OECD: Media Freedom Coalition Statement on the OECD Development Assistance Committee’s Media and Information Principles

The undersigned members of the Media Freedom Coalition welcome the adoption by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC) of new Development Co-operation Principles for Relevant and Effective Support to Media and the Information Environmenton 22 March.

Independent media around the world face unprecedented threats. Rising disinformation and polarisation, attacks on journalists, censorship, challenging and evolving business environments, media capture and declining trust in journalism are combining to pose an existential threat to free and independent media, information integrity and to democracy itself. In this context, additional and more flexible funding and other capacity support to the media are sorely needed.

The Media Freedom Coalition, through its Media Development Working Group, has responded to this challenge by helping to develop new principles, which set out how donors can improve both the quality and quantity of their financial and other assistance to the media sector. We are delighted that these principles, substantiated by a global consultation process led by the Global Forum for Media Development and the Consultative Network of media freedom NGOs, have now been further developed and adopted by the OECD DAC. The members of the Media Freedom Coalition are in an excellent position to strongly support the implementation of these principles. Collective implementation of the principles offers the prospect that independent media will be safeguarded and global information integrity preserved.

Signed: