independence
Evaluations of media independence can be categorised around two significant and distinct components. The first element concerns the role of regulatory authorities as to whether they ensure editorial independence or not. This includes institutions that license broadcasters or other content providers and platforms, and which set standards for media institutions. The second element is about resistance to political and commercial interference in the autonomy of the media sector. This entails the presence and strength of actors who fight for editorial independence and integrity, including through self-regulatory institutions, professional associations and civil society organisations. For the first element, it is important that regulatory authorities are placed outside the direct control of politicians and that government directives formally institutionalize their independence. When regulatory authorities lack distance from government leadership, and are controlled or influenced by political and commercial factions, they can be limited in performing their functions in the public interest. Ensuring the rights of regulatory authorities to determine their agency and regulatory competency within a clear legal and policy framework favouring editorial independence for journalistic enterprise, empowers regulatory authorities to perform according to a public interest rationale.
The legal framework for independent regulatory
authorities is measured by examining laws, agency statutes and rules on issues such as whether the legal provision delegating authority to an agency conforms to international norms, and whether the regulatory authority has autonomy over budget and staff. Additional important issues to evaluate include the enforcement of anti-trust and competition laws, transparency of media ownership, parameters for government advertising, and accountability requirements from executive and legislative branches in terms of oversight of media and internet regulators. The second component of media independence to consider is the extent to which media outlets and an expanding network of producers of information are able to function separately from both political and commercial interference. While the structures supporting this type of independence differ across societies, in general, for media to be independent there should be strong professional ethics that enable media organizations and professionals to perform their role, including that of being a watchdog over a plurality of interests and institutions. Such ethics often entail systems of accountability in various forms of self-regulation at enterprise, professional and/or industry level. A supporting ecology of civil society bodies is a factor in securing editorial independence in the media.
There is significant variance in the types and range of political and economic pressures around the world, making it difficult to generalize and compare. Nevertheless, several areas serve as indicators of trends in political and economic pressures that are relevant for the period considered by this study. The increasingly vocal attacks on the media, including by prominent leaders have contributed to trends around the
de-legitimation of the media sector. Changes in techniques of media capture, both with traditional media and newer media, are also relevant. In terms of economic pressures, independence is impacted on by shifts in business
models as a result of changing technologies and media consumption patterns as well as evolving concepts of professionalization, again in the context of new media.
These two aspects of independence – regulatory,
Box 3-1: UNESCO’s work to promote media independence
As the UN specialized agency with a specific mandate to defend freedom of expression, UNESCO works across the community, national and international level to foster media independence and trust in media institutions. In recent years, UNESCO has worked in the following areas:
Media organizations empowered and self-regulatory mechanisms supported Through the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), UNESCO has supported community media development worldwide.
In partnership with the European Commission, UNESCO has worked to build trust in media, promote media accountability and address online hate speech in South East Europe and Turkey by raising public awareness, supporting the establishment of media self-regulatory mechanisms and promoting media and information literacy.
Publication of the study: Fostering freedom of expression – the role of Internet intermediaries (2014) Journalism education enhanced through the development of the following guidebooks and syllabi:
The Global Investigative Journalism Casebook (2012) Climate Change in Africa: A Guidebook for Journalists (2013)
Model Curricula for Journalism Education: A Compendium of New Syllabi (2013) Teaching Journalism for Sustainable Development: New Syllabi (2015)
National assessments based on UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators have been produced in more than 20 countries, including, since 2012:
Africa: Gabon, Madagascar and South Sudan
Arab States: Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Palestine and Tunisia Asia and the Pacific: Mongolia, Myanmar and Nepal
Latin America and the Caribbean: Curaçao and Dominican Republic
More academic research produced to foster understanding of freedom of expression A Manual on Freedom of Expression and Public Order was published and implemented throughout tertiary institutions in the Arab region.
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as well as economic and political – are shifting globally, with support for the normative definition of independence diminishing in important ways. Media organizations exist in highly interconnected structures of government, political and economic interests, and professional activity. Complete independence is rare (if not impossible), but remains a mission-critical aspiration, and the extent to which media institutions are able to enjoy autonomy remains an integral part of a functioning media system.