Executive Summary

VIKES has been actively engaged in efforts to improve the press freedom and its corollary, freedom of expression in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras. It has supported independent journalists and the use of digital media, which holds great potential as a resource for press freedom and is an application of the individual human rights principle of freedom of expression 1 . In the VIKES regional programme, digital media serve as a platform for dialogue across the borders and permits innovative approaches to the distribution and acquisition of information.

While the press freedom and freedom of expression are fundamental human rights, the complicated political situation in the region and security issues have posed challenges for action for independent media. According to the World Press Freedom Index 2 all the countries in the region are worse now than they were ten years ago. Many independent journalists have been forced to exile or abandon their activities as a journalist. While journalists in Central America face harsh censorship, those who continue to work and speak out should be supported and defended. Without this, the corruption, repression and lack of human rights would go undocumented. In their general role, independent journalists, whom VIKES is supporting, are not human rights defenders. Nevertheless, on many occasions, their work contributes to the promotion or protection of human rights when they report on human rights abuses and bear witness to acts that they have seen.

It is ideal in any democracy that the citizens are well informed about the society they live in, and the decisions they make about society. Taking account the actual situation in the region, the support that VIKES provides for independent journalism is more urgent than ever. Journalists in the region are facing unprecedented challenges, from declining revenues, a broken business model and a new form of censorship, threats to journalists’ safety and misinformation campaigns. In these conditions, the work that VIKES has been doing in the region has been relevant and successful. It has promoted the right of civil society to information and the right of media to freedom of expression.

Activities that were planned in the programme document on the defense of fundamental rights to exercise free speech and democracy were implemented, and positive results were achieved. All the partner organizations have strengthened the exercise of democracy through digital media and investigative journalism, promoting citizen participation in public policies and improving the open-access and right to information.

Networking and cooperation between independent media, journalists and CSOs are more reliable than ever in the region, and a new concept of collaborative journalism was introduced with positive results. VIKES supported media and independent journalists in producing high-quality information and investigative stories, supporting them to attract wider audiences.

New Media: The Press Freedom Dimension, Challenges and Opportunities of New Media for Press Freedom, Paris, 2007, UNESCO rsf.org/en/ranking

Training in business development, marketing and effective management was organised by the programme, and the financial sustainability of partners was improved. Even so, the independent media in the region is still dependent on external funding and will be, until the political situation in the region will improve.

To be more effective and to improve the effectiveness of the Regional Independent Media Support Programme in the future, VIKES should increase the number of the partners and independent media representatives (also those currently exiled) to receive support from the programme. The main problem of independent public media remains the lack of financing and security. In a meeting with independent journalists in Nicaragua, where the government has threatened to continue to imprison journalists and publicly insults media professionals, they underlined the importance of solidarity networks among international organizations and press associations. According to them, VIKES has done bold work, and its efforts have supported the professionals who remain to practice “survival journalism” and need all the backing to continue to inform the population.

As the current safety situation for media in the region is worrying, the preparation of journalists in security issues by VIKES has been beneficial and appreciated by the partners. VIKES has improved the safety of journalists and media workers by providing practical know-how on safety and security issues, which can be used in harsh working conditions.

According to the programme partners, the support from the Regional Independent Media Support Programme has been extremely relevant for them. VIKES' partners receive financial support also from other donors, but VIKES in addition gives technical assistance and has a presence in the region, which has a substantial value for the partners. For the beneficiaries it’s fundamental that VIKES is a foundation of journalists, and understands the problems of the media professionals, who dedicate their work to inform people in challenging conditions and who moreover has the knowledge how the voiceless can be involved in public discussion.

The VIKES programme has achieved positive results with its actual programme design and the programme components should remain the same: support for implementation of business and marketing strategies, support for networking and training and support for content production utilizing investigative methods. The main recommendation for the design of the next phase is to use flexibility in the planning process. Increase the quantity of direct beneficiaries with independent journalists. In Nicaragua, independent journalists have established an organization called Independent Journalists and Communicators of Nicaragua (PCIN) to improve the freedom of expression of media. It would be logical to include PCIN among the beneficiaries. Support journalist in exile and include them in the project activities. Inclusion of low income, disabled, indigenous and ageing habitants, as the digital divide deepens. Among the VIKES partners Onda Local has the best reach out strategy which it could share with other media. At the end of the current phase of the project, VIKES should enforce a light institutional capacity assessment of all its actual and potential partners. Based on the analysis of the institutional capacity, VIKES can start a process with each partner to elaborate a detailed plan for their institutional strengthening. Considering that every partner organization has its particular needs for institutional strengthening, they should also have a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation matrix. In the matrix, it is essential to separate indicators for input (monitoring) and indicators for impact (evaluation). VIKES should measure how well its partners have managed to achieve results and not if they have implemented their inputs. It might be a good idea to separate the partnership agreements and the rest of the budget lines. Until now, VIKES has used an activity budget, but a line-item budget could fit better for the programme. For the last three years, VIKES has given financial support for its partners to participate in the Central American Journalist Forum. According to partners, the ForoCAP has given them a significant amount of new ideas and better tools how to improve their work and reach out to the audience. VIKES should continue this funding and be a long-term partner for the Forum. Increase coordination with other donors. Due to the political and safety situation in the region, several donors have decided to support independent media in the region, among them several NGOs from USA and European Union. One of the new actors is a basket fund called ”Fondo Comun”. During the next phase of the programme, the articulation between the donors is even more crucial than before. VIKES is in a vital position in this donor coordination because it has technical assistance in the region. This gives an added value for the VIKES programme, but it’s also an additional responsibility for the technical assistance.

The people in Nicaragua have called for freedom of expression in the protests of past years.

Photo: Kimmo Lehtonen