Media Development: Not a PR Exercise

This entry from Anne-Katrin Arnold in the blogs.worldbank.org website voices the thinking that donors need to distinguish between media development and communication for development. "Communication for development means the use of communication tools - usually in the form of awareness raising campaigns - to achieve development goals. Media development, on the other hand, is about supporting an independent media sector in and of itself, it's a structural approach."

This distinction, from Shanthi Kalathil's "Toolkit for Independent Media Development," is further described: "Media development starts from the assumption that the media have an important role in the state as they hold those in power accountable and provide citizens with information that they need to actively participate in the political sphere. Only an independent and free media system can achieve this." This approach includes developing the capacity of journalists, the sustainability of independent media markets, and the legal environment of media freedom guarantees. "So it's about capacity, sustainability, and legislation. Media development takes a systemic perspective, treating media as a sector."

"Communication for development is about process. Many development projects in health and education use communication tools to get their messages across, hoping to raise awareness about issues and, eventually, to change norms and behaviors. South Africa, for instance, has taken advantage of the general attention to the World Cup to drive HIV campaigns...."

"While both perspectives are relevant for development, they require different approaches and different skill sets. Media development is about capacity and coalition building on a grand scale, including lobbying for legislation and support for a sustainable market. To do communication for development successfully, a deep understanding of opinion formation and behavior change is necessary. Donors invested in promoting accountability and good governance need both, but should not throw both into one pot and leave it all to their PR [public relations]departments to deal with."