INTERNEWS® NETWORK is an international non-profit organization that works to improve access to information for people around the world by fostering independent media and promoting open communications policies in the public interest. Internews’ programs are built on the conviction that providing people with access to vibrant, diverse news and information empowers them to participate effectively in their communities, effect positive social change, improve their living standards, and make their voices heard.

Internews recognizes that poverty of information remains a fundamental challenge for human development and that reducing information poverty must become central to any development strategy. Unequal access to information inhibits the growth of civil society and good governance, which in turn reinforces corruption, fosters conflict, degrades the environment, exacerbates problems in public health, and increases poverty.

In 2007, Internews will celebrate its 25th year. Since 1982 Internews has worked in 70 countries spanning Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Internews pioneered the field of media development following the collapse of the Soviet Union, by helping fledgling television stations get on the air. Since then, Internews has worked with more than 4,000 independent television and radio stations and print publications. Internews has helped to create 46 broadcast networks and more than 100 professional media associations. Internews trains more than 9,000 media professionals each year, nearly half of them women.

Internews achievements include creating the only radio network in Afghanistan, training local journalists and disc jockeys how to report on HIV/AIDS and other public health issues in Africa and Asia, broadcasting coverage of international war crimes tribunals, and much more.