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This book critically examines how the media assistance and broader 'development' sector have appropriated the catch-all concept of sustainability, originally rooted in economic and environmental fields, to suit their agendas.
Analysing 289 project evaluations conducted globally between 1999 and 2019, it scrutinizes the tacit discourses underpinning what Bourdieu termed "the imperialism of the universal" in fostering media systems in the global South. The book reveals how processes of self-legitimation operate within an increasingly competitive aid market, highlighting a shift from 'post-missionary' approaches to business-driven models.
Focusing on the often-overlooked African context, it explores nuanced coping capacity in Uganda and the Eastern DRC. Amid questioning of the populist wave as well as power-motivated new entrants, it challenges the recurring aid pattern, emphasizing the urgency of centering social impact and values in media assistance. It offers essential insights for scholars and practitioners navigating the evolving geopolitics of development and public diplomacy.
List of contents
Part I: The Framing of Sustainability: Navigating Development Narratives.- Chapter 1: Introduction - Intending good or doing good?.- Chapter 2: Media development, an emerging and contested field.- Chapter 3: Sustainability in media action: a catch-all construct.- Chapter 4: Evaluation, a game changer for development.- Chapter 5: What is the sustainability imperative all about?.- Part II: The sustainability paradox: Balancing Future impact and self preservation.- Chapter 6: Exploring 25-year discourse of media action sustainability.- Chapter 7: In future we (don't) trust - ambivalence of (un)sustainability.- Chapter 8: Does media action primarily sustain power imbalances?.- Chapter 9: Towards a sustainable media development goal.- Chapter 10: Conclusion - The necessary shift between sustainability and social impact.
About the author
Michel Leroy has been active in media action for over 25 years, both as an implementer and as a consultant.
A member of an international research programme on media action, he holds a doctorate from the University of Dortmund. He is now a researcher focusing on the social impact.
Summary
This book critically examines how the media assistance and broader 'development' sector have appropriated the catch-all concept of sustainability, originally rooted in economic and environmental fields, to suit their agendas.
Analysing 289 project evaluations conducted globally between 1999 and 2019, it scrutinizes the tacit discourses underpinning what Bourdieu termed “the imperialism of the universal” in fostering media systems in the global South. The book reveals how processes of self-legitimation operate within an increasingly competitive aid market, highlighting a shift from ‘post-missionary’ approaches to business-driven models.
Focusing on the often-overlooked African context, it explores nuanced coping capacity in Uganda and the Eastern DRC. Amid questioning of the populist wave as well as power-motivated new entrants, it challenges the recurring aid pattern, emphasizing the urgency of centering social impact and values in media assistance. It offers essential insights for scholars and practitioners navigating the evolving geopolitics of development and public diplomacy.
