The role of media literacy in the governance reform agenda
Johanna Martinsson · 2009
A fundamental principle of the governance reform agenda is to build more effective and responsive states accountable to their citizens; free, plural, and independent media systems can play a crucial role in this process. In effect, today's convergence of traditional and new media offers promising opportunities for inclusion, participation, and transparency; which are, however, paralleled by challenges such as uneven access, misinformation, and exposure to harmful content. Consequently, access to accurate and objective information is more important than ever for a healthy democracy to flourish. This access is crucial to improve conditions for trust among citizens, media, and state, and to implement and sustain the governance agenda. This paper argues that media literacy, therefore, plays a crucial role in the governance reform agenda. To assist development practitioners, the paper also makes recommendations for steps to improve governance through media literacy.