'We hope to learn from other organisations'

Life is tough for independent media in (post-)conflict areas and in countries with totalitarian regimes. Press Now supports independent media in these areas. The media organisation, that was founded in 1993 by journalists and politicians, views a varied media landscape as an important precondition for an open, democratic society.

Independent media

Press Now wants to enable independent media in countries in conflict and in unstable areas to reach their target group and to become independent and profitable. How does the organisation wish to achieve this? Ten Oever: 'We want to at least help the media to break-even. The intention is for these organisations to be able to continue to exist without becoming dependent on us or other groups as this is the best way to guarantee independent journalism.'

To reach its objective, the organisation draws up business and development plans with its Southern partners. 'We jointly determine the targets that we want to achieve. We continue to support these organisations so when things are not going well, we adjust the targets or help them find other solutions.'

In some cases it is impossible to set up independent media. This is the case in, for example, Iran and Sudan. In these countries, Press Now has come up with a method which enables them to nevertheless provide the population with varied, independent information. 'We provide a separate information channel online, on short wave and via satellite radio. Furthermore, we utilise the networks present in these countries and work with journalists from the countries we operate in.'

This is how Press Now set up Radio Darfur for the people in the western Sudanese war zone. Ten Oever: 'This station is doing very well. We have fifteen journalists from Darfur. They use their network there and people call in on a daily basis in response to our broadcasts. This is how we create our programmes. We make three hours of radio for Sudan every day in the Netherlands.' Press Now also has a comparable initiative aimed at Iran, that is Radio Zamaneh.

Blueprint

Press Now became a PSO member this year. But why? 'We are of the opinion that collaboration with other organisations will help us to improve the way we work,' says Ten Oever. 'We want to learn from other organisations' experiences so that we do not have to reinvent the wheel.'

Press Now has high expectations from the collaboration. What exactly does Press Now expect to gain from the cooperation? 'We have just started the themed learning programme Fragile States. Discussing how to achieve the best results in fragile states with other organisations is very interesting to us. We want to conceptualise and evaluate the best, most efficient and safest ways of working in such difficult areas together with other organisations.'

PSO has almost 60 members who all have their own expertise. What does Press Now have to offer them? 'We have a great deal of experience in supporting media working under difficult circumstances,' explains Ten Oever. 'We also have, more than ample experience adapting ourselves to the local situation.'

But that is not all. 'We are good at analysing the media landscape in a particular country and subsequently seeking out a partner that can properly fulfil its role there. In this way, we contribute to increasing the quality of the media landscape as a whole. We do so through courses, training sessions, amending laws and setting up and supporting media, whether these are newspapers, radio or television stations or websites.'