In the last 20 years, Vietnam’s media landscape has expanded rapidly in terms of platforms, publications, journalists and audience. The media’s role as a government watchdog has increased and it now plays an important role in the fight against corruption. However, despite laws purportedly protecting the freedoms of speech and of the media, journalists cannot work safely and independently without fear of being threatened or even killed.
This project aims to promote the safety of journalists by developing:
(i) a so-called Guidelines for Peer Assistance for the Safety of...
IPDC project priority: Promoting Freedom of Expression and Media Pluralism
Since gaining independence in the 1990s, Tanzania’s media sector has grown rapidly and it is now one of the most developed in the region. However, women are largely absent as media owners. Private media houses, which comprise the bulk of media houses in Tanzania, are owned almost exclusively by men. The proposed project therefore seeks to help Tanzania reach its commitment to gender equality in and through media. The UNESCO Gender Sensitive Indicators for Media would be used to assess the level of gender mainstreaming in 14 community radios in Tanzania. The findings would then be used to...
Although China’s media sector has grown explosively over the past few years, the legal framework under which the media operates remains underdeveloped. It is therefore essential to pay more attention to the development of China’s legal framework for media and freedom of expression.
In 2013, a round of the annual Price Media Law Moot Court Competition was successfully held in China. Established in 2008, this Programme aims to foster interest in, and informed debate about, international law governing freedom of expression issues. It serves as a training exercise, requiring...
Journalists in Malawi face considerable risks to their safety as they conduct their professional duties. Restrictive media laws are in place and some journalists are not aware of the full implication of these laws, which exposes them to even greater danger. For example, during the protests on 20 July 2011 about issues of human rights and poor governance, police ordered a crackdown on journalists attempting to cover the event and reportedly beat, arrested and harassed some of them. The state broadcasting regulator also directed three independent radio stations to stop coverage of the...
Although Mongolia has a plethora of media outlets (more than 400), few are community-owned and run. The internationally-accepted concept of community media is not recognized under Mongolian law and no spectrum is reserved for community broadcasters. It was only between 2011 and 2012 that the first ten self-defined community radios were established (thanks to a UNESCO project). However, a complex license application process hinders spontaneous community initiatives, which may prevent the further growth of community media in Mongolia. Furthermore, most community media outlets are registered...
Zambia’s growing community media sector, which boasts 60 radio stations and 6 print entities, is regarded as an important tool for community and grassroots development. These media outlets are responsive to their audiences and have established themselves as frontline sources of information and platforms of communication for the communities in their coverage areas.
However, community media journalists are increasingly subject to incidents of intimidation and harassment and there have also been arrests and domestic censorship of some online newspapers. Most of these journalists...
There have been many recent cases of the Nepalese media failing to comply with norms of pluralism and gender equality. As a result, Nepal’s marginalized groups (namely women and ethnic/religious minorities) lack trust in the media and often feel their issues are not dealt with fairly. This project will therefore train journalists to promote gender equality and pluralism in the Nepali media so that they can provide balanced coverage on issues regarding marginalized and excluded communities. This project will contribute to a more objective, free, pluralistic and progressive media that will...
The Ethiopian media is a very recent phenomenon, mainly consisting of state-controlled radio and television. Addis Ababa City Administration Community Media (FM 96.3) is one of the few community radio stations in the country. It serves 1.5 million people across a 105 km radius, providing 18 hours of daily transmission in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. However, its journalists lack professional skills.
The proposed project aims to address this gap by training volunteer journalists, reporters, editors and technicians at FM 96.3 to be able to produce high quality...
Nepal’s media sector is large and growing rapidly. However, many people are entering the sector without even basic journalism training. This is because there are few journalism training institutes in Nepal. To address this shortcoming and thereby improve the quality of the media sector in Nepal, this project will train new journalists from five districts of Nepal.
Fesmedia Africa's 2010 media barometer reveals that the journalism training at the University of Antananarivo does not include refresher programmes even though graduating students experience difficulties due to pedagogical shortcomings and gaps in the content of the initial training programmes. Furthermore, among the media professionals, the vast majority (more than 700) are trained on the job. One consequence of this is the plethora of articles based on sensationalism and a dull report of facts. This project aims to strengthen the capacity of a national pool of instructors from 6 public...
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