The Media Missionaries

4. RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE (CONTINUED)

LESSONS LEARNED

• Most importantly, it is unwise for foreigners to impose a foreign-government-run media operation on a country and expect it to have credibility as an "independent" local media voice.
• Too much money poured in too fast, with too little planning or coordination.
• The focus should have been more on the quality than the quantity of media outlets established. "The very number of media organs and international media projects dilute the impact of alternative media," the ICG report concluded.
• One-time equipment donations don't ensure the survival of a particular medium, but instead make the media owner a little richer. In the future, such equipment should remain the property of the donor to be sure it will be used as specified, the ICG report proposed.
• "If a project is worth backing, it should be given sufficient financial support to make it a long-term success, including if necessary, money to pay salaries," the report concluded.

To be sure, a scorched postwar landscape is hardly fertile ground for civil society and its key facilitator, public mission media. Even the heroic Oslobodjenje newspaper, celebrated in the USA for its publication every day during the siege of Sarajevo, has fallen on hard times in today's corrupt, internationally-run state.

The "enabling environment" in which independent media can flourish still doesn't exist in much of the Balkans. Soros' OSI finds that direct subsidies to media in Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia still are necessary. In other countries, however, OSI has reduced operational support and is turning to more legal and policy reforms, and support for minority media.

CONCLUSION: ANY SIGNS OF PROGRESS?

It would be a mistake to assess too harshly the media development and training work done in this region so far, or to be too pessimistic about the future. Communism had decades to establish itself, and democracy may take just as long. There are trained journalists in place throughout Russia and the newly independent states, thanks in large part to these altruistic media development efforts. Many locals are organized into journalism associations that fight for better media laws and work with the U.S. and other media developers to slowly bring open media to the post-Communist world. Even a civic journalism project is underway in a number of Russian cities, including Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region, where the TV station R-40 is working with the Rybinsk regional court to establish a system of justices of the peace.26

Sometimes even the most embattled journalists manage to break free at important moments, like Rustavi-2 in Georgia and the Independent Broadcasters Association in Ukraine. (See country reports, below.) The free expression organizations and reporters' rights groups, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, have a vital role to play in these countries.

Perhaps the biggest success story is in Poland, where major broadcasters and print media are not only relatively free from government control, but are economically independent. Gazeta Wyborcza paid off enormously for the Poles and the Americans who invested in it, and its corruption stories have toppled government officials.

RUSSIA, CEE LESSONS LEARNED AND UNMET NEEDS

1. Stay in for the long haul. Early media training programs in the post-Communist world were faulted for focusing on capital cities and one-time workshops with little systematic follow-up; they needed better language skills and integration of local resources, according to a study for USAID. (28)

2. Sustainability is the next big hurdle. The survival of independent media in countries where politicians or oligarchs are abusing them for their own self-interest depends on finding an alternative source of influence. This can come from a combination of economic independence, international support and pressure, and local public support. Continued local public defense of independent media will evolve only with a more professional and self-critical press corps. In the frontier nations of Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, and their neighboring republics, it is important not to simply set up foreign-funded media that expect to live from grant to grant. It is suggested that supporters should build the system on the GRAMEEN BANK principle of group pressure to repay loans. If the association of broadcasters provides a loan to one station, the other stations will pressure that first station to pay it back, because only then will there be capital to make a new loan to another station.

3. More legal and policy work is essential. Neither the lawyers nor the journalists in these emerging democracies know much about their own local or international media laws, (29) and thus do not use or change them.

In addition:

• Emphasis should be placed on building organizations that do their own internal training and mentoring, (which is "a rarity now," Monroe Price said.) (30)
• In Russia and the newly independent states, a motivated news audience may be even more important than total press freedom. Public cynicism, along with corruption and political interference, are hampering the development of an independent media marketplace.
• Regular donor oversight and evaluations might prevent problems like those at RAPIC in Moscow.
• Greater coordination and collaboration among media developers and policy advocates would save money and improve effectiveness.
• Supporting local entrepreneurs is far more likely to succeed than importing Western professional standards and salaries, which can distort the marketplace for the indigenous media. This was a major lesson of the Bosnia OBN debacle.
• Public service models like NPR and PBS should also be considered.
• One of the big hurdles is self-censorship.
• Media assistance levels vary widely from region to region. There is no "global media development strategy" being followed by donors or contractors, Monroe Price noted. This may be inevitable because cultures and needs are so varied. Even so, funders should have a clear idea what long-range strategies are shaping their investments from region to region. How important to the funder is marketplace viability? Objectivity?
• In some regions, journalism schools should be reformed to provide continuing mid-career education to media. In other places, however, mid-career training is not yet accepted and needs to be developed. Professional journalism organizations and centers will be better in some places than academic institutions.
• It is not ideal for one media development organization to monopolize the work in any one country. "If it's not a strong organization, the country suffers," noted one veteran media developer.
• The success of independent journalism will depend largely on a country's "enabling environment," which includes market economics and policy, as well as public service journalism training, Price said.
• It is important to be flexible enough to "look at the opportunity of the moment. That opportunity very much depends on the local partner," IREX's Mark Pomar said. "If you have a lousy director for your center, forget it," agreed James Greenfield.
• If a journalist or organization doesn't actively want the training, don't try to force them into it. "Don't waste your time sending trainers to reluctant people who say 'It's free, so we might as well do it.' Concentrate on people who are eager to have you. Don't fool around with a newspaper that doesn't promise full cooperation, that doesn't really believe in it," advised Greenfield. (31)
• As civil society develops in a country, the ngos tend to become more specialized, with some focusing on monitoring media content, others working on freedom of information legislation, etc. (32)

RUSSIA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE COUNTRY REPORTS

RUSSIA:

The complex history of post-Communist media development in the former Soviet Union has been summarized above. Key U.S. organizations in Russia are: Internews, OSI, Freedom Forum (libraries), New York University Center for War, Peace and the News Media, World Bank, IJF, Freedom House, MDLF, ICFJ/Knight fellows, and the Media Viability Fund. IREX Promedia won in 2001 a $3.5 million Russian press assistance contract from USAID. IREX recently took over the troubled RAPIC, which has been renamed the Press Development Institute.

ALBANIA:

The Albanian Soros Foundation (OSFA) spent $277,000 in media in 2000, including a cross-border media project with the Association of Greek Publishers. This project will be expanded to Macedonia and Montenegrin media, with matching funds from a Canadian government foundation. Soros has merged its media training operation with the local Albanian Media Institute, and will continue funding it for a limited time.

ARMENIA:

Newspapers are mouthpieces for political factions and are not factually reliable. Internews has an organization in Yerevan. The Armenian Soros Foundation (OSIAF) spent $86,000 on media in 2000. They partnered with the Yerevan Press Club and Internews Armenia to sponsor a workshop, "Journalists Against Terrorism and Violence," in cooperation with USIS and several foreign embassies and supported production of new journalism textbooks and a course on journalism for practicing journalists. Most of the public does not know what is going on. "In Armenia in the past two years, there has been a resignation of a president, a shootout in the Parliament, and 6 months ago the government was on the verge of a peace agreement with Azerbaijan, yet little of this information made it to the regions of the country, and almost none was covered by the pluralistic regional media," observed one Internews media developer.

AZERBAIJAN:

Internews has an organization in Baku. Media problems are severe. The government control and censorship are stricter than in Russia, yet the independent opposition press manages to play a role in politics. It's a dangerous business. President Aliyev moved in July, 2001 to take over the leading Baku television company, prompting its president, Faig Zulfugarov, to seek political asylum in the United States.

BELARUS:

The political situation is dangerous for any journalist trying to be critical of the government. Internews and IREX are active here. The World Free Press Institute collaborated for three years on a journalism training program with the Belarusian Association of Journalists, funded by the Eurasia Foundation, but a financial scandal at the Ukrainian Eurasia Foundation office killed it.

BALKANS/BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA:

(See "Case Study: Media Assistance in the Balkans") IREX is completing a three-year, $15 million USAID contract in Bosnia. OSI Bosnia-Herzegovina (OSF-BH) spent $252,000 on media in 2000. OSI-Yugoslavia spent $1.2 million supporting independent media in 2000. It helped support the Alternative Network of Electronic Media (ANEM), including Radio B92, which played a major role in the election that overthrew Milosevic. Internews is creating programming for independent broadcasters, out of offices in Sarajevo and Belgrade. Efforts to improve Balkan journalism continue at all levels, including small projects like WBUR's 10-year-old exchange program for Balkan media. About 25 print and broadcast journalists are brought together to Boston each year by this Boston public radio station for two months to work as interns at local media outlets. It is funded with $300,000 from the U.S. government.

BULGARIA:

OSI (OSF-Sofia) spent $229,000 on media in 2000. They spun off their Media Development Center, which now has other funding. The American University in Bulgaria, started by the University of Missouri, has a good journalism school run by fomer Knight fellow Laura Kelly.

CROATIA:

See Balkans discussion in narrative, above. OSI-Croatia spent $229,000 on media in 2000, supporting pockets of resistance to the government, which uses state-controlled media to limit civil society.

CZECH REPUBLIC:

(See "Case Study: Lidove Noviny vs. Gazeta Wyborcza") Although the Czech Republic was deemed to have "graduated" from needing media assistance, the public and private broadcast media are struggling to maintain independence from political influence. The Center for Independent Journalism was closed in 2000, following the departures earlier of Pew, Ford, and most of Soros's activities. The Freedom Forum library was given to the U.S. Embassy. Most newspapers now are owned by chains from Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. There is little ownership transparency in the broadcasting sector. Vladimir Zelezny, a shady Czech entrepreneur whose market-dominating TV NOVA was funded by American investor Ronald Lauder, not only ran off with the station's profits but regularly holds forth on his scandal-mongering "Ask the Director" talk show, building his political power by attacking Vaclav Havel and his liberal democratic allies. When the Czech Parliament prepared to pass a disastrous press law in 2000 featuring a news subject's "right of reply" regardless of the truth of the original article, Czech newspapers finally rebelled and published blank news pages to show what would happen if the law passed. But then they dropped the issue. It was only when international free press groups picked up the fight, using a scathing European Union report on the proposed law, that the politicians backed down.

GEORGIA:

Real journalism is dangerous here, and some are being jailed or killed, like Georgi Sanaya of Rustavi-2 who was murdered in July, 2001 and no one yet has been charged with the crime. But there also is public support for courageous reporting. In October, 2001 Georgian officials threatened to shut down the station after it aired reports on government corruption. But Rustavi-2 turned the live cameras on the KGB goons who entered their station. Thousands of people surged into the streets to protest the government's actions, and Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze was forced to dismiss not only the corrupt officials identified in the broadcast, but his entire cabinet. OSI Georgia (OSGF) spent $106,000 on media in 2000, including an Internet training program for 15,000 young people, and anti-corruption and investigative journalism projects. ICFJ is working effectively with print media. A promising new School of Journalism has been opened by the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. IREX has a USAID contract here but is not a major player. Internews offers broadcast training programs that are well regarded and apparently cost effective.33 Erosi Kitsmarishvili, also of Rustavi 2, speaks highly of Internews and of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which helped free him after he was jailed. But the situation remains perilous, with continuous harassment, even after public demonstrations supporting Rustavi 2's investigative reporting on government corruption forced Shevardnadze to fire his cabinet.

The problems here cannot be addressed by "parachute professors" because the issue is not lack of training, but rather the structure of the media. The biggest problem is that the journalists have no incentive to write professionally because they make $30 about a month and are often paid months late. Everything outside Tblisi is tightly controlled, and it is dangerous for media to exert independence. Conferences are seen as easy and pleasant, but they don't accomplish much. The most effective work is long-term and local, with people who speak the Georgian language. One American doing development work in Tblisi advised that it would be better to send in a recent journalism graduate with no experience, who could stay for a few years doing training and free-lance writing, than to fly in experienced journalists for conferences.

HUNGARY:

In Hungary, the government appoints only its own dominant party members to serve on the broadcasting board overseeing the national television and radio networks. Opposition party member Gabor Demsky, the mayor of Budapest, found in 2000 that for the first time in nine years, his Hungarian national day speech would not be broadcast. The Hungarian press is the most privatized in Eastern Europe and the one with the most foreign business investment. Nearly 80% of newspapers are owned by foreign money. (34) This is still a hotbed of U.S. media assistance. Budapest is the home of Soros' regional Network Media Program, run by Gordana Jankovic and IJF has a Center for Independent Journalism here.

KOSOVO:

Media training is offered under an OSI project to Kosovar students at American University in Bulgaria. OSI's Kosova (sic) Foundation for Open Society (KFOS) spent $68,000 on media work in 2000, including a library and Internet program to give isolated populations access to global information. Internews has a modest operation in Prishtina, creating programming that crosses Balkan divides and teaching radio, digital video and Internet skills to students at the University of Prishtina and at Kosovar radio stations.

MACEDONIA:

OSI-Macedonia (FOSIM) spent $181,000 on media work in 2000. When journalists were harassed during an election, FOSIM provided legal assistance. It also helped media lawyers from the Macedonian Press Center in Skopje use Croatian legal models to defend journalists against defamation.

MOLDOVA:

Soros Foundation-Moldova (SFM) spent $77,000 on media work, making international journals and newspapers available through libraries. Other Soros foundations also supported media work here.

MONTENEGRO:

OSI-Montenegro spent $208,000 on media in 2000. The Montenegrin Media Institute, supported with five other donors, promotes regional cooperation and offers continuing education for journalists and media professionals. The foundation also works on freedom of information access, electronic media regulations, and the production of broadcast programs.

POLAND:

The independent media sector is vibrant here. Gazeta Wyborcza is one of the brightest media success stories in the post-Communist world. (35) It has toppled cabinet ministers guilty of corruption. Unlike most Russia/CEE countries, Poland's public radio and television have effective legal protection against outside interference. Stefan Batory Foundation (a Soros foundation) spent $70,000 on media in 20000, including support for independent media and investigative reporting, and a media campaign against corruption that inspired 30 private and public media groups to launch their own anticorruption activities. They also sponsored with Freedom House a World Forum on Democracy, to address globalization, rule of law, and other issues.

ROMANIA:

Radio is big here. There is a Center for Independent Journalism in Bucharest, where Knight fellows and others do the training. IJF also took over the third year of a journalism school at the University of Bucharest. Some Romanians also participate in the IJF's journalism school in Bratislava, Slovakia. The Open Society Foundation-Romania (SON) spent $47,000 on media in 2000. Their work focused largely on education, health programs, Roma programs, mediation and economic development, as well as rural access to communication and education.

SLOVAKIA:

IJF has a Center for Independent Journalism and a journalism school, Academia Istropolitana Nova (AI Nova), which was developed three years ago by Knight fellow Laura Kelly. It is a one-year program for college graduates, including non-journalists, from Romania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other countries in the region. For the past two years, IJF also has trained about 450 judges in media issues, with help from federal judge Mark Wolf from Boston. Open Society Institute-Bratislava spent $108,000 in 2000 on media, including work for successful passage of a freedom of information act and a FOIA handbook for state administrators.

SLOVENIA:

Open Society Institute-Slovenia spent $187,000 on media, founding an institute for Internet research, and a debate center, Recently its programs were transferred to another Soros project, the Peace Institute in Lubjljana. It also sponsored study trips abroad for Slovene journalists.

UKRAINE:

Attacks on journalists like Georgi Gongadze and Ihor Oleksandrov, who were murdered, continue to go unpunished. The government is "re-licensing" many of the 600 licensed broadcast media outlets which serve a population of 49 million, to assume more control in anticipation of parliamentary elections. There is no media ownership transparency or freedom of information law. Self-censorship remains a big problem, along with criminal libel suits, tax evasion charges and other harassment. Continued support for legal assistance to media is a high priority here. (36) IREX (print) and Internews (broadcast) each have about $1 million from USAID a year to promote independent media development. USAID funded the formation of 30 regional press clubs through its Ukrainian Market Reform Project (UMREP). Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) do some parachute professor seminars with French experts at the Institute of Mass Information (IMI) and German foundations finance the Academy of Ukrainian Press (AUP) which is a small project with a good German and Ukrainian management team. (37) The Ukrainian Broadcasters Association, created with help from the U.S. National Association of Broadcasters and Internews, is developing well because the broadcasters wanted it themselves, and took over its development after initial help. The Association, together with Internews and IREX, was able in December 2001 to defeat a negative law on political advertising and agitation. Yet many broadcasters, still dependent on ngo grants, have not established for themselves economic independence or a public service mission.

KEY MEDIA DEVELOPMENT CONTACTS IN RUSSIA AND CEE

1. Manana Aslamazian, Moscow, Internews Russia. recept@internews.ru
2. Ed Baumeister, Budapest, former IREX, IJF. 72302.24@compuserve.com
3. Horton Beebe-Center, Washington, D.C., Eurasia Foundation. (Horton@ eurasia.org)
4. David DeVoss, Los Angeles, former IREX print project manager in Bosnia, good at cross-platform digital training. (DAVIDADEVOSS@cs.com)
5. Lloyd Donaldson, London's Institute for War & Peace Reporting, has a lot of experience in Russia and elsewhere. (info@iwpr.net)
6. Viola Gienger, Sarajevo, former Knight fellow in Minsk, former IREX trainer in Minsk and Sarajevo. (violag@compuserve.com)
7. James Greenfield, New York, Independent Journalism Foundation (IJF), (7263.346@compuserve.com)
8. David Hoffman, Internews co-founder and President dhoffman@internews.org
9. Mehmed Husic, Sarajevo, former journalist on Oslobodjenje, now head of Onasa, Bosnia's main wire service. (http://www.onasa.com.ba)
10. Gordana Jankovic, Budapest, Network Media Program, OSI, Budapest (gjankovic@osi.hu)
11. Eric Johnson, Paris, Internews International, (fluent Russian) (johnson@internews.org)
12. Laura Kelly, American University, Bulgaria (LAKelly1@aol.com)
13. Erosi Kitsmarishvili, owner and journalist, Rustavi 2 television, Tblisi, Georgia (erosi@rustavi2.com)
14. Ellen Mickiewicz, Dewitt Center, Duke University, IREX board member. (dee@pps.duke.ed)
15. Persephone Miel, Internews New York (fluent Russian) (pmiel@internews.org)
16. Ann Olson, Knight fellow, formerly in Moscow, now in Cambodia. (anno1anno@yahoo.com)
17. Mark Pomar, IREX President, Washington, DC. irex@irex.org
18. Monroe Price, New York and Oxford Universities (price@ymail.nyu.edu)
19. Marjorie Rouse, Internews, Kiev, Ukraine (marjorie@internews.kiev.ua)
20. Bill Siemering, OSI-Philadelphia, especially community radio. Siemering@attglobal.net
21. Katarina Vajdova, Bratisava, ran the IJF journalism school in Bratislava, Academia Istropolitana Nova (AI Nova.) She previously worked with the International Journalism Foundation and in 1993 headed the Bratislava Center for Independent Journalism.
22. Sasa Vucinic, Media Development Loan Fund (Sasa.Vucinic@mdlf.org)

KEY MEDIA DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN RUSSIA AND CEE

1. George Soros's Open Society Institute (OSI) Soros has focused his vast philanthropy primarily on the former Communist bloc, working to develop democratic culture, which is the "enabling environment" for independent journalism and public access to information. OSI Russia has spent about $36 million on independent media development in Russia over the past decade, including $5 million in 2000, OSI's work includes broadcast, print and Internet. They have, for example, developed 30 Internet access centers, with satellite activity. Current Soros/Russia budget for media/civil society is $2 million, but additional funds come from other OSI organizations, which are both funders and operating foundations. (In contrast, USAID and the European Commission only work through grantee organizations). In the Balkans, Russia and NIS, the local OSI foundations support local media (see below for OSI country by country analysis), and related initiatives on law reform, Internet training/access, libraries, reading and education.

OSI's Network Media Program (NMP, "little OSI"), which is supposed to coordinate media projects (but sometimes conflicts with "big OSI" in New York), has spent $9.5 million supporting independent media development in Central and South Eastern Europe. Administered by Gordana Jankovic out of Central European University in Budapest, this program issues grants and also acts as a consultant for Soros foundations and other organizations' media projects. NMP established the priorities for the Media Task Force of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and supports the South Eastern Europe Network for Professionalization of the Media (SEENPM), a consortium of over 17 institutions that offers training programs to increase journalism and management skills throughout the region.

2. Internews (http://www.internews.org) has been analyzed in a special section (Russia/CEE overview, above). By 2000, Internews had supported the development of 15 television networks and one radio network in 10 countries, including Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, East Timor, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, the West Bank, and former Yugoslavia.

3. IREX (http://www.IREX.org) has been analyzed in a previous section (Russia/CEE overview, above.)

4. Independent Journalism Foundation, run by James Greenfield with support from the New York Times Foundation, Knight and others; has well-regarded Centers for Independent Journalism in Bratislava, Bucharest and Budapest (and now Cambodia) which often use Knight fellows. The center in Prague was closed in 2000. Academia Istropolitana Nova (IA Nova) is IJF's journalism school in Bratislava.

5. Media Viability Fund finds candidates for low-cost loans for purchasing capital equipment like printing presses; does intensive training from financial management to advertising, etc. Contact: Dmitry Surnin, Moscow. Funding: Eurasia Foundation and Media Development Loan Fund.

6. Media Development Loan Fund tries to level the media playing field by acting as a non-profit venture capital fund for independent news organizations in developing democracies. Since 1996, MDLF has extended about $15 million in low interest loans and program related investments. Its borrowers have repaid about $3 million in principal and interest so far. (38) They made about $540,000 grants in 2000. $665,000 in 2001, most for technology-related projects. Contacts: Harlan Mandel in New York, (Harlan.Mandel@ mdlf.org), Sasa Vucinic in Moscow (Sasa.Vucinic@mdlf.org). MDLF also provides management training and other assistance for some worthy news organizations, which may not yet qualify for a loan, to help bring them into qualification. MDLF is funded by the Canadian, Dutch, Swedish and Swiss governments, the OSI-New York, Mott, MacArthur, and Eurasia foundations, and others.

MDLF does not extend loans in Slovenia, Poland, Hungary (with one exception), the Czech Republic or the Baltic States because media organizations in those countries can borrow from commercial banks under acceptable conditions without a few of discrimination, the MDLF board has determined.

MDLF is of limited use in the truly embattled newly independent states. Its insistence on having news organizations with above-board finances doesn't work in places like Belarus, Georgia, and Ukraine, where there is no real above-board commercial media market. (39)

The Center for Advanced Media in Prague is a new-media lab run by MDLF (C@MP) since 1998 to train news organizations in the use of the Internet and other advanced technologies, and funds selected new-media projects. The Center also has regional locations Warsaw, and Moscow. The Center in Prague helps support the Prague-based Transitions-Online, an independent magazine promoting democracy, and Banja Luka's Reporter.

7. Southeast European Media Organization (SEEMO) is an offshoot of the International Press Institute. It aims to promote freedom of the press, improve journalism standards, and ensure the safety of journalists. In November, 2001 it convened print and broadcast reporters and managers from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria in Vienna to discuss threats to editorial independence. Contact: seemo@freemedia.at

8. The Committee to Protect Journalists, Glasnost Defense Fund and other free-expression ngos play a vital role in defending endangered journalists in the region.