Media support: aid funding does not match donor rhetoric
Laure-Hélène Piron (TPP Director) presented her analysis of official development assistance to media and the information environment to the Governance Network of the OECD Development Assistance Committee on 6 March 2024.
The draft report can be read here. It shows that the rhetoric of governments which support freedom of expression and condemn disinformation is not matched by sufficient resources. ODA for media and the information environment has increased since 2002, reaching USD 1.2 billion in 2021, but this only represented 0.5% of total ODA in that year. When infrastructure support is excluded, ODA for media fluctuated around USD 500 million a year since 2008 (representing 0.24% of total ODA in 2021). This is despite the growth of threats facing media, such as the rise of censorship and the dominance of technology platforms.
And not enough aid directly reaches local organisations. Only up to 8% of ODA for media and the information environment (so 8% of the 0.5% of total ODA) is directly channelled to media organisations in partner countries, such as journalists, media outlets or civil society organisations working with media or on access to information.
Political economy analysis from a community level perspective
Based on his experiences in Kenya and Nepal, TPP Associate Richard Holloway argues that community level political economy analyses need to be carried out by local actors who have some “skin in the game” to solve local issues.
Artificial intelligence will turbocharge the spread of disinformation – and development organisations need to respond
The development sector has been too slow to invest in the healthy news media and “information ecosystems” on which healthy societies depend. Nick Benequista (Center for International Media Assistance), Laure-Hélène Piron (The Policy Practice), and Cristina Ordóñez (Trust, Accountability and Inclusion Collaborative) say new OECD principles on supporting media integrity should be a prompt to act in the face of growing manipulation and suppression.
An event was held to discuss the report on 11th June - the full recording can be seen here.
Webinar 11 June 2024: Funding for Information and Media: Government, Private Philanthropy, and Beyond
This event aims to explore the crucial role of information ecosystems in development and governance, discuss key findings on the flow of official development assistance and philanthropic funds from three recent funding mappings, and foster a dialogue on addressing funding gaps.
Laure-Hélène Piron, TPP Director, will share findings of the study she has completed for the OECD Governance Network analysing official development assistance to media and the information environment since 2002.
The full recording of the 11 June 2024 event can be seen here.