CONCLUSION
The field is now starting to get the literature it deserves. But consistent data and assessment of media development efforts are lacking. As Becker and Vlad concluded in their 2005 Knight Foundation report, "Getting detailed records from funding organizations is not easy. Lengthy visits with a variety of parties within organizations is going to be needed. In fact, UNESCO estimated it ’would need one person working full time for 12 months to put together detailed information about all our media projects in the last 10 years.’"
MEDIA MATTERS SECTION 4: Mapping the Sector: Literature, Surveys and Resources
Becker and Vlad propose linking the investments made to measures of media performance established by such organizations as Freedom House, Reporters Sans Frontières, and IREX. A first step would be to establish a "best practice" criterion that funders will line-item their specific efforts to develop journalism capacity. Further, the measures of media performance need to be examined to determine a consistent index that would become the standard for the field. This should be included, as Becker and Vlad suggest, in an online database created for each country for which media assistance spending is available. The Cox report’s database has been designed to accommodate this goal, the earlier Media Missionaries database should be moved to an editable online format as well. As Becker and Vlad warned, the history of media development, and evaluation of its merits, is based on data that is not being preserved. Organizations engaged in this work continue to fold media development in with other democracy-building activities. It is important that a systematic method of evaluation be established so that lessons can be learned and funding can be targeted most effectively.
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