"The Report builds upon two main directives: on the one hand, it tries to bring together the best practices at the international and comparative level, in an attempt to offer guidance on which policy and regulatory toolkits have already proved successful in achieving longterm goals of economic effic ... iency, sustainability and democratic governance of the media sphere and could therefore be considered by Somali lawmakers as positive and reliable examples. On the other hand, the Report has been drafted with a constant attention to the specificities of the Somali society, tradition and constitutional framework, in order to tailor the recommendations as closely as possible to the specific context of Somalia. For the same purpose, along with the best European and international standards, specific cases from postconflict countries that faced similar challenges have been selected and analysed. The recommendations provided in this Report are meant to accompany the process of law making in Somalia and the public consultation between the government and the local media stakeholders that will develop during the coming months and they aim to help achieve large popular consensus on the adoption of the new Communications Law. The recommendations therefore offer a broad overview on current best practices and are to be read as a useable, adaptable toolkit on general principles rather than as a detailed list of regulatory prescriptions." (Executive summary, page 2) more

"The purpose of this study is to provide a ‘map’ of media assistance. Like all maps, this one has artificial limitations. It is confined largely to the post-Soviet period. It is a map of media assistance efforts, based almost wholly on experiences on activities emanating from Europe and the Unit ... ed States, though a richer analysis would include a much wider geographical net. Unlike the cartographers who map mountains and lakes, we benefit from the cooperation of those being mapped as they help make the document more accurate. Nonetheless, it is a project in process and the complexity of the sector makes it almost impossible to provide every detail in what is inevitably a superficial map. Our method will be to develop broad outlines of the sector and then focus in on a few features of the terrain. As in many industries, there are dominant players at each level, but also many niche participants who play a critical role and are necessary for understanding the overall picture. The sector is growing rapidly and changing in many ways. Donors or ‘investors’ and entities in the sector are always looking for new areas (subject matter, geographical) of growth. Those who require funding seek to expand the pool of suppliers of funds and try to describe an expanded notion of need or demand for their services. There are areas of intense competition and areas of cooperation if not collusion. Over time, ‘successful’ models emerge and some participants withdraw, either because their product is unsupported in the marketplace, or because the nature of the demand changes. Media assistance primarily takes the form of journalism training, direct support to news organisations, efforts to aid media law reform, support for professional journalism and broadcast associations, support for developing financial sustainability of media outlets, and initiatives designed to transcend national, religious or ethnic barriers in the media." (Introduction, page 1-2) more