Liberian media has grown in terms of numbers, but is left wanting in terms of quality. There are more than thirty daily, weekly, bi-weekly and other sporadically-produced publications on the newsstands; twenty radio stations, six television stations and over fifty community radio stations across the country. This development points to media pluralism, but the problem associated with this growth lies with professional standards and capacities of those who man these institutions to enable them to respond to the needs of the public. There are at least three universities in the country...
IPDC Project beneficiary type: Journalists' unions
Ever since the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) took over the leadership of the Southern Africa Journalists Association (SAJA) at the launch in Johannesburg in 2006, gender equality within the media has been a priority. The focus of the Union has been, among other issues, the reduction of sexual harassment cases, enhancement of the status of women journalists, promotion of active participation of women member journalists in union affairs, equal and fair remuneration of journalists, and the safety of journalists, especially female.
Although through ZUJ’s leadership, SAJA...
South Sudan experienced a prolonged period of war, beginning in the North in 1955 and ending after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. The war led to the suppression of the mass media industry in South Sudan by the North. After the CPA, the media began to develop in South Sudan without undue Government harassment, and currently the country’s mass media industry is in its formative stage. Freedom of expression exists in law and practice, however there have been cases where journalists have been arrested and harassed by security forces whilst carrying out their...
For a long time, the Mauritanian audio-visual sector was dominated by the two state-run media outlets - Radio Mauritanie and Télévision de Mauritanie, but with the July 2010 adoption by the National Assembly of a draft bill on the liberalisation of the audio-visual sector, the media landscape has begun to change. However, despite a rather favourable environment, the Mauritanian media is unable to take full advantage of the available opportunities due to a lack of specialist and quality training for media professionals. Mauritania's first journalism school is still in the design phase, and...
In spite of India's strong constitution and judicial rulings in favour of press freedom, journalists in insurgency-affected parts of the country are often intimidated into silence by the special measures put in place by local administrations in these areas. They are frequently deterred from reporting on common issues of governance and unsure of the permissible limits of free reporting thus resulting in an inability to reflect a wide range of opinions and perceptions in their work. This project aims to address the situation by providing training workshops to 60 journalists from insurgency-...
Despite large numbers of women occupying positions in the Colombian media today, the gender divide is ever-present with female media professionals regularly subject to discrimination. At fault is a lack of interest concerning gender issues combined with a lack of organized training. For these reasons, the Colombian Federation of Journalists created FECOLPER Women's Network, an internet network created specifically for the exchange of information about gender and freedom of the press. This project aims to strengthen the institutional capacity of FECOLPER by applying UNESCO's Guidelines on...
The training of journalists has long since been a topic of debate in Haiti, with no state-run higher education institution offering a degree in the subject. The situation is particularly difficult for journalists in the communes of Saint-Marc and Mirebalais, two important towns in terms of size, location, and the number of established media outlets, since unlike their counterparts in neighboring parts of the country, they do not have access to a MINUSTAH Multimedia Centre to assist their work and exchange knowledge. This project from the Association of Haitian Journalists (AJH) will...
In recent years, Brazil has made major steps in promoting freedom of information in an effort to eliminate corruption. This was illustrated by the creation of a freedom of information law and also by the approval of a transparency law last year, which requires the publishing of all financial operations on a municipal, state and federal level. Encouraging civil society participation on the surveillance of public expenditures is crucial in avoiding corruption, and the press has the potential to occupy a major role in this endeavour, but only when journalists are capable of correctly...
Although major advances have been made in increasing media diversity and pluralism in Eastern Africa, some countries in the region continue to be subject to repressive media laws and policies curtailing media freedom. Such laws and policies create a restrictive environment for media practitioners, and impinge media development in the long term. Therefore a progressive campaign for just and democratic media laws is necessary if Eastern Africa is to make a successful transition to democracy. This project will assist in developing a network of media practitioners campaigning for media law...
In recent years, Mauritania has witnessed rapid development of its print media and audiovisual sector, with increased plurality and freedom of expression. However in spite of this favourable environment, media professionals in the country lack specialist and quality training which in turn puts particular strain on public service media due to competition within the audiovisual sector. There is also widespread discrimination against female Mauritanian journalists both in terms of their position within local media organizations and also the topics which they are chosen to report on. The aim...
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