, a Miami-based program million on independent media development in in Spanish, etc.). It runs an annual management Central and southeastern Europe. Administered by conference for Latin American newspapers. It sets Gordana Jankovic out of Central European financial benchmarks for newspapers and helps University in Budapest, this program issues grants owners transform their papers from political organs and consults on media projects (by Soros and to professionally managed community voices. other organizations). The program supports the South Eastern Europe Network for Prof e s s io na l i z a t io n www.mediamanagementcenter.org of the Media (SEENPM), a consortium of nearly 20 301 Fisk Hall institutions that offer journalism and management Northwestern University training. “Little OSI,” as it is called, is supposed 1845 Sheridan Road to coordinate media projects, but sometimes Evanston, Ill.60208-2110 overlaps with “big OSI” in New York. Contact: Phone: (847) 491-4900 Gordana Jankovic, [email protected]. Fax: (847) 491-5619 E-mail: [email protected] The Open Society Institute’s media emphasis in Africa has been on community radio, funded by Onasa t h ree re g io n al OSI fo u nda t io n s serving 27 count r ie s : Bosnia’s main wire service. Mehmed Husic, head of Onasa, is a former journalist on the Sarajevo ➢ Open Society Foundation for South Africa newspaper Oslobodjenje. (OSF-SA) says it is South Africa’s largest donor in community radio, providing grants and www.onasa.com.ba operational support and assisting stations in ONASA Independent News Agency the development of programming and Zmaja od Bosne 4, information-sharing networks. Program officer Holiday Inn Jean Fairbairn was largely responsible for radio Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina development across South Africa. Her training Phone: 387-71 2765 80 on election coverage earned her stations praise Fax: 387-71 2765 90 from monitoring groups. The foundation provided stations with grants and an election Open Society Institute coverage how-to manual. Ongoing support was A major funder of media development, training and given to organizations promoting freedom of advocacy. Open Society Institute and Soros expression and access to information. Contact: Foundations Network operate around the world Jean Fairbairn: [email protected]. under various names.

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➢ Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa Oxford University (OSISA) serves Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Oxford’s Programme in Comparative Media Law and Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Policy is an expert resource on media development Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its $7 million budget worldwide, and published a useful report. The underwrites media and other initiatives, Programme also has joined with the School of including communications projects about Jo u r n alism and Commu n ic a t ion at Pe k i ng Un i v e r s i t y HIV/AIDS and assistance for rural radio. to establish a media law and policy program, Contact: Bill Siemering, OSI-Philadelphia, pcmlp.socleg.ox.ac.uk/Peking2002. especially community radio, [email protected]. www.ox.ac.uk University Offices ➢ Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD, U.K. covers Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Phone: 44-0-1865-270000 Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, E-mail: [email protected] Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Contact: Monroe Price, Yeshiva and Oxford Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cameroon and universities, [email protected]. Chad. Its $1.6 million budget supports media a n d no n m e d ia pro j e c t s. Since most West Afric a n s Panos Institute have no regular access to newspapers or Has a range of media-related programs. With television, OSIWA concentrates on developing offices in Africa, South Asia, Europe, the community radio, experimenting with regional Caribbean, Washington and elsewhere, the democracy radio projects in Guinea, Liberia and i nstitute has pro duced various types of public a t io ns Sierra Leone. In Nigeria, OSIWA supported a and promoted better radio, communications and media and diversity conference that included media laws. Each office functions somewhat emphasis on the role the press plays in covering autonomously. Dapo Olorunyomi, a Nigerian, heads ethnic strife. Contact: Kakuna Kerina, executive the Washington office. director, [email protected]. www.panos.org.uk The Mongolian Foundation for Open Society worked 9 White Lion St. with NPR’s Siemering on a rural radio project that London N1 9PD, U.K. involved Knight Fellow Corey Flintoff of NPR, the Phone: 44-0-207-278-1111 University of Missouri and IRE. It also is working Fax: 44-0-207-278-0345 on upgrading print journalism. E-mail: [email protected] U.S. contact: Dapo Olorunyomi, [email protected] www.soros.org 400 W. 59th St. Peace Institute in Ljubljana New York, N.Y. 10019 A Soros-OSI project. Phone: (212) 548 0600 Fax: (212) 548 4679 www.mirovni-institut.si/eindex.htm Metelkova ulica 6 Organization for Security and Co-operation in 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Europe Phone: 386-0-1-234-77-20 A major player in media in post-conflict societies. Fax: 386-0-1-234-77-22 E-mail: [email protected] www.osce.org OSCE Secretariat Peking University Press and Public Information Section Conducts a media law and policy program in Karntner Ring 5-7, Fourth Floor cooperation with Oxford University. 1010 Vienna, Austria Phone: 43-1-514-36-180 www.pku.edu.cn/eindex.html Fax: 43-1-514-36-105 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

1 3 0 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

Periodistas (Association for the Defense of Washington, D.C. 20009 Independent Journalism) Phone: (202) 483-1217 Defends free press issues and denounces violence Fax: (202) 483-1248 against journalists in Latin America. E-mail: [email protected] www.asociacionperiodistas.org Reporters San Frontieres (Reporters Without Piedras 1675, Oficina B Borders) (1140) Buenos Aires, Argentina An international journalists’ organization. Phone: 54-11-4300-6149 or 9127 Reporters Without Borders condemns attacks on E-mail: [email protected] press freedom, defends imprisoned or persecuted Contact: Horacio Verbitsky, journalists, fights censorship and laws that restrict [email protected]. press freedom, works to improve the safety of journalists, particularly in war zones, and assists Press Development Institute in the rebuilding of media outlets. Formerly RAPIC. Managed by IREX. www.rsf.fr www.pdi.ru/common/main.xtz?lang=en 5, rue Geoffroy Marie Tverskoi Blvd. 20 75009 Paris, France 103009 Moscow, Russia Phone: 33-1-44-83-84-84 Tel: 7-095-777-01-74 Fax: 33-1-45-23-11-51 Fax: 7-095-229-3695 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Reuters Foundation Press Now Brings African journalists to its London offices for The agency through which the Dutch government training in writing, broadcast and reporting. plays a key role in int e r na t io n al me d i a de v e l o p m e nt . www.foundation.reuters.com www.xs4all.nl/~pressnow 85 Fleet St. Wibautstraat 3-5 London EC4P 4AJ, U.K. 1091 GH Amsterdam Phone: 44-20-7542-7015 Postbank 7676 Fax: 44-20-7542-8599 Netherlands E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 31-20-5962-000 Fax: 31-20-5962-001 Rhodes University Department of Journalism E-mail: [email protected] Works to bring Africans into journalism.

Press Union of Liberia journ.ru.ac.za Held workshops in 2001 with funds from the P.O. Box 94 National Endowment for Democracy. Grahamstown 6140, South Africa Phone: 27-(0)46-603-8336 P.O. Box 20-4209 Fax: 27-(0)46-622-8447 1000 Monrovia 20, Liberia Rustavi 2 television Phone: 231-227-105 Tblisi, Georgia Fax: 231-227-838 Contact: Erosi Kitsmarishvilli, owner and journalist, Contact: Vinicius Hodges, [email protected]. [email protected].

Privacy International Salzburg Seminar Pro bono efforts in Internet policy, access and A leading forum for promoting global dialogue. distance education. Knight Fellowships send midcareer journalists to seminar sessions. www.privacyinternational.org Washington Office www.salzburgseminar.org 1718 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 200 Schloss Leopoldskron

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Leopoldskronstrasse 56-58, Box 129, Southeastern European Media Organization A-5010 Salzburg, Austria A i ms to pro mote fre e dom of the pre s s , improve jour- Phone: 43 (662) 83 9 830 nalism standa rds and ens u re the safety of journa l i s t s . Fax: 43 (662) 83 9 837 An offshoot of the International Press Institute. E-mail: [email protected] www.seemo.at P.O. Box 886 IPI Headquarters Middlebury, Vt. 05753 Spiegelgasse 2/29 Phone: (802) 388-0007 Vienna 1010, Austria Contact (Knight Fellowships): Cathy Walsh, Phone: 43-1-512-90-11 academic program coordinator, Fax: 43-1-512-90-14 [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Search for Common Ground South Eastern Europe Network for Creates media programming and trains journalists Professionalization of the Media around the world. Founded by John Marks, it is Nearly 20 member institutions offer journalism and c o d i r ected by his wife, Susan, who is South Afric a n . management training in Bulgaria. In 1995, they launched Studio Ijambo in Burundi, using Hutu, Tutsi, Sanwa and Muslim journalists to www.seenpm.org create 15 hours of weekly programming, including Network Secretariat: a popular soap opera. The group’s Talking Drum Media Development Center Studios are valuable contributors in tough media 6 Triaditsa St., Second Floor e n v i ro n me nt s. This is a highly re g a rded org a n i z a t io n Sofia 1000, Bulgaria supported by numerous foundations, including Phone: 359-2-988-92-60 Mott, MacArthur, Kellogg, Eurasia, Hewlett, OSI Fax: 359-2-988-92-65 and Rockefeller. E-mail: [email protected] www.sfcg.org Stanford University 1601 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 200 John S. Knight Fellowships offer midcareer Washington, D.C. 20009-1035 journalists a year of study at Stanford away from Phone: (202) 265-4300 newsroom deadline pressures, in the company of Fax: (202) 232-6718 other journalists. E-mail: [email protected] www.knightfellows.stanford.edu Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) John S. Knight Fellowships The most important media organization in the 450 Serra Mall region. When regional governments dismissed Building 120, Room 424 international aid organizations as “Western Stanford University colonialism,” and regional press organizations were Stanford, Calif. 94305-2050 feuding, SEAPA was set up like a local Committee Phone: (650) 723-4937 to Protect Journalists. Fax: (650) 725-6154 E-mail: [email protected] www.seapa.org 538/1 Sam-Sen Rd. Stefan Batory Foundation Dusit Bangkok, Thailand 10300 Supports investigative reporting and campaigns Phone/Fax: 66-2-243-5579 against corruption in Poland. An arm of the Open E-mail: [email protected] Society Institute. Contacts: Chavarong Limpattamaponee. Kavi Chongkittavorn, editor of the English- www.batory.org.pl/english/index.htm language magazine The Nation, a founder of SEAPA Sapiezynska 10a and the Thai Journalists’ Association, Warsaw 00-215, Poland [email protected]. Phone: 48-22-5360200 Fax: 48-22-5360220 E-mail: [email protected]

1 3 2 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

Swedish International Development Corporation Washington Office: Agency 1112 16th St. NW, Suite 500 A major funder of media development, sponsored Washington, D.C. 20036 by the Swedish government. Phone: (202) 296-7730 Fax: (202) 296-8125 www.sida.se/Sida/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=107 E-mail: [email protected] 105 25 Stockholm, Sweden Bangkok contact: Kavi Chongkittavorn, Phone: 46-8-698-50-00 [email protected]. Fax: 46-8-20-88-64 E-mail: [email protected] Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Tanzania Journalists Association fletcher.tufts.edu Box 75655 160 Packard Ave. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Medford, Mass. 02155 Phone: 255-0741-788167 Phone: (617) 627-3700 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: (617) 627-3712 Contact: Joe Kadhi, who teaches journalism at E-mail: [email protected] the United States International University in Dar es Salaam. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Thai Journalists Association One of the two biggest American funders of media A solid organization. Founder Kavi Chongkittavorn development (the other is the nongovernmental ([email protected]), a 2001-2002 Nieman Open Society Institute). USAID began to promote Fellow, also represents IFEX and Transparency media development in Latin America in the 1980s, International in Bangkok. moving to the former Communist bloc in the 1990s. USAID is the primary funder of American www.tja.or.th nonprofits Internews and IREX, the largest global 55 Mansion 8 Rajdamnern Ave. media developers after OSI. Now they are looking Bangkok 10200, Thailand toward Afghanistan, the Middle East, Asia and Phone: 662-629-0022 Africa. The Population Reference Bureau, Fax: 662-280-0337 www.prb.org, is a USAID-funded group supporting E-mail: [email protected] women journalists in order to improve health coverage in west and southern Africa. Thomson Foundation A U.K. media development group; worked in China. www.usaid.gov USAID Information Center www.thomsonfoundation.co.uk Ronald Reagan Building 37 Park Place Washington, D.C. 20523-1000 Cardiff CF10 3BB, Wales Phone: (202) 712-4810 Phone: 44-29-20353060 Fax: (202) 216-3524 Fax: 44-9-20353061 Contacts: David Black, [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Peter Graves, senior media adviser, [email protected] Transparency International Krishna Kumar, [email protected] www.transparency-usa.org United States Institute of Peace Otto-Suhr-Allee 97/99 An independent, nonpartisan federal institution D-10585 created to promote the prevention, management, Berlin, Germany and peaceful resolution of international conflicts. Phone: 30-343-8200 Fax: 30-3470-3912 usip.org 1200 17th St. NW Washington, D.C. 20036

1 3 3 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Phone: (202) 457-1700 330 Independence Ave. SW E-mail: [email protected] Washington, D.C. 20237 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (202) 401-7000 Fax: (202) 619-1241 U.S. Department of State Contact: Jennifer Parmelee, former Washington Funds media development primarily through Post and Associated Press staffer, runs Voice of USAID, but also through various other agencies. America’s Horn of Africa service, [email protected]. www.state.gov 2201 C St. NW WBUR Washington, D.C. 20520 This Boston public radio station brings about 25 Phone: (202) 647-4000 Balkan print and broadcast journalists to Boston to work for two months each year. Uganda Journalists Union www.wbur.org P.O. Box 6100 890 Commonwealth Ave., Third Floor Kampala, Uganda Boston, Mass. 02215 Phone: 256-41-232-771/ 2 Phone: (617) 353-0909 Fax: 256-41-245-597 West Africa Journalists Association UNESCO, Program for the Development of Regional press-freedom group. Communication Alpha Sall, secretary general www.unesco.org/webworld/com_media/development 17, Boulevard de la Republique .html BP 21722 Communication and Information Sector Dakar, Senegal 7 Place de Fontenoy Phone: 221-842-0141/0143 75352 Paris 07 SP, France Fax: 221-842-0269 Phone: 33-1-45684320 Contact: Kabral Blay-Amihere, Ghana’s ambassador Fax: 33-1-4568583 to Sierra Leone, former head of the West Africa E-mail: [email protected] Journalists Association, [email protected].

University of Missouri School of Journalism World Association of Newspapers Training and development. The University of Monitors abuses of free press and journalists. Missouri brought Mongolian journalists to the United States for training. With the University of www.wan-press.info/pages/index.php3 Denver, it conducted training in China at the 25 rue d’Astorg Guangzhou Daily. It is interested in starting 75008 Paris, France programs in Indonesia. Involved with the Phone: 33-1-47-42-85-00 Mongolian Foundation for Open Society in a rural Fax: 33-1-47-42-49-48 radio project. E-mail: [email protected] www.journalism.missouri.edu World Bank Institute 120 Neff Hall Has done training in Ethiopia and in East Africa, Columbia, Mo. 65211-1200 and funded diversity training in Nigeria. Phone: (573) 882-4821 Fax: (573) 884-5400 www.worldbank.org/wbi/home.html E-mail: [email protected] World Bank Institute 1818 H St., NW Voice of America Washington, D.C. 20433 Conducts journalism training. Phone: (202) 473-1000 Fax: (202) 477-6391 www.voa.gov Contact: Tim Carrrington, Office of Public Affairs [email protected].

1 3 4 Contact Information for Selected Media Developers and Experts

World Free Press Institute www.macalester.edu/~wpi/ Got into Africa four years ago when the Network 1576 Summit Ave. for the Defense of Independent Media in Africa saw St. Paul, Minn. 55105 its web site and asked it to do election coverage Phone: (651) 696-6360 training. It has conducted training in Kenya, Fax: (651) 696-6306 Uganda and Tanzania with grants from the Ford E-mail: [email protected] Foundation and Frederich Ebert Stiftung. In 2001, WFPI had raised about $45,000 toward the Yerevan Press Club construction of a $150,000 Media Resource Center for African Journalists outside Nairobi. The center www.ypc.am/ would house and train stateless journalists 39/12, Mesrop Mashtots Ave. expelled from Ethiopia, Rwanda and Burundi. In 375009 Yerevan, Armenia the last three years, 63 such journalists have Phone: 374-1-53-00-67 or 53-35-41 received UNESCO support under the Refugee Care Fax: 374-1-53-56-61 or 53-76-62 and Support (Recasu) program, but they live in dispersed rented rooms and in fear of being Zambia Institute of Mass Communications arrested by corrupt Nairobi police. WFPI had a (ZAMCOM) Nairobi conference in 2002 with NDIMA. P.O. Box 50386 www.pressfreedom.org/wfpi.asp Lusaka, Zambia 2977 Ygnacio Valley Road #415 Phone: 260-1-254826 Walnut Creek, Calif. 94598 Fax: 260-1-253503 Phone: (925) 946-0872 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Contact: Mike Daka, [email protected].

World Learning Arnold Zeitlin Conducts education, training and field projects Developed Internet libraries for journalists in Asia worldwide. Founded in 1932 as the U.S. for the Freedom Forum; now is a visiting professor Experiment in International Living. in the department of journalism at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China. www.worldlearning.org [email protected] 1015 15th St. NW, Suite 750 Washington, D.C. 20005 Phone: (202) 408-5420 Fax: (202) 408-5397 E-mail: [email protected]

World Press Freedom Committee A watchdog for free news media, the WPFC monitors press freedom issues and coordinates responses to press freedom threats or restrictions. www.wpfc.org/index.jsp 11690-C Sunrise Valley Dr. Reston, Va. 20191 Phone: (703) 715-9811 Fax: (703) 620-6790 E-mail: [email protected]

World Press Institute Journalism trade organization; media developer. Brings international journalists to the United States on fellowships.

1 3 5 NOTES

1 3 6 THE MEDIA MISSIONARIES

Wachovia Financial Center Suite 3300 200 South Biscayne Boulevard Miami, Fla. 33131-2349

(305) 908-2600 www.knightfdn.org

ISBN 0-9749702-2-0