The research project Media, Conflict and Democracy (MeCoDem) has published a new policy brief document. The brief draws together the results of two rounds of interviews with both journalists working in conflict societies, and journalism development organizations seeking to aid them. The document is authored by Ines Drefs of University of Hamburg, and Barbara Thomass of Ruhr University Bochum.

A total of 100 journalists from Egypt, Kenya, Serbia and South Africa were interviewed for the project. They accounted a host of problems, such as lacking equipment and training, political and financial pressures, mental trauma from witnessing violence, and even physical attacks.

Representatives of media development organizations took issue with some of their own work: unrealistic expectations, lack of inter-agency coordination, and uneven resource allocation. Sometimes the help is even putting its recipients in danger by making them targets for attacks, some interviewees noted.

The document “Supporting Journalism in Conflict Societies” can be freely read on the MeCoDem project’s website.

Picture: 3 broken pencils @ Digbeth, Birmingham by Tim Parkinson, licence CC BY 2.0.