edition-dw-akademie-in-the-service-of-the-public-functions-and-transformation-of-media-in-developing-countries-pdf

Namibia the state broadcaster undertook its management reformto a large extent on its own, while the Swedish and Germansupport focused on the reform or build-up of selectedcontent-related departments.But generally in organizations of this size it takes time todevelop and establish new ideas or technologies. Some ofthem struggle with the provision of elementary equipmentlike computers just as with the introduction of new workflows. And they are completely at a loss with regard to bigchallenges like the upcoming digital switchover in the TVsector. The cases of the multimedia department in Moldovaand the internet and mobile services in Kyrgyzstan and Serbiashow however that some innovative approaches have been realized.Media development actors overall can do more here, itseems, by integrating innovation, technological support, andsustainable media development into broader PSM strategies.The question of financing was generally not in the focus ofthe media development work, although it is a crucial issue. Inone case, Kyrgyzstan, financial audits were held to make betteruse of the budget and identify new ways of funding. And insome cases the media organizations and their governing bodiesinitiated a process of financial restructuring, independentlyof any support, as in the cases of Namibia and Mongolia.General human resources management in the PSM has alsoso far been a smaller issue in the interventions overall. Thisfinding is a surprise given the fact that the large size of thestaff and the usually rather limited financial means is one ofthe major problems of many (former) state broadcasters.Needless to say, this issue is one of the difficult ones in thetransformation process. Even if it is legally or socially impossibleto dismiss a large number of the staff, other paths needto be identified. For example, the staff’s ownership of changeprocesses in these organizations has, for the most part, notbeen dealt with adequately. As elaborated in chapter 13, peopleworking in a large organization need to be given the occasionto understand and actively take part in reform. Overallthere are as yet very few cases in which media developmenthas managed to support processes of organizational development.But it can now build upon the experience garnered inKyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, and Serbia.Social participationIn the cases we assessed here some PSM have made efforts toadvance the participation of citizens. We can differentiate twoareas here: Firstly, the participation of citizens from differentpopulation groups in the organization and its programming;and secondly, the appearance and participation of civil societytherein.In our case studies a number of new participatory formatsfor minorities, and also for the public at large, were developedwith the support of media development organizations. Theaforementioned cases of Moldova and Namibia show thatnew channels and formats for children and young peoplecan be developed, as well as new multimedia departmentsthat allow for new forms of interaction. Overall, however, thejournalistic skill of including ordinary people in the reportingand giving them a voice, for example through sound bites,storytelling or discussion formats, remains a challenge. A lotmore can be done in this domain, not only through journalistictraining, but also through capacity building of staff withrespect to PSM and its obligations.In some cases the media development organizations haveturned away from the objective of transformation but continuedtheir work with the state broadcaster, focusing on certainareas. In Afghanistan BBC Media Action has limited itsengagement to establishing national dialogue formats at RTA.This concept, which has also been applied in several othercountries, has proven to be very successful. The dialogues attractthe population and encourage it to participate. At thesame time, these new formats are intended as lighthouseprojects within the state broadcaster that have influence onother departments.In spite of their immediate and impressive success, thesedialogue concepts remain somewhat limited with respect tothe question of sustainability. Once the project is over, it remainsuncertain if the media outlet will be able to continueproducing these special formats or to advance the reform processin other domains.As far as the strengthening of civil society is concerned, ouranalyses overall do not show much progress. There are onlya few positive examples in which civil society was seriouslyand successfully integrated in transformation processes. Kyrgyzstanis one of them. In Moldova civil society was active onthe governing board but was disappointed overall by the slowtransformation process. Here again, more fundamental workby media development actors is called for. After all, a transformationwithout the active involvement of civil society seemshardly possible. And media development needs to take thetime for such long-term processes.In sum, media development actors have in the past beenable to support journalists and technical staff in state broadcastersand PSM through training activities. They were involvedin the restructuring of the related newsrooms andother departments, and this has also successfully helped todevelop new formats for journalistic content. But all in allthe international media experts have provided the trainingand consultancy themselves, instead of supporting capacitybuilding and human resources structures in or near the supportedmedia outlets.Generally, it seems that a large part of the more complexprocesses were pursued and advanced by the partners in thecountries themselves, such as the legal reforms and the variousactivities related to the governing board, as well as thestructural change within the broadcaster. In a small numberof cases media development actors managed to successfullyplay their role as catalysts and moderators of these processes,but in many others it seems they never got this far. Overallmany limitations of the transformation processes are related282