It is a well known fact that media has played a vital role in shaping the lives of communities and countries around the world. But the fact remains whether the media in a particular community or country has the required freedom to undertake the unbiased reporting. There are many issues concerning proper and justified flow of information from the media to people.
It is quite right that the media must have the freedom to report without fear of censorship, retribution, or violence. At the same time for any democracy to be successful, the media persons also need to be professionally trained for effective and good reporting. Moreover, it is also important that the journalists get to work in professionally managed organizations that honour editorial independence. In the modern times, people want news from different sources that offer reliable and objective news, and communities also need legal and social norms that promote access to public information.
Media is not only about reporting the facts, but it also helps people take decisions that are important not only for them but also other countries and future generations. It is a powerful and critical tool for ensuring that citizens understand the state of their community, country, and world. For any democracy to be successful, effective reporting is critical based on the fact that the citizens are equipped to participate in the democratic process. Media also gives people a voice and helps to hold governments and institutions accountable for their actions. Media is also the way to spread critical community messages, such as how to prevent HIV infection, where to vote in the next election, and how to address difficult issues with balanced, well-informed analysis so as to promote peace and tolerance.
It is also very important that we need to know how well (or poorly) the media sector in a particular country or community is functioning, and how its progress can be gauged? Considering the need to gauge the effectiveness and progress of media, USAID has supported comprehensive, multi-year assessments carried out by IREX, which are reported in the Media Sustainability Index (MSI). The tool analyzes challenges in the media sector by country and allows for tracking of progress from year-to-year. In this way, it helps USAID to better identify media development gaps and possible areas for technical assistance. The 2009 edition of the MSI for Africa is now available, and editions are also available for the Europe & Eurasia and Middle East regions. With multiple years of surveys now completed, the tool spurs discussion and understanding of both the current status of the media in a given country and region as well as the trends over time.
The MSI is both a quantitative and qualitative tool. It draws on a set of panels composed of local media and civil society experts from each country, and the resulting index assesses five objectives important to a successful media system, which include the quality and professionalism of journalism as well as the management and independence of media businesses. The results also capture the rapidly changing new media landscape on the continent.
MSI’s data is used by a variety of advocacy and human rights groups, as well as USAID, other donors, and academics who are interested in tracking the role of the media in larger development processes. Findings from the MSI can inform how we channel our resources; for example, the latest edition of the MSI reveals that weak business management and professional journalism skills are some of the key factors challenging the media sector in African countries today. In response, USAID programming in countries such as Liberia, Nigeria, and the DRC are better cultivating local skills and building the professional capacity of media.
MSI Tool can be downloaded from the link.
