Reactions to Principles Adoption
Relevant resources about the OECD’s adoption of the Development Cooperation Principles on Relevant and Effective Support to Media and the Information Environment
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Relevant resources about the OECD’s adoption of the Development Cooperation Principles on Relevant and Effective Support to Media and the Information Environment
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“Independent media and a healthy information ecosystem are foundational to protecting democracy and development gains and must be a high priority for international cooperation,” said Nick Benequista, Senior Director at the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) at the National Endowment for Democracy. “We hope that these principles represent a turning point for aid to the media sector.”
The members of the Media Freedom Coalition are in an excellent position to strongly support the implementation of these principles. Collective implementation of the principles offers the prospect that independent media will be safeguarded, and global information integrity preserved.
Going forward, members of the Network on Governance of the OECD DAC will discuss the implementation of the principles every two years based on voluntary reports. As part of its planned State of Media Development Report, DW Akademie is looking into the possibility of developing a tool for the sector to track the implementation of the principles.
"A big thing just happened. The West’s major donor countries adopted principles for more and better support to journalism in developing countries. In 2026, they will review any progress made. After two years, civil society action by the Global Forum for Media Development built enough momentum to get 32 donor country reps to agree the principles. Kudos! It happened on 22 March at the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Fifty member countries of the Media Freedom Coalition have also since signed up. The OECD principles follow research showing that total annual donor funding allocated to media and the information environment is only 0.5% of the total Official Development Assistance. Germany and the UK claim higher fractions, but this is because they brazenly include as “development spending” allocations to the Deutsche Welle and the BBC World Service. What actually goes towards media in developing countries is only 8% of the 0.5%. In a massive understatement, the OECD recognises that this is “insufficient to address the challenges...”. Exactly. Where’s the logic of putting aid into health or schooling, yet ignoring support for journalism to monitor accountability for what happens on the ground? The current proportions in funding need radical revision – especially when media is in crisis, and when developing countries have not just information deficits, but are facing floods of disinformation." said in his LinkedIn post Guy Berger, former UNESCO Director.
At the conclusion of their annual meeting in Copenhagen, the Board of Directors of WAN-IFRA issued a series of resolutions addressing critical issues facing the global media landscape. Acknowledging the recently updated OECD Development Co-operation Principles for Relevant and Effective Support to Media and the Information Environment,
Drawing specific focus on Section 3 of the ‘Principles’, outlining the need for a ‘whole of system approach’ for support to the media and information environment,
Welcoming the inclusion of media representative bodies in this ‘whole of system approach’,
Recognising one of WAN-IFRA’s unique strengths as a global representative body for the world’s press is its member network of national media associations.
