Press Releases

Key Role of Media in Development Outlined in New Book

Global Forum for Media Development Launches Media Matters at DC Event

(May 10, 2007)  Independent media face many constraints ranging from restrictive legal environments to physical attacks on journalists, but they play a central role in exposing corruption and improving governance, according to World Bank economist Daniel Kaufmann.

As the featured speaker at a panel discussion in Washington, DC on May 2, Kaufmann introduced a new publication of the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), saying, “The title puts it starkly: Media Matters. And I would expand that to say ‘media freedom matters.’”

Kaufmann, who is Director of Global Programs and Governance at the World Bank Institute, shared research showing that countries with a free press have a 70% chance of controlling corruption, while those without a free press have only a 10% chance of doing so.

The panel discussion was organized by the Center for International Media Assistance, a project of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). In his welcoming remarks, Carl Gershman, President of the NED, noted that the event was held the day before World Press Freedom Day. Introducing the publication Media Matters, he said, “This is a remarkable compilation of documents explaining why this work is so important.”

The Global Forum for Media Development is a worldwide effort to build a formal community of organizations and individuals who work in the field of media assistance. Media Matters: Perspectives on Advancing Governance and Development from the Global Forum for Media Development, runs to 220 pages and is an authoritative collection of 30 articles, arguments and case-studies from leading political scientists and media support professionals.

These include a stark warning from then-UN Under Secretary General Shashi Tharoor that the alternative to a global media that embraces the real diversity of our world may be marked by increased extremism. The publication features analyses of major trends in media across Africa, Asia, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and Latin America.  

The event also featured remarks by Internews Network President David Hoffman, who serves as Chair of the GFMD steering committee.

“We talk a lot about the information revolution,” Hoffman said. “In the West, we tend to think of it as the gadgets we carry around. But we have the potential to have a real information revolution now, in our lifetimes—to bring access to information to everyone on the planet. If you’re robbed of your voice and cannot speak, you’re robbed of your dignity.”

Congressman Adam Schiff, Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus for the Freedom of the Press, moderated most of the two-hour event, which was held in the US Capitol Building. “Freedom of expression and access to information are pivotal to a working democracy,” he said.

Panelist Myroslava Gongadze, a journalist for Voice of America, told the chilling story of the 2000 kidnapping and murder of her husband, Ukrainian investigative journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. Other speakers included Joyce Barnathan, President of the International Center for Journalists; Mauricio Herrera Ulloa, investigative journalist for Costa Rica’s La Nación; and Mark Pomar, President of IREX.

FOR MORE INFORMATION :