Media Task Force

Work Plan and Achievables 2002

Summary

The Media Task Force (MTF) of the Stability Pact works closely with groups of media professionals in eight SEE countries to promote necessary measures for media reform and stimulate targeted and cost-effective assistance. Cooperation and coordination with local organisations with a proven track-record are crucial in the work of the MTF.

In the past year, the MTF has developed an overall strategy for media assistance, country-based Action Plans, reviewed and selected projects and generated support for these projects through cooperation with various donors. An overview is annexed. Additionally, the MTF has worked with local groups to develop eight programmes to improve the legal framework for the media. Combined, these activities should lead to various new draft laws and amendments to existing legislation, cross-border quality television productions and increased local journalism training capacity. The sections on short term goals and medium term goals contain concrete information on these achievement indicators.

Background

The media have an important role to play in the future of Southeast Europe. Discussion and democracy depend on diversity in the media. Corruption can be exposed by investigative journalism. Responsible and balanced reporting can change the image of minorities and promote reconciliation.

Whilst progress has been made, much is to be gained. Specific media laws – guaranteeing access to information, protection against libel suits, independence of regulators and public broadcasters and a level playing field for all – have to be adopted and implemented. The transition of state to public broadcasters should proceed. Private media suffer from economic dependence and need to become self-sustainable. Associations should gain strength and foster cooperation. Regional networks have to be created in order to encourage the flow of information.

The Media Task Force (MTF) works to assist this development. It is a collaborative effort, combining donor countries, international (non-governmental) organizations as well as recipient countries, represented in eight Media Working Groups.

It is likely and comprehensible that support to media in SEE will decrease in the years to come. This makes it even more important to make the best use of available resources. To ensure targeted assistance to media development, the Media Task Force believes it is important to:

• Involve local media professionals in the assessment of projects; to avoid duplication, unwanted assistance and failure.
• Stimulate assistance to local organisations with a proven track-record; to be more cost-effective and contribute to self-sustainability of local organisations.
• Forge closer cooperation between donors, existing (local) organisations donors and government representatives.
  

Achievements

To ensure a continuous feedback from local professionals, the Media Task Force works closely with groups of local media experts in SEE.

Together with these groups, the MTF has designed an overall Strategy for Media Assistance to SEE, prepared country-based action plans for media development, generated carefully selected projects and proposed these for funding. Through the Media Working Groups, the MTF also works with governmental authorities in SEE to take necessary measures for reform.

To date, Media Working Groups have been established in Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Moldova and Albania. Most are comprised of media professionals, members of the civil society and governmental representatives. In some cases, participation of the state-owned media and local authorities is limited.

The Strategy for Media Assistance has been adopted at the Media Task Force meeting held on 10 October 2001. It serves as a guiding document, addresses a wide variety of problems and proposes various courses of action. All aim at a long-term impact and benefit the media at large.

Country-specific Action Plans have been prepared for Bulgaria, Croatia, FYROM, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Action Plans are more specific and address in detail unresolved legislative issues, economic concerns, the status of state/public television and needs for increased professionalism.
Beginning 2002, a first round of projects has been reviewed by local experts and the secretariat of the Media Task Force. Eventually, 13 projects were recommended for international support. Of these, 11 have been funded with a total amount of over €3 million.

Recommended by local experts, these projects have a regional impact and most are implemented by local organisations. The projects will bring about regional cooperation between media outlets, improved legislation, quality productions of television programmes and increased capacity for local journalism training.
Additionally, eight projects are under way which have been directly proposed by the Media Working Groups. The groups identified pressing problems in the legal and regulatory field, proposed measures to address these problems and suggested local organisations to carry out the project. The US-government intends to support one project per country. The activities should be finalised by end 2002 and bring concrete results. Examples include a broadcasting frequency map for Albania, an access to information law in Montenegro, contractual rights for journalists in Bosnia-Herzegovina and a draft broadcast law in FYROM. (See below, short term goals)

In the Charter for Media Freedom, adopted by the members of the Stability Pact at Thessaloniki on 8 June 2000, governments acknowledged the need to include the media community itself in the process of carrying out reforms. In practice, this takes place through governmental representatives in the Media Working Groups.
For example, the group in FYROM held consultations with representatives from the government and parliament on the development of new broadcast legislation. Members from the group in Croatia actively work with the Ministry of Culture to improve broadcast regulations. The group in Montenegro cooperates closely with the Ministry of Information, resulting in joint activities in drafting new media laws. Representatives from the parliament and government actively take part in the discussions and recommendations from the group in Albania.

On a sideline, the Media Task Force executive secretary is regularly consulted by donors / MFA’s on a variety of issues: possible (bilateral) support to media development projects, requests for background notes for (deputy) ministers when meeting their Southeast-European counterparts or general media policy advice.
Consultation and cooperation can be enhanced further, by forging closer cooperation with the EC regarding the media assistance under the CARDS programme, by giving wider distribution to the recommendations and proposals from the Media Working Groups and by ensuring increased (political) backup for their activities and proposals.

Short term goals - end 2002

The following projects – as proposed by the Media Working Groups and supported by the US-government - will be finalised by the end of this year.

• FYROM: draft Law on Broadcasting to replace existing legislation and create an independent regulatory body, a level playing field for broadcasters and promote transformation of the state- to public broadcaster.
• Montenegro: draft Free Access to Information Law, which currently does not exist in Montenegro.
• Serbia: finalising work on Broadcast Law and Public Information Law.
• Albania: prepare country-wide map of frequencies and transmitters to be used by National Council for Radio and Television for the fair allocation of frequencies.
• Bosnia-Herzegovina: research into contractual rights of journalists; preparation of a model contract for labour rights and employer-employee relations in media outlets.
• Bulgaria: develop new set of definitions to be inserted in existing media legislation.
• Croatia: develop and propose amendments to existing legislation in the Telecommunication Law draft Media Law and draft Law on Electronic Media. Implementing organisation to cooperate closely with relevant ministries.
  

A Media Working Group was recently established in Moldova. Given serious problems for the media, similar activities also need to be developed for Moldova. An action plan is being prepared by the group.
Among the projects endorsed by the MTF and the Media Working Groups (Annex 3) are several activities which are to be finalised by the end of 2002. These include training of journalism trainers (investigative reporting, computer assisted reporting), hands-on education of teachers at journalism faculties and production of programmes aimed at reconciliation. Some other programmes (such as ‘Video letters’ and ‘Confrontation with the Truth’) will take more time to finish.

The Council of Europe continues its Stability Pact media programme, after receiving support through the Media Task Force from Luxembourg, Italy, Germany, Norway and The Netherlands. The Council of Europe will review legislation, cooperate in drafting laws and provide training in implementation.
Medium term goals (end 2003)

The promising cooperation between the Media Working Groups, the MTF and the US-government (see above) should be expanded with support from other donors. In other words: additional assistance for proposals coming straight from the Media Working Groups, provided these proposals address concrete and pressing problems and bring tangible results. A start has been made, with Switzerland offering support to the newly established Media Working Group in Moldova.

One of the projects which received support through the MTF addresses the problem of defamation. The goal is to promote legislative changes which will decriminalize defamation in Bulgaria, Montenegro and Romania.
Support for (television) production regularly combines regional cooperation, on the job training and concrete results (the programmes). Through the MTF, at least 30 hours of programmes – mainly aimed at reconciliation – in minimally three countries should be produced.

Results of professional training are difficult to measure. Given the plethora of short-term international trainings that have been conducted over the past decade, it is important to stimulate local training institutes (faculties, journalism centers) with a good track-record to ensure their sustainability.

Since regional cooperation between media outlets can help to lower costs and increase quality, the Media Task Force will review and suggest additional activities. Examples include sharing advertising acquisition, joint programme production or exchange of material.

Together with the Media Working Groups, the MTF will in 2003 review projects aimed at these four priorities: legislation, production, training and cooperation. Again, focus will be on local organization with a proven track-record. The review should result in at least ten projects which meet all criteria and will receive international support.

Long term goals

The development of a diverse and economically solid media landscape is a longer process, depending also on domestic economical and political developments.

However, targeted media assistance can speed up this process. As said, it is the aim of the Media Task Force to promote such assistance by enhancing local ownership and improving cooperation between donors, media professionals, government representatives and NGO’s.

The goals are clear enough: local organizations (training, professional associations) need to become self-sustainable, legislation needs to be up to international standards, numerous private media outlets have to become financially viable or otherwise face closure.