The Legatum Institute launched a new report 'Free Speech, Free Press, Free Societies' which explores how media regulation can help create the foundations for prosperity and peace in transitional countries.
Bringing insights from his work in Rwanda and Libya,
Jerry Timmins, former Head of Middle East and Africa for the BBC led the lunch discussion on the importance of media policy in post-conflict countries undergoing radical economic and political transitions.
Anne Applebaum, Director Political Studies at the Legatum Institute, moderated the conversation.
Though donor countries now speak frequently about supporting good governance abroad, they rarely put media reform and regulation on the agenda. Sometimes money is made available for journalism training. But even the best-trained journalists won’t be able to do battle against corruption or government mismanagement if they operate in a closed or dangerous environment.
Although decent laws and regulations that support the free flow of information and free speech are the key to good governance, these issues often get put into the “too difficult” box and are never dealt with at all. Timmins argued that, on the contrary, these difficult issues are often the ones which need to be resolved first if any economic or political progress is to be made at all. Who controls the media; who regulates the media; who works for the media; these are all issues affected by government regulations and decisions and they need to be better understood both by donors and by people trying to put their countries on a more prosperous course.
For more information about the event and the speaker, please click
here.
Free Speech, Free Press, Free Societies is part or the Legatum Institute's '
Transitions Forum', a series of projects dedicated to the economics and politics of radical political change.