Media Development
UNESCO’s approach to media development includes tailored activities that are context-sensitive, and which also take account of the challenges and opportunities created by the rapidly changing media environment. The special-purpose International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) is a unique multilateral forum in the UN system that mobilises the international community to support media in developing countries through a grant-making process.
IPDC’s Council, comprising 39 UNESCO member states, is also the forum where UNESCO’s Director-General submits a Report on The Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.
The IPDC Media Development Indicators (MDI) are a comprehensive research tool that highlights gaps in media development and so informs public policy and donor strategies. The MDI research findings, along with the reports on thousands of IPDC projects to date, add to IPDC’s initiative for “knowledge-driven media development”.
Supporting journalism education is an important part of developing a free and independent media, and UNESCO promotes excellence in journalism schools worldwide and innovative curricula in order to assist the teaching of new subject areas and literacies for journalists.