Development Assistance and Independent Journalism: A Research Network Discussion

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This panel seeks to foster critical analysis of the use of foreign aid to promote or inhibit specific models of journalism and to assess to what degree this has been achieved. It will provide an early opportunity for discussion within a series of meetings which seek to build an international and inter-disciplinary research network to explore the relationship between international development aid and local journalistic practice and training in Africa and Latin America. That network focuses on the question: What has been the role of international development assistance in shaping journalistic approaches and practices in Africa and Latin America and what are the consequences?
This panel seeks to contextualize this question at a global level through the examination of specific institutional and national cases, described in the abstracts for this proposal. It connects to a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded research network project which commenced in late 2016, and is designed to provide potential ICA participants in that network an opportunity to present and discuss research and theory of relevance to this question.
The network will allow researchers to examine the global power relations and geopolitics of foreign aid which have been substantially directed at disseminating a specific model of journalism practice and education aligned with the interests of donor nations. The network seeks to critically examine the extent to which the diffusion of a US/UK based model of journalism practice has been central to the 'modernisation' project in international development. A goal of this network is to create a multidisciplinary research space that will bring together researchers who have been working in this area but whose work has not previously been linked. By the time of this ICA panel, the network will have held a preliminary conference and meeting in the UK involving core participants from the UK, Africa, and Latin America and delegates from many other countries. The panel offers an opportunity for leading US based scholars (and others attending ICA) to influence the direction of the research network and contribute to its outcomes. This panel will be chaired by the organiser and will consist of five papers addressing the panel theme, and ample time will be left for discussion and an exchange of ideas with the audience. Five of the seven paper authors have authored, co-authored or edited books addressing, or closely related to, the theme of the panel. Panel participants will attend the conference having paid the appropriate registration fees as individual or institutional members or as non-members; the panel organiser is not providing financial support for the participation of any panellist.

Sub Unit

• Global Communication and Social Change

Chair

• Chris Paterson, U of Leeds

Individual Presentations

• How Global Organizations Support Local Efforts for Media Pluralism: Insights From Contemporary Latin America - Silvio R. Waisbord, George Washington U

• News Media Plurality by Means of International Cooperation: The Case of "Voces" in El Salvador - Silvia Olmedo-Salar, U de Málaga; Jairo Lugo-Ocando, U of Leeds

• Contradictions in U.S. International Media Development Efforts and the Agenda for Critical Research - Chris Paterson, U of Leeds

• Appraising Journalism Education Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critical study of the Norwegian Model - Leslie Steeves, U of Oregon; Tewodros Workneh, Kent State U

• Media and Development: An Uncertain Connection - Susan Abbott, Independent Scholar