Independent Media Development Abroad: Challenges Exist in	 
Implementing U.S. Efforts and Measuring Results (29-JUL-05,	 
GAO-05-803).							 
                                                                 
Independent media development led by the Department of State and 
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) supports	 
the national security goal of developing sustainable democracies 
around the world. Independent media institutions play a role in  
supporting commerce, improving public health efforts, reducing	 
corruption, and providing civic education. According to the	 
Freedom House's Freedom of the Press 2005 survey, despite	 
important gains in some countries, the overall level of press	 
freedom worldwide continued to worsen in 2004. GAO was asked to  
examine (1) U.S. government funding for independent media	 
development overseas; (2) the extent to which U.S. agencies	 
measure performance toward achieving results; and (3) the	 
challenges the United States faces in achieving results. The	 
Department of State generally concurred with our report and USAID
offered technical comments that were incorporated, as		 
appropriate. In addition, State indicated that it plans to	 
develop additional performance indicators and promote best	 
practices in the future.					 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-05-803 					        
    ACCNO:   A31557						        
  TITLE:     Independent Media Development Abroad: Challenges Exist in
Implementing U.S. Efforts and Measuring Results 		 
     DATE:   07/29/2005 
  SUBJECT:   Developing countries				 
	     Federal aid to foreign countries			 
	     Freedom of information				 
	     International relations				 
	     Mass media 					 
	     Performance measures				 
	     Program evaluation 				 
	     Public diplomacy					 
	     Regional development programs			 
	     Strategic planning 				 
	     Democracy-building programs			 
	     Bosnia						 
	     Croatia						 
	     Egypt						 
	     Georgia						 
	     Haiti						 
	     Herzegovina					 
	     Indonesia						 
	     Kyrgyzstan 					 
	     Mali						 
	     Ukraine						 

******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a  **
** GAO Product.                                                 **
**                                                              **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced.  Tables are included, but    **
** may not resemble those in the printed version.               **
**                                                              **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when     **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed     **
** document's contents.                                         **
**                                                              **
******************************************************************
GAO-05-803

United States Government Accountability Office

    GAO	Report to the Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate

July 2005

INDEPENDENT MEDIA DEVELOPMENT ABROAD

      Challenges Exist in Implementing U.S. Efforts and Measuring Results

                                       a

GAO-05-803

[IMG]

July 2005

INDEPENDENT MEDIA DEVELOPMENT ABROAD

Challenges Exist in Implementing U.S. Efforts and Measuring Results

                                 What GAO Found

The Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development
obligated at least $40 million in fiscal year 2004 for the development of
independent media, including activities such as journalism and business
management training and support for legal and regulatory frameworks. About
60 percent of the fiscal year 2004 USAID and State obligations we
identified supported independent media development projects in Europe and
Eurasia. However, precise funding levels are difficult to identify due to
a lack of agencywide budget codes to track media development obligations,
differing definitions of independent media development, and complex
funding patterns.

State and USAID face challenges in designing performance indicators and
accurately measuring and reporting results directly tied to the
performance of U.S. independent media efforts. The tools most frequently
used by State and USAID as performance indicators-Freedom House's Freedom
of the Press survey and the IREX Media Sustainability Index-are useful for
determining the status of the media in selected countries but are of
limited utility in measuring the specific contributions of U.S.-sponsored
programs and activities toward developing independent media in countries
when used alone.

Several country-specific and programmatic challenges can impede the
implementation of media development efforts, including a changing
political condition, sustainability of local media outlets, and
coordination between donors and providers. Specifically, a country's
changing political condition or lack of adequate civic and legal
institutions can create challenges for a mission to plan, implement, and
measure the results of its efforts. The sustainability of program
recipients can also impede the overall success of efforts or specific
activities at the country level. In addition, when coordination of
activities is unstructured or informal, redundancies and confusion of
responsibilities can impact project implementation.

U.S. Independent Media Development Journalism Training Program in Ukraine

Source: GAO.

                 United States Government Accountability Office

Contents

  Letter

Results in Brief
Background
U.S.-Sponsored Media Development Funding Levels Difficult to

Determine Independent Media Development Performance Measurement Efforts
Complicated by a Variety of Factors Country-Specific and Programmatic
Factors Can Impact Media Development Efforts Agency Comments

1 2 3

9

11

19 29

Appendixes                                                              
                Appendix I:             Scope and Methodology              30 
                             Select International Organizations or Donors  
               Appendix II:                      That                      
                                 Implement Media Development Programs      34 
                             State Department and USAID Goals Related to   
              Appendix III:                  Independent                   
                                                Media                      35 
              Appendix IV:      Comments from the Department of State      40 
                                  Comments from the U.S. Agency for        
                Appendix V:                 International                  
                                             Development                   42 
              Appendix VI:    GAO Contact and Staff and Acknowledgments    43 

Tables Table 1:

Table 2: Table 3:

Table 4: Table 5:

Table 6:

Bureaus or Offices at State and USAID and Select U.S.
NGOs and Their Roles in Independent Media
Development 6
U.S. Independent Media Development Priorities for Select
Countries 12
Performance Objectives and Indicators Related to USAID
Independent Media Development Efforts from Select
Performance Monitoring Plans 15
USAID Definition and Media Approach for Each Political
Society 20
Goals Related to Select Independent Media Development
Programs from Current State Mission Performance
Plans 35
Objectives for Select Independent Media Development
Programs from Current USAID Country Strategies 38

                                    Contents

Figure Figure 1:	U.S.-Sponsored Independent Media Development
Projects and Activities in Ukraine 27

Contents

Abbreviations

BBG Broadcasting Board of Governors
DCHA Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance
DG Office of Democracy and Governance
DRL Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
E&E Bureau for Europe and Eurasia
ECA Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
EUR/ACE Office of the Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to Europe and

Eurasia FSA Freedom Support Act ICFJ International Center for Journalists
IIP Bureau of International Information Programs IP implementing partner
IREX International Research and Exchanges Board MDF Media Development Fund
MEPI Middle East Partnership Initiative MSI Media Sustainability Index NED
National Endowment for Democracy NGO nongovernmental organization OMFU
Open Media Fund for Ukraine OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe OTI Office of Transition Initiatives RAK Bosnian Communications
Regulatory Agency SEED Support for East European Democracy Act of 1989
State U.S. Department of State USAID U.S. Agency for International
Development

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright
protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in
its entirety without further permission from GAO. However, because this
work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the
copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material
separately.

A

United States Government Accountability Office Washington, D.C. 20548

July 29, 2005

The Honorable Richard G. Lugar Chairman Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate

Dear Mr. Chairman:

U.S.-sponsored independent media development efforts support the national
security goal of developing sustainable democracies around the world,
while complementing U.S. public diplomacy efforts by encouraging the
development of sustainable media outlets with responsible and professional
reporting standards and editorial practices. Independent media development
projects include such activities as direct financial assistance to media
outlets, journalism and business management training, and support for
developing the legal and regulatory frameworks necessary for a free and
open press. Beyond serving as a source of information, independent media
institutions can play a role in supporting commerce, improving the
effectiveness of public health efforts, reducing corruption, improving
citizen access to information, and providing civic education.1 However,
despite important gains in some countries, like Ukraine, the overall level
of press freedom worldwide continued to worsen in 2004, continuing a
3-year decline.2 The declining level of press freedom has been
illustrated, for example, by cases of journalists being censored,
tortured, imprisoned, and murdered in response to published news reports
about their government.

The Department of State (State) and the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) are primarily responsible for U.S. government media
development funding and activities. At your request, this report examines:
(1) U.S. government funding for independent media development overseas,
(2) the extent to which U.S. agencies measure performance toward achieving
results, and (3) the challenges the United States faces in achieving
results.

1World Bank, World Development Report 2002: Building Institutions for
Markets (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).

2As measured by Freedom House's global average score from the Freedom of
the Press 2005 survey.

To accomplish our objectives, we reviewed documentation and spoke with
officials from State, USAID, and their primary partners, including the
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG),3 National Endowment for Democracy
(NED), International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), Internews,
Eurasia Foundation, International Center for Journalists, and The Asia
Foundation.4 In addition to audit work performed in the United States, we
traveled to and reviewed documentation on U.S.-sponsored independent media
development projects in Croatia, Ukraine, and Indonesia. We also sent
questions to posts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, Georgia, Haiti,
Kyrgyzstan, and Mali. Our analysis of key challenges included a review of
several recent studies covering independent media development. Appendix I
provides a more detailed description of our scope and methodology. We
conducted our evaluation in accordance with generally accepted government
auditing standards from June 2004 to July 2005.

Results in Brief	State and USAID together obligated at least $40 million
in fiscal year 2004 for the development of independent media, with USAID
providing the largest share. The majority-about 60 percent-of the fiscal
year 2004 USAID and State obligations we identified supported independent
media development projects in Europe and Eurasia. Precise funding levels
for independent media development activities in countries overseas are
difficult to identify due to a lack of agencywide budget codes to track
media development obligations, differing definitions of independent media
development, and complex funding patterns.

State and USAID have a variety of independent media development efforts
under way; however, in some cases, they face challenges in designating
performance indicators and in accurately measuring and reporting results
directly tied to the performance of U.S. efforts. State supports media
efforts under the broader context of public diplomacy or democracy
building and has not widely established specific independent media
development performance indicators for overseas missions or for specific
media projects or activities at posts we reviewed; anecdotal examples,

3Due to its limited efforts, we did not examine the BBG's media
development programs.

4Department of Defense media activities, such as those in Iraq and
Afghanistan, were not included in the scope of our work, as its primary
focus for independent media is psychological operations and postconflict
media reconstruction.

rather than quantifiable measures, are frequently used to demonstrate
success. USAID more frequently established performance measures for its
missions and individual media development projects. Examples of
performance indicators used for USAID missions we visited and reviewed
included the audience share of media outlets, the sustainability of those
outlets, the number of journalists trained, and the quality of programming
developed. We also found that the tools most widely used by State and
USAID as performance indicators-Freedom House's Freedom of the Press
survey and the IREX Media Sustainability Index-are useful for measuring
the state of the media in countries but they are of limited utility in
measuring the specific contributions of U.S.-sponsored projects toward
developing independent media in countries when used alone.

Several country-specific and programmatic challenges can impede the
implementation of media development efforts. Foremost, a nation's changing
political condition or lack of adequate civic and legal institutions can
impact a mission's ability to plan and implement its media activities and
measure the results of its efforts. The sustainability of project
recipients can also impede the overall success of projects or specific
activities at the country level. For example, in Croatia, a U.S.-sponsored
national television network, which linked several local stations' news
programs together to compete with the state media's nationwide newscasts,
is struggling to survive in part because the network did not develop the
advertising revenue and profit-sharing structures necessary to sustain it.
In addition, when coordination of activities is unstructured or informal,
redundancies and confusion can impact efforts. For example, due to a lack
of coordination between various agency officials in Washington, D.C., and
in Indonesia, two nongovernmental organizations (NGO), one funded by State
and the other by USAID, each received funds to rebuild some of the same
radio stations destroyed during the recent Indian Ocean tsunami. While
USAID has taken actions to improve coordination, funding for regional
conferences and program evaluations is limited.

Background 	The United States has, for many years, funded various
agencies' educational, visitor, and democracy-assistance programs that
promote democratic ideals, including freedom of the press. Although
considered a fundamental human right by many, freedom of the press remains
unrealized in many parts of the world, particularly in countries governed
by repressive regimes. Journalists continue to be censored, tortured,
imprisoned, and murdered for publishing articles or broadcasting
information about their government. Media assistance emerged as a
significant aspect of

development work in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly following the end of
the Cold War and the dissolution of the former Soviet Union. Media
development aid has evolved from relatively modest activities with minor
donations of equipment and training tours for journalists to, in some
cases, long-term, multifaceted projects with millions of dollars invested
over the life of the project.

Independent media development efforts are not clearly defined, but are
commonly understood to include activities such as

o training5 or educating local or indigenous reporters and editors on
subjects such as media ethics, professionalism, accountability,
investigative journalism, media business management and marketing,
strategies for transforming state broadcasters into public service
networks, and legal defense or legal regulatory issues;

o  developing media or press centers;

o  developing journalism schools and curriculum;

o 	ensuring the financial sustainability and independence of media
outlets, through loan programs, advertising development, grants for
commodities, and other means;

o 	supplying equipment or helping to build infrastructure needed to ensure
media independence, including technical capacity;

o  developing professional journalist, publisher, or broadcast
associations;

o 	developing networks of independent media, such as sharing arrangements,
which link production, distribution, and management of material;

o 	supporting the establishment of legal and regulatory frameworks and
advocacy groups that protect freedom of the press;

o 	promoting an understanding of professional media practices and the role
of free and independent media in society; and

5Includes activities such as in-country training, third-country training,
long-term study, training of trainers, and in-country residencies by
expatriate experts.

o 	engaging diplomatically to advance the development of press freedoms or
media-related institutions, laws, and regulatory frameworks.

A Number of Agencies and Organizations Implement or Fund a Range of Media
Development Efforts

The Department of State and USAID are primarily responsible for funding
and overseeing U.S. media development projects and activities. State and
USAID do not have separate global or agency-specific independent media
development strategies and goals; rather, State and USAID often consider
independent media development part of broader agency goals. State's
independent media development efforts are generally used as tools within
broader public diplomacy and democracy building efforts.6 USAID's
independent media development efforts are generally designed to promote
the development of civil society and increase citizen access to
information.

A commonly agreed upon definition of independent media development
programs does not exist among State, USAID, and other donors. Rather, a
variety of U.S. projects and activities support independent media in
various countries overseas through individual contracts, grants, or
cooperative agreements with NGO partners, or through other established
U.S. programs, such as exchange programs administered by embassy public
affairs sections. In addition, donors frequently use different approaches
for developing independent media. For example, State offers training
opportunities to a select number of individuals in the media sector or
offers small grants to organizations for media development. NED provides
small, short-term grants to media or advocacy organizations in many
countries. In contrast, USAID has developed a more comprehensive,
multiyear, multiproject approach to developing independent media in many
countries that addresses the training and education of journalists,
financial sustainability of local organizations, and development of the
supporting legal and regulatory frameworks.

Five primary U.S. nongovernmental organizations-IREX, Internews, the
International Center for Journalists, Eurasia Foundation, and The Asia
Foundation-assist U.S. donors by implementing media development projects
and offering funding or programmatic activities to local media

6One senior State official told us there is currently no separate
interagency strategy guiding U.S. democracy assistance programs. Moreover,
as identified in our recent GAO report on public diplomacy, no U.S.
strategic communications strategy currently exists to guide agency public
diplomacy efforts. See GAO, Interagency Coordination Efforts Hampered by
the Lack of a National Communication Strategy, GAO-05-323 (Washington,
D.C.: Apr. 4, 2005).

organizations. In addition, due to political sensitivities in the region,
USAID has awarded contracts to private organizations for media development
projects in the Middle East. Examples of possible independent media
development recipients include media outlets, media organizations, and
localnongovernmental organizations; professional associations;journalism
schools or universities; and policymakers. In addition, there are several
international organizations that support media development. (See app. II).
See table 1 for a description of the roles of each bureau or office at
State and USAID and select U.S. NGOs in independent media development.

  Table1: Bureaus or Offices at State and USAID and Select U.S. NGOs and Their
                     Roles in Independent Media Development

Donor Department of State Roles

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Funds and administers
projects that develop

(DRL)	legal and regulatory frameworks in support of free and independent
media in countries with a history of government-run media. Provides a
number of democracy-building grants for specific media development
activities or to support specific media outlets.

Office of the Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to Provides funding and
oversight for Freedom

Europe and Eurasia (EUR/ACE)	Support Act (FSA) and Support for East
European Democracy (SEED) funds allocated to embassy's public affairs
sections and USAID for journalism training and other media development
activities.

Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA)	Funds, oversees, and
administers select grants for programs that foster mutual understanding
between the United States and other countries, including international
educational and citizen exchange media development efforts that promote
personal, professional, and institutional ties between private citizens
and organizations in the United States and abroad.

Bureau of International Information Programs Funds, oversees, and provides
select support to (IIP) Speaker/Specialist and Professional-in-Residence
programs, which develop international understanding of professional media
practices in democratic societies, as well as of the importance of press
freedom and of developing knowledge of media-related institutions, laws,
and regulatory frameworks.

(Continued From Previous Page)

Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) 	Supports efforts to promote
free uncensored press in the Middle East by funding, overseeing, and
administering grants for projects that improve the quality of reporting,
train journalists, and support the growth of independent selfregulating
sectors of media sustainability.

                      U.S. embassy public affairs sections

Responsible for coordinating, overseeing, and administering select grants
for State's independent media efforts at U.S. missions overseas. Efforts,
including academic and citizen exchange programs, speakers programs,
international visitors programs, and book translations, are designed to
improve the professionalism of the media, while at the same time
increasing mutual understanding among citizens.

Regional bureaus	Oversee U.S. embassy public affairs sections' media
efforts in each region, including the Middle East Partnership Initiative
media activities.

                                     USAID

Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Manages programs in fragile states by

Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA)	strengthening democratic systems,
nongovernmental organizations, and other elements of civil society. Both
the Office of Democracy and Governance and the Office of Transition
Initiatives oversee media development projects.

o  Office of Democracy and Governance (DG)

Coordinates and administers grants for longterm independent media
development efforts overseas and works to strengthen commitment to an
independent and politically active civil society in developing countries.
The range of groups receiving USAID Democracy and Governance assistance
includes coalitions of professional associations, civic education groups,
women's rights organizations, business and labor federations, media
groups, bar associations, environmental activist groups, and human rights
monitoring organizations.

o  Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) Primarily responsible for
coordinating and administering grants for USAID short-term media
development efforts. Designed to provide fast, flexible assistance in
response to rapidly changing conditions on the ground, such as in
postconflict situations.

Bureau for Europe and Eurasia (E&E)	Oversees and coordinates USAID
independent media development country efforts and administers grants for
regional media projects in Europe and Eurasia.

(Continued From Previous Page)

USAID Overseas Missions	Funds and administers comprehensive or targeted
independent media development efforts at the country level with program
design and technical support provided by various USAID bureaus.

NED

National Endowment for Democracy (NED)	Funds and oversees in-country
subgrants that promote freedom of information, human rights, electronic
communication, nontraditional communication, media monitoring, and media
law reform through local, grassroots organizations.

               Providers U.S. nongovernmental organizations Roles

Eurasia Foundation	Funds and oversees subgrants and provides technical
assistance to grassroots organizations that promote civil society,
including media development in 12 countries of the former Soviet Union.

Internews	Supports open media worldwide by implementing State and USAID
grants and cooperative agreements to foster independent media in emerging
democracies and training journalists and station managers in the standards
and practices of professional journalism.

International Research and Exchanges Board Implement State and USAID
grants and

(IREX)	cooperative agreements that focus on (1) professionalism in
reporting or journalism training, (2) democratic media legislation, (3)
support for local media associations, and (4) media business management
for sustainability.

International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)	Provides global training
programs and resources for journalists with 30 percent USAID funding and
70 percent private donor funding. ICFJ's workshops cover reporting,
editing, production, ethics, and business management.

                              The Asia Foundation

Supports the development of an open Asia-Pacific region by providing
funding to local organizations for programs that help improve governance
and law, economic reform and development, and international relations.
Provides subgrants to directly assist media in areas such as management
training, regulatory analysis, equipment supply, media ethics, direct
technical assistance, media law and regulatory reform, and networking.

                     Sources: State, USAID, and U.S. NGOs.

U.S.-Sponsored Media Development Funding Levels Difficult to Determine

Our analysis of available documents revealed that together, State and
USAID obligated at least $40 million in fiscal year 2004 to support a
number of independent media development efforts. According to State, it
obligated approximately $14 million for media development projects for
fiscal year 2004.7 State also transferred more than $700,000 to the BBG8
for fiscal year 2004 independent media development obligations. USAID was
not able to provide global budget obligations figures for its 2004 support
of independent media. However, we calculated that USAID obligated at least
$25.6 million in fiscal year 2004.9 USAID's largest independent media
contractors-Internews and IREX- received fiscal year 2004 obligations of
$14.1 million and $11.3 million, respectively. In addition, the Asia
Foundation identified that it received $175,000 in fiscal year 2004
obligations provided by USAID. Although we were not able to confirm these
figures, USAID officials told us that they obligated an average of $33
million per year for independent media development efforts since 1991 in
amounts ranging from approximately $13 million in fiscal year 1992 to $61
million in fiscal year 1999.

We found that the largest portion of the State and USAID fiscal year 2004
obligations for independent media development-about 60 percent of all the
agency obligations we could identify-funded efforts in Europe and Eurasia.
The Middle East, which has the lowest level of press freedom, according to
Freedom House's 2005 Press Freedom survey, received only about 2 percent
of the total fiscal year 2004 obligations we could identify. Agency
officials said that the larger funding levels for Europe and Eurasia are
attributable to the democracy assistance funding provided through the
Freedom Support Act and the Support for East European Democracy Act

7State department officials provided us these figures directly after
requesting information from relevant bureaus and posts regarding their
2004 obligations for independent media.

8The BBG has an interagency agreement with USAID through which it receives
an interagency transfer from State's Office of the Coordinator of U.S.
Assistance to Europe and Eurasia to support a limited number of media
training programs.

9We were not able to compile global fiscal year 2004 obligations using
initial budget records USAID provided because we determined that they were
not sufficiently reliable due to insufficient or inconsistent media
activity coding and lack of updated global data for the fiscal year. We
subsequently obtained documentation or records on fiscal year 2004
obligations made by USAID from the main NGO providers that receive
independent media development grants from USAID headquarters, including
the International Center for Journalists, IREX, The Asia Foundation, and
Internews. For more information on how these figures were developed and
data limitations, see appendix I.

of 198910 and the high priority given to independent media development
projects by the Office of the Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to Europe and
Eurasia. According to State officials, independent media development
funding levels for the Middle East are expected to increase in the future
due to an expansion of efforts through the Middle East Partnership
Initiative. In addition, USAID officials said they expect that USAID will
provide up to four times the amount of media development funding to
individual countries in the Middle East in the near future-with the U.S.
Mission in Egypt already in the process of launching a $15 million media
project. Officials at one mission in Central Europe expressed concern that
such a funding shift could be detrimental to the ultimate success of media
development efforts in European countries that have fragile and changing
media environments.

Due to a variety of factors, it is difficult to accurately determine U.S.
funding obligations for independent media development efforts. USAID media
development funding is difficult to track globally over time because the
agency has not implemented consistent agencywide budget codes to document
its obligations for cooperative agreements, grants, and contracts for
independent media projects and activities.11 Rather, USAID's financial
systems are designed to collect obligation information at the higher
strategic objective level, where, we were told by USAID officials, there
are inconsistencies in coding independent media activities because
definitions for budget codes and strategic objectives have changed over
the years. However, USAID officials told us they are currently in the
process of developing systems to better track agencywide obligations data
for individual program components under each strategic objective,
including for independent media development efforts. State Department
funding is also difficult to track because State does not keep systematic
records or budget codes of its obligations at the level of independent
media development activities and posts consider varying activities to
embody independent media development. Finally, complex donor funding
arrangements, including in some cases multiple project implementers and
subgrantees, can obscure funding relationships and make it difficult to

10See Public Law 102-511 and Public Law 101-179, respectively.

11USAID officials told us that individual missions currently track
spending for various program components, including media development;
however, because independent media projects can often be defined
differently or be intermixed within broader civil society projects, all
missions may not be recording media spending in the same manner.

accurately determine the overall level of U.S. financial support, as well
as the number of specific efforts provided in individual countries.

Independent Media Development Performance Measurement Efforts Complicated
by a Variety of Factors

State and USAID have a variety of independent media development efforts
under way. State has not widely established specific independent media
development performance indicators for the overseas missions we reviewed
or for specific media projects or activities sponsored by its embassy
public affairs sections. USAID frequently established specific independent
media development performance indicators for its missions and for specific
independent media development projects we reviewed. Both agencies commonly
used the IREX Media Sustainability Index (MSI) and Freedom House's Press
Freedom surveys to measure performance- where indicators were established;
however, our analysis found these indexes to be of limited utility in
measuring the contributions of specific media activities, or the efforts
of entire missions toward developing independent media in particular
countries, when used alone.

State and USAID Sponsor a Number of Media Efforts

State and USAID support a wide range of media projects and activities,
from training journalists to supporting media law reform. In the countries
we visited-Croatia, Ukraine, and Indonesia-we spoke with several
individuals who said that they had benefited from U.S. government media
support. For example, we met with members of a consortium of five local
NGOs advocating passage of Indonesia's Freedom of Information Act and
working with the Parliament to get it placed on the agenda. In Croatia, we
visited a U.S.-funded national association of journalists whose mission is
to raise the professional standards of its 2,000 members. In Ukraine, we
met with individuals of a U.S.-sponsored organization that has provided
220 training programs, in subjects ranging from technical production to
media management, to over 2,800 media professionals. We also spoke with a
number of journalists in all three countries who had visited television,
radio, and newspaper operations throughout the United States as part of
embassy exchange programs. See table 2 for a description of current U.S.
independent media development efforts and priorities in countries we
selected for in-depth analysis.

  Table 2: U.S. Independent Media Development Priorities for Select Countries

Case study country Independent media development priorities

Croatia	Promote independent media through exchange and training programs
to expose Croatian journalists and editors to U.S. practices.

Ukraine	Employ bilateral engagements, including sustained high-level
demarches, in support of a free press, access to information, and
journalists' rights to freely exercise their profession; coordinate with
the EU and G-7 and other key countries, donors, and institutions on
matters including assistance and policy; support grassroots media
initiatives such as expansion of Internet access by regional media,
substantive newspaper supplements, and TV documentaries through embassy,
USAID, NGO, and foundation projects; provide technical assistance for
projects that strengthen independent media and increase the availability
of quality news, journalist advocacy, financial viability, and managerial
capacity of independent media; finance legal assistance for journalists
and media outlets; improve the legal and regulatory frameworks for media,
including access to information, laws protecting free speech, and fair
professional practices for media; foster the growth of NGOs that promote
media freedom.

Bosnia-Herzegovina	Assist viable private sector broadcast and print media
to provide a broad range of objective programming; provide technical
assistance and political support to Bosnian Communications Regulatory
Agency (RAK), Press Council, Association of Electronic Media, journalist
associations, and media training providers; support domestic production.

Kyrgyzstan	Work with government officials to press for reform of media and
libel laws and to reduce pressure against independent media; support
independent media through programs to provide independent printing
facilities, legal counsel, institutional support to journalists'
associations, and training in new media technology; support journalists'
professional associations and their capacity to monitor and document press
freedom infringements and advocate on these issues with the government;
monitor violations of press freedom and report on policy and trends
affecting media; teach objective journalism and management skills to
increase media outlets' professional and economic viability; support
programs that encourage political dialogue and debate, such as discussion
clubs and TV/radio talk shows, and ensure that remote areas also have
access to such programs; increase the accessibility to diverse forms of
information about political, economic, and social issues for all citizens
throughout the country; support spread of Internet access throughout the
country.

Haiti	Strengthen the independent press; strengthen media independence and
community radio networks; increase citizen awareness of their rights and
responsibilities to the extent that citizens apply this knowledge in
everyday experiences; strengthen journalists' ability to report on issues
related to democratic development and to advocate for greater freedom of
the press.

Georgia	Foster the development of an increasingly vibrant civil society;
assist in building a vibrant and diverse civil society, including
political parties, independent and responsible media, and
constituency-based NGO coalitions, to advocate for reforms in Georgia and
to partner with the new government in carrying out key reforms; increase
journalistic professionalism through U.S. and locally based assistance for
print and broadcast media.

Egypt	Initiate new projects to support journalism training on free, fair,
and accurate reporting through both classroom work and internships with
U.S. news media.

Indonesia	Professionalize media through exchange and training programs;
U.S. Fulbright lecturers, students and researchers outreach on the topic
of free and responsible media; provide Small Democracy Grants to bolster
free and independent media.

                           Source: State Department.

Performance Indicators for State's Independent Media Development Efforts
Not Widely Established

While State's independent media activities conducted at overseas missions
support U.S. objectives in these countries, performance indicators were
not widely established for the activities, making it difficult for State
to accurately measure and report their value. At four of the nine
countries we reviewed, State had developed some media-related performance
indicators to measure the overall results of the missions' independent
media development efforts. For instance, for Kyrgyzstan, State currently
measures the results of the embassy's efforts in developing independent
media and improving the availability of political information in several
ways, including by surveying whether editors and journalists that receive
support become more skilled in reporting and editing political news.
However, aside from counting the number of participants, specific
performance indicators for individual embassy-sponsored independent media
projects or activities were not widely established in the cases we
reviewed. For example, embassy officials in Croatia said there were no
measurable performance indicators tracked for their journalism exchanges
and other media-related public diplomacy efforts.

Several State Department officials told us that posts rely heavily on
their knowledge of the activities and anecdotal reports of accomplishments
to evaluate performance. In some instances, embassy public affairs
sections submit reporting cables to State Department bureaus and offices
or enter descriptions of media projects or activities and anecdotal
information into a database managed by the Bureau of International
Information Programs. State's Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL)
bureau has, in some cases, used quantifiable indicators, including the
number of local radio stations that broadcast sponsored programs or the
number of articles written as a result of journalist training seminars, to
measure the performance of independent media projects related to democracy
assistance, in addition to gathering descriptive or anecdotal information
on accomplishments.

State officials told us that embassies are more likely to develop
independent media-specific performance indicators for evaluating results
when independent media is a priority at the post and specific performance
goals are set in mission-planning documents.12 For example, the current

12Media development efforts are frequently designated by the mission as a
tactic or strategy for accomplishing broader performance goals related to
Democracy and Human Rights or Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. See
table 6 in appendix III for related goals and strategies for our case
study countries.

mission plan for Kyrgyzstan includes a stated goal of helping to build
independent media that reports objectively and freely. Officials also said
that posts are not currently required to develop specific indicators for
individual public diplomacy projects and activities; however, a
requirement for the establishment of such measures is currently being
considered. Additionally, officials in State's Middle East Partnership
Initiative office told us the office plans to develop measures for the
effectiveness of its new media assistance project in the Middle East, but
could not provide details because the initiative is still being designed.
State officials we spoke with told us it is difficult to develop
performance indicators with limited staff and funding, as well as the
inherent difficulties in determining when and how results will occur for
public diplomacy-related efforts.

USAID Performance Indicators for Independent Media Development Efforts
Frequently Established

In the cases we reviewed, USAID performance indicators for independent
media efforts were frequently established at the country or USAID mission
level and for individual projects. For example, six of the nine USAID
missions we reviewed established performance indicators in their current
planning documents for their missions' independent media performance
objectives. In addition, all missions we obtained documentation from had
established performance indicators for country-specific projects.13 USAID
officials told us that the establishment of specific independent media
performance objectives is left to the discretion of the local USAID
mission and that some missions with active independent media development
projects or activities may not choose to designate media-related
performance objectives based on their relative priorities, or they may
view media development as a crosscutting issue or as a tool for
accomplishing other specific objectives.14 See table 3 for a list of the
objectives and performance indicators for USAID missions in the countries
we reviewed.

13Seven of the nine USAID missions provided us with documentation on
performance indicators for specific independent media projects; we did not
obtain relevant documentation from the USAID missions in Egypt and Mali.

14If performance objectives (referred to as strategic objectives or
intermediate results by USAID) are established, USAID missions are
required to establish performance indicators for those goals.

Table 3: Performance Objectives and Indicators Related to USAID
Independent Media Development Efforts from Select Performance Monitoring
Plans

Country Performance objective Mission performance indicators

Ukraine Availability of quality information increased  o  Media
sustainability index (MSI)

o  Quantity of information produced by partner regional outlets (print and
broadcast)

o  Quality of information produced by partner regional outlets (print and
broadcast)

Croatia Sustainable and balanced commercial media  o  An increased rating
for Croatia on the overall average for media sustainability (MSI)

o  Freedom House's Press Freedom survey score

o  An increased rating for Croatia on the MSI, attribute 3: Multiple news
sources provide citizens with reliable and objective news

Journalists' professional standards improved  o  An increased rating for
Croatia on the MSI, attribute 2: Journalism meets professional standards
of quality

Management and business capacity of media  o  An increased rating for
Croatia on the MSI attribute 4: Independent

organizations strengthened	media are well-managed businesses, allowing
editorial independence

Bosnia-Viable private-sector broadcast and print media  o  Number of
people who buy independent news publications Herzegovina provide broad
range of objective programming  o  Audience share of independent broadcast
media

Kyrgyzstan	Increased availability of information on civic  o MSI rights
and domestic public issues

Increased news programming  o  Average daily minutes of nonstate
electronic media local news programming

Improved financial management systems in  o  Technical quality of local
nongovernmental broadcast news targeted media entities  o  Quality of
independent broadcast management.

Georgia	Alternative media represents citizen concerns  o  Percentage of
citizens who respond that the media fairly represent on key issues the
views of all citizens

o  Percentage of stories/articles by USAID-assisted media outlets
representing two or more viewpoints

Mali	Increase pubic access to quality development  o  Percentage of
Malians having access to at least one local radio information in targeted
areas station

o  Internet access costs

Regulatory and policy environment responsive  o  Appropriation of Internet
management by a neutral institution to public interest  o  Internet access
costs reduced

o  Mean time to obtain radio licenses reduced

Policies and procedures proposed for adoption  o  Internet regulatory
policies proposed

o  Radio licensing procedures proposed

Improved quality of development information  o  Percentage of radio
broadcasts that employ appropriate communication techniques

Enhanced institutional capacity to produce  o  Number of information
content producers trained

development information  o  Percentage of radio stations in targeted areas
having trained staff in program production

Haiti	Civil society organizations positively influence  o  (No specific
media indicators identified in mission performance policies monitoring
plan)

(Continued From Previous Page)

    Country     Performance objective       Mission performance indicators    
Indonesia  (Strengthening independent     o  (No specific media indicators 
                       media is a cross-    identified in mission performance 
             cutting objective, crossing           monitoring plan)           
                     all mission         
               performance objectives)   
     Egypt   Establish and ensure media         o  (Under development)        
             freedom and                 
               freedom of information    

Source: USAID.

aIndicates USAID intermediate results, subintermediate results, or
lower-level results categories.

State and USAID Missions Use Broad Indexes of Country Press Freedom That
Cannot Measure Performance of U.S. Efforts

State and USAID Rely Frequently on Media Indexes to Measure Performance

In the cases we reviewed, State and USAID often selected media indexes,
such as the Media Sustainability Index (MSI) and Freedom House's Press
Freedom survey, to measure the results of their independent media
development efforts. The MSI and the Press Freedom survey assess the
freedom of media in a country; however, when used alone as performance
indicators, media indexes are of limited utility in measuring the specific
contributions of specific activities or combined U.S. efforts toward
developing independent media in particular countries.

State and USAID commonly use media indexes to measure the performance of
independent media efforts. In cases we reviewed where State had
specifically defined performance indicators for its independent media
development efforts, Freedom House's Press Freedom survey and MSI were
frequently used by the mission for measuring results. In the cases we
reviewed, all four State missions that designated performance indicators
relied on media indexes to measure the performance of their efforts.15 For
example, the U.S. Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina designated the MSI as its
primary performance indicator for its independent media efforts. USAID
missions we reviewed also frequently used the MSI and the Press Freedom
survey as measures of performance. Of six USAID missions that established
indicators for their performance goals, three used the media indexes as
performance indicators. Some missions, including the USAID Missions to
Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, used the MSI along with other measures they had
created to measure the accomplishment of performance

15Media-specific indicators were established in current planning documents
for the U.S. missions to Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, and
Georgia. In addition to the MSI and Freedom House Press Freedom Survey,
Freedom House's Nations in Transit Independent Media Survey scores were
used.

objectives.16 However, the USAID Mission to Croatia used the media indexes
alone to measure performance objectives related to independent media
development. In addition, the only performance indicators established for
the USAID media project in Croatia were the four broad MSI components,
including "journalists professional standards improved in Croatia" and
"multiple news sources provide citizens with reliable and objective news."
USAID officials told us that the MSI index is generally promoted and used
as an independent media development performance indicator in Europe and
Eurasia and that it is generally used in coordination with more specific
indicators of activities to determine program performance.

Broad Indicators Assess Media Media indexes used alone are of limited use
for determining the

Freedom, Not Necessarily a performance of U.S. independent media
development programs.

Measure of U.S. Efforts	Commonly used media indexes-such as the Press
Freedom Survey and MSI in particular-cannot pinpoint the effects of U.S.
government programs, and are general indicators rather than precise
measures. These indexes use reasonably consistent methodologies to measure
broad concepts such as press freedom and media sustainability. However,
because the indexes focus on broad concepts that are affected by a wide
variety of social, political, and economic factors, they have limited
utility for purposes of identifying the effects of particular U.S. media
development programs. The indexes do provide general measures of trends
and allow for some cross-country comparisons. However, IREX has only been
collecting data on the MSI for 3 years, which makes it impossible to
evaluate longer term trends and establish baselines for efforts that began
before 2001. Another concern is the time lag in the data of 1 year from
scoring to publication.

Freedom House and IREX officials told us that the Press Freedom survey and
MSI were not designed to measure the performance of U.S. media development
programs. According to a senior Freedom House official, the Press Freedom
survey was initially intended to inform debate and discussion about the
state of media development in particular countries, and potentially could
be used to prod particular countries to liberalize their

16The USAID mission to Ukraine has hired a special marketing consultant to
develop specific indicators of performance, including measures of the
quality and quantity of news and information produced by partner media
outlets, consumer satisfaction with partner media outlets, financial
viability of partner outlets, and awareness of legal rights and
responsibilities of journalists and media owners. Funds were set aside in
the cooperative agreement for the development of such data.

media. Freedom House's Press Freedom survey has been used to assess the
freedom of the media in more than 100 nations since 1981. The Press
Freedom survey evaluates countries' legal, political, and economic
environments, scoring between 8 and 12 subcategories. According to IREX
officials, the MSI was designed, with the support of USAID, to be used for
making prioritized decisions on funding. IREX's Media Sustainability Index
has assessed the sustainability of independent media in about 20 countries
in Europe and Eurasia since 2001.17 The MSI measures five objectives-free
speech, professional journalism, plurality of news sources, business
management, and supporting institutions-each of which includes between 7
and 9 subcategories. Freedom House and IREX officials both stated that use
of the indexes for anything other than what they were designed for imply
an unwarranted precision to their measures.

Some State and USAID officials indicated that they do not think media
indexes alone are comprehensive indicators for measuring mission or
project performance and supported the development of additional measures
in some cases. However, they also told us that it is difficult to develop
their own independent media development performance indicators for several
reasons. In addition to funding constraints, agencies noted that there are
also difficulties separating media efforts from broader goals and
determining when and how results will occur for democracy-related or
public diplomacy programs.18 Some USAID officials in the field noted that
USAID officials in Washington, D.C., supported using the MSI as a primary
performance indicator and some USAID officials noted they viewed using the
MSI as a cost-effective means to provide a common indicator to measure and
compare the results of efforts in Europe and Eurasia.

17Countries or territories assessed in the MSI include Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania,
Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

18State provided a list of some suggested measures for missions, including
using the following as indicators when relevant independent media
development goals are established: opposition parties have access to
state-run media, independent media outlets are established, and mechanisms
are established to provide citizens with information to make objective
decisions about political and social choices.

Country-Specific and In all the cases we reviewed, countries faced
changing political conditions

or deficiencies in the legal, regulatory, or professional environments,
whichProgrammatic Factors created challenges for planning and implementing
independent media Can Impact Media development efforts. In some cases,
programmatic factors, such as Development Efforts unsustainable local
partner organizations or lack of coordination at

overseas missions, affected overall U.S. efforts or specific projects or
activities in a country. The following media development challenges
represent a sample of those frequently mentioned during our review.

Country-Specific Factors, Such as a Changing Political Society or
Inadequate Legal, Regulatory and Professional Environments, Can Impact
Media Development Efforts

A country's political conditions can impact efforts to plan and implement
independent media development projects and activities. In January 2004,
USAID surveyed its independent media development efforts, as well as those
supported by other donors, and determined that different programmatic
approaches are required for five different types of political societies,
which USAID classified as: (1) closed, (2) semidemocratic/developing, (3)
war-torn, (4) postconflict, and (5) transition. For semidemocratic,
postconflict, or transitional countries making progress toward democracy
or no longer experiencing conflict, USAID has identified a variety of
activities to support the development of an independent media. However, in
closed or war-torn societies, USAID determined it can do very little
because the environments are unsuitable for outside intervention. See
table 4 for definitions of political societies and further detail on the
appropriate programmatic media strategies identified by USAID.

Table 4: USAID Definition and Media Approach for Each Political Society

               Political society Definition USAID media approach

Closed      Closed societies are governed by USAID or other international  
                             monarchs, military agencies have not             
                dictators, or ideologues with a designed or implemented major 
                    relatively closed political         projects for          
          system and underdeveloped economy.    independent media development 
          Free press is                                   in closed           
               almost nonexistent in these        societies. The situation is 
                       societies.                    likely to change because 
                                                of the growing interest in    
                                                promoting democracy in        
                                                      the Middle East.        

Semidemocratic/ Countries that appear to have         USAID and other      
                   made tangible progress           international actors can  
     developing         toward democratization, but undertake a wide variety  
                          where stagnation and even of media projects, but    
                   backsliding occur, are             strong political and    
                   considered semidemocratic         diplomatic pressure is   
                   developing societies.              necessary to push for   
                   Independent media remains          independent media in    
                          extremely fragile in such semidemocratic societies. 
                    countries, and journalists work   If multiple donors work 
                    under trying conditions. Subtle together, they increase   
                            forms of censorship and the chances of gaining    
                   self-censorship continue, and      political support for   
                   the legal and regulatory             independent media     
                   environment is not conducive to                            
                            a free press.                 development.

War-torn   This category refers to countries USAID and other donors can do 
                       with ongoing civil wars.           very little in such 
             Such societies tend to have highly   conditions, as the whole    
                          authoritarian regimes    political environment,     
             and predatory social and political intellectual climate, and     
                         structures. Civil wars economic conditions are       
            give the ruling regime a pretext to   not suitable for outside    
            stifle whatever little                     interventions.         
            freedom media enjoyed in the past.  

Postconflict This category refers to            Examples of the types of   
                countries where conflict has         projects that can be     
                ended, leading to the                     undertaken in these 
                establishment of a legitimate           countries include the 
                                                                   following: 
                  government. One distinguishing     establishing a legal     
                         characteristic of these  framework for free media,   
                societies is that tremendous     supporting the government in 
                opportunities exist for                  establishing         
                establishing democratic                appropriate regulatory 
                institutions and practices.                  bodies, training 
                                                                 journalists, 
                                                 assisting independent media  
                                                         outlets, and         
                                                  establishing civil society  
                                                      organizations that      
                                                 articulate the interests of  
                                                 journalists and a free       
                                                            press.            

Transition  This category primarily refers to      As in postconflict      
                         relatively socially and   societies, unprecedented   
              economically advanced societies in opportunities for promoting  
                             which the political independent media            
                order has collapsed, opening the  exist in these countries.   
                          way for liberalization    Practically all of the    
                     and democratization.              programming strategies 
                                                   suggested for postconflict 
                                                 societies have been followed 
                                                     in transition countries. 

Source: USAID.

We examined independent media development projects in nine different
countries-Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Haiti, Indonesia,
Krygyzstan, Mali, and Ukraine-each experiencing differing domestic
political conditions that limit the impact of these projects. In some of
the cases we reviewed, changes in domestic conditions or the status of
political societies occurred following the onset of independent media
development activities, creating further challenges in implementing
efforts in these countries. For example, in Haiti-a nation experiencing
civil conflict-violent demonstrations and protests prior to the departure
of the

president prevented some USAID-funded media development projects from
continuing because staff were physically unable to get to work. Officials
told us that several radio stations suffered extensive damage from
looters, and community radio stations reported several cases where police,
as well as government officials loyal to the president, tried to use their
power to silence independent media voices. After the president's
departure, all nonessential USAID staff were ordered to evacuate the
country, and the media project was on hold for nearly a month.

In countries with deficient legal, regulatory, or professional
environments, agencies can face challenges in implementing independent
media development projects and activities. All nine of the countries we
reviewed faced challenges due to deficiencies in at least one of these
areas, which impacted efforts to train the media, build the capacity of
the media outlets, and improve the freedom of the press within the
country. In particular, these deficiencies have led to such challenges as
limited press freedom due to direct government control over the media
industry; changing legal and regulatory frameworks; limited training
opportunities; and lack of skilled journalists due to widespread problems
in professional and educational systems. Agency officials provided
examples of how such deficiencies have impacted their programs:

o 	Limited press freedom. Prior to the revolution in Kyrgyzstan, the
Kyrgyz government maintained a tight hold on broadcast frequencies,
prevented new stations from obtaining frequencies, and canceled
frequencies of certain independent outlets. Agency officials said that
journalists were afraid to broadcast on certain topics for fear of
harassment or prosecution. In Georgia, most television stations are owned
by oligarchs, many of whom support the new government. According to
embassy officials in Tbilisi, working journalists exercise self-censorship
for fear that reports critical of the government would be unpopular with
their owners.

o 	Changing legal and regulatory frameworks. Although Ukraine's new
president stated publicly his support for a free mass media, State
officials said Ukraine's legal and regulatory environments still need
assistance. Though legislation has been enacted to improve freedom of the
press and oversight of the media industry, these changes have not been
consistently applied by Ukrainian judges and media outlets. Therefore,
journalists can still be pressured by government officials and oligarchs
to report information in a certain way, and media outlets' legal status
and license to operate remain in question.

o 	Limited training opportunities. Since 1993, Mali's constitution has
made it relatively easy to obtain radio broadcast licenses for FM
frequencies. However, officials noted that that there are currently no
incountry professional training institutions for broadcast media. As a
result, individuals have to go outside of Mali to receive training, or
obtain informal training from their peers and colleagues.

o 	Lack of skilled journalists. In Croatia, most journalists have little
academic or professional training. Agency officials stated that although
independent media is evolving, journalists still report biased news and
information, do not check their facts or sources, do not follow up or
correct their errors, and skew the focus of articles to accomplish
personal agendas.

According to USAID's January 2004 media assistance study, USAID has funded
a range of activities designed to further promote legal and regulatory
reforms, though undemocratic structures, politicians, and slowto-change
traditions have made the creation of enabling laws, policies, and
practices difficult or impossible in some cases. Assistance projects and
training efforts have been designed to mitigate legal, regulatory, and
professional deficiencies, though progress of these programs has been
slow. Agency officials from missions in several countries we examined
provided examples of approaches to addressing unregulated media
environments, including the following:

o 	Limited press freedom. In order to limit editorial interference by
state bodies, USAID's media project in Kyrgyzstan currently supports local
efforts to draft a new broadcasting law, which would include stipulations
for the transformation of state television and radio to a public
broadcasting system. To dilute the editorial influence of oligarchs who
own the vast majority of TV stations in Georgia, USAID's implementing
partner in Tbilisi introduced a television rating system, which produced
verifiable ratings that made the commercial market far more attractive to
advertisers. The increased interest of advertisers in the media market has
made nonbusiness-based policies more costly for oligarch owners.

o 	Changing legal and regulatory frameworks. USAID's media development
project in Ukraine has established a Media Law Institute that will provide
journalists with an outlet for legal defense and consultations when faced
with political pressure. The center also plans

to train local lawyers and judges on media law reform, and to publish
bulletins about changes in legislation.

o 	Limited training opportunities. The USAID Mission to Mali has tried to
address the lack of professional media training institutions by supporting
a technical training facility, bringing professionals to Mali to conduct
training sessions, and sending broadcast and print journalists as well as
key members of the government and civil society to an anticorruption
ethics training seminar.

o 	Lack of skilled journalists. Croatia's USAID media development project
focused on developing the capacity of the national journalist association,
including conferences to improve journalists' professionalism, their
capacity for reporting, and their relationships with other sectors of
society, such as the police and judiciary. Additionally, University of
Zagreb's journalism school partnered with the U.S. Embassy to participate
in academic exchange programs, international visits, and speaker programs.

Programmatic Factors Can Affect Media Development Efforts

Sustainability of Local Organizations Can Affect Long-Term Media
Development Results

The sustainability of local organizations can impact the overall results
of media development efforts or the success of specific projects and
activities in a country. Additionally, limited coordination and lack of
communication with local recipients at some posts have impacted some
projects and activities by causing confusion of responsibilities or
duplication of efforts.

The success of media development projects and activities can be impacted
by the sustainability of local partners. We found that seven of the nine
countries we reviewed had cases where local media outlets had difficulty
ensuring their financial sustainability as their U.S. funding decreased.
Sustainability challenges were primarily due to a poor economic
environment or lack of sufficient business management training. Specific
examples include the following:

o 	Poor economic environment. An official from the USAID Mission in Haiti
stated that because many independent radio stations are community owned,
the stations cannot increase their operating budgets or replace expensive
pieces of equipment without first increasing the financial resources
available to the entire community. Additionally, the self-sustainability
of private media outlets in Bosnia-Herzegovina continues to be a major
problem due to widespread crime and corruption and a national unemployment
rate of about 40 percent.

o 	Lack of business management training. According to one local television
station owner in Croatia, a U.S.-sponsored national television network,
designed to link several local station's news programs, is struggling to
survive because the network did not develop the advertising revenue and
profit-sharing structures necessary to keep it financially sustainable.
USAID acknowledged that this may be the case, but they viewed the network
project as a success because it had served to provide an alternative,
independent news program to the statecontrolled TV network during an
earlier period of political transition.

To respond to these programmatic challenges, some USAID officials offered
the following suggestions:

o 	Poor economic environment. The USAID Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina has
focused on encouraging local business development strategies, and
currently financially supports the survival of only a select number of
media outlets. The USAID Mission in Mali told us that because of the
country's high poverty rate, they conduct workshops for radio stations in
order to provide them with small-business concepts that can be used to
generate additional outside revenues, like the sale of solar power to
provide lighting or the creation of centers to provide the community with
computer services and Internet access.

o 	Lack of business management training. Since 2002, Georgia's USAID media
project has worked to promote the sustainability of print and broadcast
media outlets by improving their business management skills and
establishing an independent and credible national system of television
audience measurement. As a result of better information on the profile of
viewers, TV advertising in Georgia increased from $3 million to $7 million
in 2004 and is expected to increase to $13 million by 2006.

Various studies have also offered suggestions for addressing the
sustainability of media outlets. A working paper by the Netherlands
Institute of International Relations on "International Media Assistance"
suggested allowing more time during the life of a project to focus on
sustainability. Another report published by USAID, Media Assistance:
Policy and Programmatic Lessons, suggested that in postconflict societies,
only media outlets willing to take concrete and concerted steps toward
economic independence should be given technical or financial assistance.
According to this study, USAID has implemented several

Limited Coordination at Some Locations Can Result in Confusion of
Responsibilities and Duplication of Efforts

activities that promote the financial independence or sustainability of
media outlets, but these activities have achieved only limited success.

While not as widespread as other programmatic challenges, we found that
four of the nine countries we examined were challenged by coordination
issues, such as an unclear chain of command and limited communication,
which resulted in confusion over the responsibilities of donors and
providers of media development, duplication of efforts, or periods of
program inactivity. For example, the director of a Croatian media
development project worked with three different U.S. donors, with no clear
chain of command established. Thus, the director was unsure to whom he
should report under certain circumstances, resulting in difficulty in
reacting to urgent needs. In another case we reviewed, State and USAID had
unknowingly funded different NGOs that were working independently to
rebuild the same radio stations that had been destroyed during the recent
tsunami in Indonesia, leading to on-the-ground project conflicts.
Officials at the USAID Mission to Indonesia told us this duplication of
effort resulted from their lack of awareness of a grant awarded by State's
DRL bureau in Washington, D.C., that was similar to the grant USAID
awarded.19 Poorly maintained roads, combined with poor phone and Internet
access, contributed to communication and coordination challenges faced by
the USAID Mission in Haiti and the community radios it supports; this, in
turn slowed USAID's training activities, the delivery of equipment, and
other activities. USAID officials said they are planning to install
Internet and phone lines in rural areas to improve the situation.

One example of effective coordination can be found in Ukraine. Ukraine is
challenged by a complicated network of donors, providers, and recipients
(see fig. 1), multiple ongoing projects, various funding sources, and
agencies funding the same organizations and similar activities. For
example, four separate organizations, including the U.S. Embassy (via the
Media Development Ffund), Internews Network (via a cooperative agreement
via the USAID mission), the International Renaissance Foundation, and NED
(via its annual grant from State), currently provide U.S.-sponsored
funding or programmatic activities to the advocacy and media monitoring
organization Telekritika. However, in Kiev, USAID and State officials have
worked well together to minimize coordination

19In May 2005, USAID Indonesia completed its media strategy that sets out
broad strategic parameters with respect to media programming, including
some attention on the tsunamiaffected region of Aceh.

problems by keeping track of donor awards on a Web site and attending
donor coordination meetings on a monthly basis. According to USAID
officials, the Web site "Marketplace for Donors" is funded jointly by
State (the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, public affairs section) and the
International Renaissance Foundation.

 Figure 1: U.S.-Sponsored Independent Media Development Projects and Activities
                                   in Ukraine

                   Sources: GAO; Nova Development (clip art).

Media evaluations have made specific suggestions to improve the
coordination of donors, providers, and recipients of independent media
development programming in order to minimize the confusion of
responsibilities and duplication of efforts. An evaluation by the
University of Oxford, "Mapping Media Assistance," suggested donors and
providers coordinate the distribution of their limited resources in a
systematic and logical manner, based on their areas of specialization. The
Netherlands Institute of International Relations working paper on
"International Media Assistance," suggested establishing a strategic
coordination mechanism, like the European Media Agency for the European
Union, that could serve as a clearinghouse and evaluator of all
media-related assistance proposals for the targeted countries.

To address challenges in coordination, USAID funds regional media
conferences and has conducted a limited number of independent media
program evaluations, so that participants can share lessons learned;
however, these efforts face funding constraints. USAID has funded six
independent media development regional conferences in Europe and Eurasia
and one multiregional conference over the past 8 years. These conferences
have brought together journalists, media development donors, providers,
and civil society organizations to discuss issues in journalism that
transcend borders. USAID has also designated the Bureau for Policy and
Program Coordination to conduct several assessments of independent media
programs in various countries and identify lessons learned and best
practices. In addition, USAID bureaus and missions have conducted several
different types of studies on independent media efforts, including midterm
assessments, final reports, and program evaluations. According to the
Policy and Program Coordination bureau director, USAID's independent media
evaluations have created a body of knowledge and lessons learned on
subjects ranging from conflict areas to transitional countries. However,
USAID media officials noted that the discontinuation of funding for
conferences and limited funding levels for evaluations could reduce the
amount of collaboration and sharing of lessons learned officials said is
necessary to enhance media development programming efforts. Additionally,
several media officials indicated that in some instances insufficient
funding for USAID program evaluations has forced media development
providers to fund their own evaluations through their project budgets,
thus reducing funds available for development activities. Although USAID
requires its evaluations to be posted on the Development Experience
Clearinghouse to make them accessible to other posts, one senior official
said it was unclear to what degree the lessons learned from evaluations
are shared or used by missions. For example, one official in

Croatia said that program evaluations are shared only within the region
due to concerns that other countries' approaches may not be relevant.

Agency Comments 	We provided a draft of this report to the Secretary of
State and the USAID Administrator for their review and comment. State
generally concurred with our report, and USAID offered technical comments
that were incorporated, as appropriate. In addition, State indicated that
it plans to develop additional performance indicators and promote best
practices in the future. The comments provided by State are reprinted in
appendix IV, and comments by USAID are reprinted in appendix V.

We are sending copies of this report to other interested Members of
Congress. We are also sending copies to the Secretary of State and the
Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. We will
also make copies available at no charge on the GAO Web site at
http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff has any questions about this report, please contact
me
at (202) 512-4268 or [email protected]. Contact points for our Offices of
Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page
of this report. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report are
listed in appendix VI.

Sincerely yours,

Jess T. Ford
Director, International Affairs and Trade

Appendix I

                             Scope and Methodology

To accomplish our objectives, we reviewed documentation and spoke with
officials from the Department of State (State), the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID), the Broadcasting Board of Governors
(BBG), and key U.S. nongovernmental organization (NGO) partners, including
the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the International Research and
Exchanges Board (IREX), Internews, The Asia Foundation, the Eurasia
Foundation, and the International Center for Journalists. In addition, we
reviewed USAID's guidance for performance measurement. Department of
Defense media activities were not included in the scope of our work as its
primary focus in the media field is on conducting psychological
operations.

In addition to audit work performed in the United States, we traveled to
and reviewed documentation on U.S.-sponsored independent media development
programs in Croatia, Ukraine, and Indonesia. These countries were
primarily selected based on geographic representation; preliminary
estimates on funding and years of assistance provided;1 and the range of
programs offered. During travel to Croatia, Ukraine, and Indonesia, we met
with State Department and USAID officials; multiple nonprofit, private
donor, and multilateral officials; and program recipients to discuss
issues of coordination, funding, measuring of program effectiveness, and
challenges faced when implementing foreign independent media development
programs. We also sent questions to and reviewed select documentation from
posts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, Georgia, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, and Mali.

Agency Fiscal Year 2004 In order to determine estimates for agency fiscal
year 2004 obligations, we

Budget Obligations	obtained data from State, USAID, the BBG, and select
NGOs. Assessments of the reliability of the data yielded mixed results,
but provided an overall indication of the minimum level of funding for the
agency.

USAID and Select NGOs	USAID's historic budget obligations from USAID's
Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance bureau proved to be
unreliable because (1) USAID historic budget records on media development
programs are incomplete after 1996 because agencywide budget codes related
to media activities were discontinued at this time; (2) USAID budget
records were

1With the exception of two countries that we were not able to obtain
initial estimates for, case studies and follow-up countries were selected
that had estimated U.S. investments of over $1 million for independent
media development.

                        Appendix I Scope and Methodology

not finalized for fiscal year 2004; and (3) historic funding codes could
not be recoded or configured to accurately reflect the specific activities
of missions falling under our definition of independent media development.
In addition, although USAID officials indicated that individual missions
currently track spending for various program components-including media
development-independent media projects can often be defined differently or
be intermixed within broader civil society projects; thus, missions may
record media funding levels inconsistently. Given this determination, we
instead obtained USAID fiscal year 2004 obligations from NGOs that USAID
identified as the main implementers of independent media development
projects. In particular, we gathered documentation separately from the
International Center for Journalists, Internews, The Eurasia Foundation,
the Asia Foundation, and IREX. USAID officials told us that the true
figure for USAID fiscal year 2004 obligations is likely significantly
higher than our estimate because (1) we were not able to obtain
documentation from all NGOs that received independent media development
grants from USAID headquarters;2 (2) we were not able to obtain data on
fiscal year 2004 obligations awarded directly by USAID missions to local
NGOS; and (3) we may not have captured all budget accounts that funded
obligations for fiscal year 2004.3

State Department and the We gathered State Department fiscal year
obligation data by obtaining National Endowment for documentation from the
following bureaus or offices: Democracy Human

Democracy

Rights and Labor (DRL), the Office of the Coordinator of U.S. Assistance
to Europe and Eurasia (EUR/ACE), Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA),
International Information Programs (IIP), Middle East Partnership
Initiative (MEPI), and State's regional bureaus.4 We requested the bureaus
and offices include 2004 budget obligations that met our definition of
media assistance programs and exclude programs funded by the State

2We obtained documentation or records on fiscal year 2004 obligations made
by USAID from the main NGO providers that receive independent media
development grants from USAID headquarters, including the International
Center for Journalists, IREX, the Asia Foundation, and Internews. In
addition, we obtained information from the Eurasia Foundation on the
amount in subgrants it awarded during fiscal year 2004.

3Some agency budget accounts fund obligations for only 1 fiscal year, over
2 fiscal years, or until funds are expended (also called "no-year" money).
In some instances, we were not able to associate an obligated amount to a
particular fiscal year.

4State's East Asia and Pacific bureau reported actual expenditures. Agency
officials indicated that these expenditures were approximations because of
the time of year that the data were collected.

                        Appendix I Scope and Methodology

Department via interagency transfers to USAID or BBG. To assess the
reliability of the obligation data, we (1) posed a standard set of
questions to State officials, and (2) reviewed the list provided for
consistency with our definition of media assistance programs. According to
State officials, some variation existed in the techniques used to compile
the programs and budget obligations. For example, some bureaus or agencies
relied on electronic databases to gather information, while others did not
have these systems. We found the list of programs to be consistent with
the media assistance program definition in our request. We determined that
the data provided by State were sufficiently reliable to provide an
estimate of 2004 budget obligations for media assistance programs. We were
not able to specifically determine NED's fiscal year 2004 obligations from
State for independent media development projects because NED receives
several broad grants each year for its work to support democratic
initiatives. However, we were able to obtain information from NED on the
amount in subgrants for media development activities it awarded during
fiscal year 2004.5

Broadcasting Board of We determined fiscal year 2004 obligations data
provided by the BBG to be

Governors	sufficiently reliable following an interview with BBG officials
to assess data reliability. The key factors in making the determination
were that BBG (1) used one budget account for the program area, and (2)
routinely performed checks on the reliability of the database used.

Review of Media Development Indexes

To address our objective of examining agency performance measurement for
independent media development efforts, we also (1) reviewed available
agency, country, and program-level performance documentation for the case
study countries; and (2) assessed the principle media development
indexes-Freedom House's Press Freedom survey and the IREX Media
Sustainability Index (MSI). Our analysis of the Press Freedom survey and
the IREX MSI included interviews with officials at the organizations
responsible for the indexes and interviews with State and USAID officials
to determine the strengths and limitations of the data.

5The data showed that during fiscal year 2004, NED awarded approximately
$6.5 million in subgrants for independent media development projects.

                        Appendix I Scope and Methodology

Challenges to Media Development

To address the challenges that the United States faces in implementing
media development activities and achieving results, we interviewed or
requested information from State and USAID officials in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Haiti, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan,
Mali, and Ukraine. State and officials at all nine missions were asked to
list the challenges their mission has dealt with while implementing media
development programs and provide specific examples of how each challenge
impeded the effectiveness of their program. The officials were also asked
to explain the steps their mission took to mitigate these challenges.
Although the challenges provided could not be generalized worldwide, we
believe that the steps taken to mitigate the challenges, or lessons
learned, should be shared globally. Lastly, we reviewed several media
development studies published between 2000 and 2005 by State, USAID, the
Knight Foundation, University of Oxford, Freedom House, IREX, Foreign
Affairs, Netherlands Institute of International Relations, UNESCO, the
United Kingdom's Department for International Development, World Bank
Institute Development Studies, and Routledge Group. We did not review
these studies for sufficiency of methodology.

Appendix II

Select International Organizations or Donors That Implement Media
Development Programs

                   Select non-U.S. donors Program description

European Commission	Provides major source of funding for media development
at the European level as part of its larger program of human rights and
democratization. Includes both macroprojects, implemented in partnership
with international organizations (like the Office of Security and
Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE) that work with local entities, and
microprojects that directly fund local organizations.

Organization for Security and Cooperation Supports freedom of the press
and freedom of information by providing training for

in Europe (OSCE)	journalists and technicians, setting up radio stations,
and monitoring freedom of information in the media. OSCE also assists and
advises governmental authorities as well as print and electronic media in
their endeavour to reform the media sector.

Open Society Institute and Soros Concentrates on projects addressing
issues of democratic media legislation, monitoring

Foundations Network	violations of media freedom, protecting journalists,
establishing self-regulation systems and strong independent professional
organizations, and raising the professionalism of journalists and media
managers.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Provides training to
journalists and technical media staff to strengthen independent media,

Cultural Organization (UNESCO)	establishes independent printing plants and
print distribution networks, and develops public service broadcasting-
including the establishment of a regulatory framework and support for TV
productions and co-productions.

United Nations Development Programme Promotes global access to information
by strengthening the legal and regulatory

(UNDP)	environment for freedom and pluralism information, supporting
capacity strengthening, networking, and elevation of standards of media at
national and local levels; raising awareness on rights to official access
to information; and developing communication mechanisms for vulnerable
groups.

World Bank	Supports civil society with direct funding support-often
provided in partnership with other international aid donors-to back
programs such as information technology access and human rights.

Source: Select non-U.S. donors.

Note: Media development funding from these various donors was not readily
available, not presented in similar formats, and not easily verifiable.

Appendix III

State Department and USAID Goals Related to Independent Media

Table 5: Goals Related to Select Independent Media Development Programs
from Current State Mission Performance Plans

Country Strategic goals Performance goals, strategies, and media-related
tactics

Croatia Democratic systems Goal: Croatia completes democratic transition
away from its socialist and authoritarian past and and practices/ puts in
place democratic institutions needed for integration into the
Euro-Atlantic institutions. democracy and Strategy: Support transparent
and accountable democratic systems, full integration of minorities human
rights into national and local political structures, combat trafficking in
persons, and improve the climate for independent media. Media-related
tactic: Promote independent media through exchange and training programs
to expose Croatian journalists and editors to U.S. practices.

Ukraine Democratic systems Goal: Ukraine meets Euro-Atlantic standards of  
                                   democratic practice and human rights.      
                                      Strategy 1: Support the capacity of the 
             and practices/      citizenry to engage effectively in promoting 
                                                               its rights and 
             democracy and       interests for a more democratic Ukraine.     
              human rights    Media-related tactic: Foster the growth of NGOs 
                                   that promote and defend human rights,      
                                   religious freedom, and media freedom.      
                                   Strategy 2: Encourage Ukrainian government 
                                       institutions to become more effective, 
                                                                 transparent, 
                                 and accountable to the citizens within an    
                                      overall rule of law framework.          
                                 Media-related tactic: Develop and maintain a 
                              wide range of contacts in government, academia, 
                                 media, think tanks, and the international    
                               community to advocate effectively and monitor  
                              progress, both in the government and in society 
                                                as a whole.                   

International public opinion/public diplomacy and public affairs

Goal: Public Opinion in Ukraine moves towards U.S./Western values.
Strategy: Strengthen the capacity of Ukrainian media and civic
organizations to present a
balanced view of domestic and international events.
Media-related tactics: Employ bilateral engagements, including sustained
high-level
demarches, in support of a free press, access to information, and
journalists' rights to freely
exercise their profession; coordinate with the European Union and G-7 and
other key countries,
donors, and institutions on matters including assistance, policy, and
demarches; support
grassroots media initiatives such as expansion of Internet access by
regional media, substantive
newspaper supplements, and TV documentaries through embassy, AID, NGO, and
foundation
projects; provide technical assistance for projects that strengthen
independent media, journalist
advocacy, and managerial capacity of independent media; finance legal
assistance for
journalists and media outlets to improve the legal and regulatory
framework for media, including
access to information.

                                  Goal: Bosnia-Herzegovina is an accountable, 
     Bosnia-   Democratic systems transparent democracy with a robust civil   
                                  society                                     
Herzegovina   and practices/          and respect for human rights.        
                                  Strategy: Increase citizen participation in 
                 democracy and    political/social decision making,           
                                  particularly in public                      
                                  sector reform. Media outlets provide useful 
                  human rights    information to citizens as basis for making 
                                  informed                                    
                                   judgments and identify areas where public  
                                       pressure can be usefully applied.      
                                         Media-related tactics: Assist viable 
                                  private sector broadcast and print media to 
                                                              provide a broad 
                                    range of objective programming; provide   
                                  technical assistance and political support  
                                                    to the                    
                                  Bosnian Communications Regulatory Agency    
                                  (RAK), Press Council, Association of        
                                  Electronic                                  
                                   Media, journalist associations, and media  
                                     training providers; support domestic     
                                                  production.                 

International public Strategy: Influence public opinion and explain U.S.
positions on global issues including the war opinion/public on terrorism,
Iraq, and the Middle East; stress democratic and economic themes related
to diplomacy and public European and Euro-Atlantic integration, rule of
law, trafficking in persons, development of an affairs independent and
professional media, and private sector growth.

    Appendix IIIState Department and USAID Goals Relatedto Independent Media

                         (Continued From Previous Page)

Country Strategic goals Performance goals, strategies, and media-related tactics

Kyrgyzstand	Democratic systems and practices/ democracy and human rights

Goal: Encourage the growth of an active and informed civil society in the
Kyrgyz Republic; help
build independent media that report objectively and freely; encourage
strong democratic
institutions including an independent parliament and independent
judiciary; support active
independent political parties, rule of law, respect for human rights, and
free and fair and
transparent elections.
Strategy: Increase the quality, quantity, and accessibility of information
available to Kyrgyz
citizens.
Media-related tactics: Work with government officials to press for reform
of media and libel
laws and for decrease in pressure against independent media; support
independent media
through programs to provide independent printing facilities, legal
counsel, institutional support to
journalists' associations, and training in new media technology; support
journalists' professional
associations and their capacity to monitor and document press freedom
infringements and
advocate on these issues with the government; monitor violations of press
freedom and report
on policy and trends affecting media; teach objective journalism and
management skills to
increase media outlets' professional and economic viability; support
programs that encourage
political dialogue and debate, such as discussion clubs and TV/radio talk
shows, and ensure that
remote areas also have access to such programs; increase the accessibility
to diverse forms of
information about political, economic, and social issues for all citizens;
support spread of Internet
access throughout the country.

                                 Goal: Support the transition of Haiti in the 
Haiti Stable conditions in     context of a long-term effort to strengthen 
                                                                   democratic 
          fragile or failing   practices, invest in people through education  
                                  and training, and economic development.     
                                  Strategy: Use of all mission resources      
               states/             effectively to strengthen democratic       
                                             institutions and                 
           counterterrorism     practices, promote the rule of law and good   
                                governance, and strengthen civil liberties.   
                                        Media-related tactics: Strengthen the 
                                          independent press; strengthen media 
                                                             independence and 
                                         community radio networks.            

Georgia	Democratic systems Goal: Georgia's democratic reforms are
consolidated, resulting in adherence to the rule of law, and practices/
improved government transparency and accountability, reduced corruption
and broad public democracy and participation in political life. human
rights Strategy: Foster the development of an increasingly vibrant civil
society. Assist in building a

vibrant and diverse civil society, including political parties,
independent and responsible media,
and constituency-based NGO coalitions to advocate for reforms in Georgia,
and to partner with
the new government in carrying out key reforms.
Media-related tactics: Increase journalistic professionalism through U.S.
and locally based
assistance for print and broadcast media.

Egypt	American values Goal: U.S. core values advanced in Egypt through the
Middle East Partnership Initiative and respected public diplomacy
programs. abroad/public Strategy: Foster pluralism and democracy in Egypt.
diplomacy and public Media-related tactic: Initiate new program to support
journalism training on free, fair, and affairs accurate reporting through
both classroom work and internships with U.S. news media.

    Appendix IIIState Department and USAID Goals Relatedto Independent Media

                         (Continued From Previous Page)

Country Strategic goals Performance goals, strategies, and media-related
tactics

                                       Goal: Indonesia consolidates political 
Indonesia Democratic systems   reforms, addresses the causes of separatist 
                                                                   and ethnic 
               and practices        crises, and enhances protections for      
                                           vulnerable populations.            
                                Strategy: Help transform Indonesia's civilian 
                                   governmental institutions-including the    
                                parliament, ministries, and judicial          
                                sector-into efficient, democratically         
                                functioning entities.                         
                                 Media-related tactic: Professionalize media  
                                   through exchange and training programs.    

Mutual understanding	Goal: Increase understanding for American values,
policies, and initiatives to create a receptive environment in Indonesia.
Strategy 1: Conduct a variety of exchanges to increase mutual
understanding and build trust between American and Indonesia people and
institutions. Media-related tactic: U.S. Fulbright lecturers, students,
and researchers outreach on the topic of free and responsible media.
Strategy 2: Ensure the basic human values embraced by Americans are
respected and understood by the Indonesia public and institutions.
Media-related tactic: Provide Small Democracy Grants to bolster free and
independent media.

                           Source: State Department.

    Appendix IIIState Department and USAID Goals Relatedto Independent Media

Table 6: Objectives for Select Independent Media Development Programs from
Current USAID Country Strategiesa

Case study
country Strategic objectives Performance objectives and objectives for
activities

Ukraine	Citizens increasingly engaged in Performance objective:
Availability of quality information increased. promoting their interests
and rights for a more democratic market-oriented state

Croatia More effective citizen participation Performance objectives:
Sustainable and balanced commercial media; journalists' and improved
governance professional standards improved; management and business
capacity of media organizations strengthened.

Bosnia-A more participatory, inclusive Performance objectives: Increased
citizen participation in political and social

Herzegovina democratic society	decision making; viable private-sector
broadcast and print media provide a broad range of objective programming.

Georgia   More effective,    Performance objectives: Independent media     
            responsible, and        highlights citizens' concerns and         
           accountable local        informs communities on key issues.        
           governance        
                             Objectives for activities: Increased media       
                             professionalism to provide objective             
                                   information at both the national and local 
                                   level; better business management of local 
                             media outlets and increased financial            
                             management; improved legal and regulatory        
                              framework that supports free speech and access  
                                             to information.                  

Kyrgyzstan	Strengthened democratic culture Performance objectives:
Increased availability of information on civic rights and among citizens
and target domestic public issues; increased news programming and improved
financial and institutions management systems in targeted media entities.

Haiti	Genuinely inclusive democratic Performance objective: Civil society
organizations positively influence policies. governance attained

Indonesia Effective democratic and Performance objectives: Expanding
participatory, effective and accountable local decentralized governance
governance. Objectives for activities: Civil society organizations and
other stakeholders such (Independent media development as universities,
religious-based organizations, business associations, labor is considered
a cross-cutting associations, and the media develop the capacity to
effectively participate in local issue) decision-making and advocacy
processes.

Performance objectives: Consolidating the reform agenda.
Objectives for activities: Unions and press councils provide policy advice
and
advocate on behalf of media legislation, undertaking litigation to seek
compliance
with media laws and regulations, and the provision of legal aid and
services in the
defense of journalists and the media industry; work with civil society
organizations
to support the laws that give media freedom; support media initiatives
that promote
transparency and freedom of information.

Performance objectives: Addressing conflict and encouraging pluralism.
Objectives for activities: Media Coverage in conflict areas becomes
objective and noninflammatory; support program that gives information to
the tsunami affected area.

Mali	Increase pubic access to quality Performance objectives: Regulatory
and policy environment responsive to public development information in
interest.

targeted areas Performance objectives: Policies and procedures proposed
for adoption.

Performance objectives: Improved quality of development information;
enhanced institutional capacity to produce development information.

    Appendix IIIState Department and USAID Goals Relatedto Independent Media

                         (Continued From Previous Page)

Case study                             
    country      Strategic objectives         Performance objectives and      
                                               objectives for activities      
                                            Performance objectives: Establish 
              Initiatives in governance          and ensure media freedom and 
     Egypt    and                                                  freedom of 
              participation strengthened             information.             

Source: USAID.

aStrategic objectives and performance objectives (also called intermediate
results) are included that we judged to be related to mission independent
media development efforts.

                                  Appendix IV

                     Comments from the Department of State

Appendix IVComments from the Department of State

Appendix V

Comments from the U.S. Agency for International Development

Appendix VI

                   GAO Contact and Staff and Acknowledgments

                    GAO Contact Jess T. Ford, (202) 512-4268

Staff 	Diana Glod, Melissa Pickworth, Julia A. Roberts, and Joe Carney
made key contributions to this report. Martin de Alteriis, Ernie Jackson,
Amanda K.

Acknowledgments Miller, and Valerie J. Caracelli provided technical
assistance.

GAO's Mission	The Government Accountability Office, the audit, evaluation
and investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting
its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance
and accountability of the federal government for the American people. GAO
examines the use of public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies;
and provides analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help
Congress make informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO's
commitment to good government is reflected in its core values of
accountability, integrity, and reliability.

Obtaining Copies of The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO
documents at no cost

is through GAO's Web site (www.gao.gov). Each weekday, GAO postsGAO
Reports and newly released reports, testimony, and correspondence on its
Web site. To Testimony have GAO e-mail you a list of newly posted products
every afternoon, go to

www.gao.gov and select "Subscribe to Updates."

Order by Mail or Phone	The first copy of each printed report is free.
Additional copies are $2 each. A check or money order should be made out
to the Superintendent of Documents. GAO also accepts VISA and Mastercard.
Orders for 100 or more copies mailed to a single address are discounted 25
percent. Orders should be sent to:

U.S. Government Accountability Office 441 G Street NW, Room LM Washington,
D.C. 20548

To order by Phone:	Voice: (202) 512-6000 TDD: (202) 512-2537 Fax: (202)
512-6061

To Report Fraud, Contact:
Waste, and Abuse in Web site: www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm

E-mail: [email protected] Programs Automated answering system: (800)
424-5454 or (202) 512-7470

Congressional	Gloria Jarmon, Managing Director, [email protected] (202)
512-4400 U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7125

Relations Washington, D.C. 20548

Public Affairs	Paul Anderson, Managing Director, [email protected] (202)
512-4800 U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149
Washington, D.C. 20548
*** End of document. ***