NED established the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) in 2006 with encouragement from the U.S. Congress, which hoped that such an initiative would create a solid base of knowledge about the growing but not well understood field of media assistance. Two years later, CIMA published a volume entitled Empowering Independent Media, which provided a comprehensive look at both the key issues in the field as well as its latest findings and developments. Not surprisingly, the volume's recommendations became essential reading for policy makers, donors, and implementers on how to strengthen all aspects of media assistance.
Topic:
Civil Society, Human Rights, Communications, and Mass Media
The job of Mexican journalists covering drug trafficking and organized crime along the Mexico- U.S. border has regularly been called the most dangerous job in the world. And the danger has spread from journalists for traditional media to bloggers and citizens who post reports on drug cartel violence through social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The danger is not just from drug cartels, however. Journalists often identified local politicians and police– frequently in the pay of the cartels– as the source of most of the threats.
Topic:
Political Violence, Crime, Mass Media, and Narcotics Trafficking
Digital media are disrupting every aspect of modern society, rebooting traditional practices and jumpstarting new disciplines ranging from telemedicine to robotic assembly lines. Along the way, they are rattling hierarchies, making blunders, and fomenting miracles.
Topic:
Development, Government, Science and Technology, and Mass Media
Is there a link between a free media and good governance? Does the existence of a responsible, balanced press reduce corruption? Is the state more accountable in countries with a pluralistic media? Is the media democracy's magic bullet?
Topic:
Corruption, Democratization, Development, Mass Media, and Governance
For two years running, Pakistan has been ranked by international media monitors as the most dangerous place on earth for journalists. Media workers have been kidnapped, tortured, and beaten to death for delving into the nation's potent military apparatus and spy agencies. Bodies have been found with throats slit and flesh punctured with electric drills by Islamic militants, political extremists, and gangsters who take umbrage at what they write.
Topic:
Security, Political Violence, Torture, Mass Media, and Fragile/Failed State
The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), at the National Endowment for Democracy, works to strengthen the support, raise the visibility, and improve the effectiveness of independent media development throughout the world. The Center provides information, builds networks, conducts research, and highlights the indispensable role independent media play in the creation and development of sustainable democracies. An important aspect of CIMA's work is to research ways to attract additional U.S. private sector interest in and support for international media development. The Center was one of the of the main nongovernmental organizers of World Press Freedom Day 2011 in Washington, DC.
Topic:
Development, Science and Technology, International Affairs, Communications, and Mass Media
In early 2011, the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) launched a research project to explore shifts in funding patterns for international freedom of expression activity. Twenty-one major donors responded to a survey, which was supplemented by eight in-depth interviews with donors and additional research on trends in Europe and the United States.
Topic:
Civil Society, Human Rights, International Affairs, Mass Media, and Foreign Aid
A local reporter details allegations that a ruling party official had demanded bribes from local businesses; ten days later, police conduct their own interviews and arrest the official.
Topic:
Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Mass Media, and Foreign Aid
Freedom of expression and of the press in much of Latin America are under sustained attack by numerous authoritarian governments in the region, as well as non-state armed actors such as drug trafficking organizations and paramilitary groups. These attacks have made Latin America one of the most dangerous places in the world in which to be a journalist. Overall, the region, with the exception of the Caribbean, has suffered an almost uninterrupted deterioration of press freedoms over the past five years, reaching its lowest point since the military dictatorships of the 1980s.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Mass Media, and Governance
The legal environment in which a media outlet operates is a crucial factor in its success. Rules and regulations can hinder or enable the growth of media and restrict or promote particular kinds of content. A liberal and empowering legal regime will allow media to publish hard-hitting investigative reports and fulfill their function as watchdog of democratic society without fear of legal sanction, thus helping to make governments more accountable. This is a public good lost to citizens of countries with restrictive legal regimes.
Topic:
Development, Terrorism, Third World, Mass Media, and Law