Media development
Media development involves capacity building for institutions or individuals related to freedom of expression, pluralism and diversity of media, as well as transparency of media ownership. Media development plays a role in democracy and effective democratic discourse through supporting free and independent media.
Support for Media Development[edit]
International donors and other organizations often include support for media development as part of their overall support to international economic and democratic development. Typical efforts to develop independent media development include: journalist training and education; support for and advice on improving the legal and business environment for media; efforts to improve the sustainability of existing outlets; media literacy training; digital media training and integration; infrastructure development; and monitoring and evaluation efforts.
Media development vs. media for development[edit]
Some development organizations and experts make a distinction between media development and media for development. Support for "Media development" refers to efforts to directly improve the media in a society (through the means mentioned above). "Media for development" refers to using existing media to convey messages about specific development issues. Such efforts include many ICT for Development (ICT4D) projects. Media for Development has been applied to education, healthcare, business, disaster relief, corruption, minority empowerment, and local community engagement, among other development goals.