Danish government commits 72 million DKK over four years for media support

IMS has been selected as one of 17 organisations to enter into a new, four year strategic partnership agreement with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs amounting to 18 million DKK a year.

The new Strategic Partnerships implemented from January 2018 will have a strong focus on Danish development and humanitarian priorities tied to realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targeted towards countries that have been categorized by the ministry as priority countries.

The provision of good, fact-based and critical journalism to citizens in some of the world’s poorest and conflict-ridden countries will contribute to supporting democratic development and stability with a focus on the SDGs. The funding through the Strategic Partnership Agreement will allow IMS to continue its work for independent media and press freedom in Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Niger, Somalia, Burkina Faso and Mali.

“We are extremely pleased to be among the 17 organisations selected for this four-year partnership and look forward to continuing our work to promote good journalism and independent media worldwide,” says the Executive Director of IMS, Jesper Højberg.

“With this decision, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledges that continued support to free and independent media plays a significant role in the positive development of societies and in the work to fulfil the SDGs. When good journalism reveals inequality in the education system or when investigative journalism uncovers a connection between local health issues and pollution and decision-makers in turn are forced to act on these findings, we see positive change taking place. The media plays a decisive role when it comes to pushing governments to keeping their promises and to working for the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

A necessary counterpoint

With new funding in hand, IMS will continue its work to push forward positive developments through support to independent media in countries like Myanmar and Pakistan, where IMS has been present for a number of years. In Myanmar, Danish as well as Swedish support has over the last six years contributed to establishing the country’s first media council, journalist unions and a journalism school that equips journalists with the skills to report on the countries various challenges such as conflict and peace processes and to counter fake news and radicalization on the social media.

Technological development and the increasing use of social media as a news source has made good journalism more accessible for the broader public, but has simultaneously eased dissemination of fake news. There is a strong need to counter fake news with factual and critical journalism that strengthens the role of the independent media as the watchdog of society.

That is why the work of International Media Support is more important than ever.