"Media Assistance is the attempt to influence the media governance of a country or region in order to support the development of the proper functioning of liberal democracies in conditions of peace and respect of human rights. The process of media assistance takes various forms/instruments (see B) a ... nd involves several actors (see C) that are described hereunder. Those actors mobilise these instruments in order to create interventions in the media governance of a country/region (i.e. media state policies, media markets and media related civil society) measured against the effort to develop societies that respect the rational choice of the majority during free and fair elections, whereby different groups of the local societies are represented, and their rights as well as the rights of neighbouring counties/regions are respected." more

"The media cannot be neutral towards peace: While news journalists may react strongly against such a claim by holding their ’professional objectivity’ above everything else, they must realise that the way in which they report on and about a certain conflict can drastically affect the audience’ ... s perception of the situation and thus may influence further developments. While we would not want to endorse the idea that the news media may be controlled and used for specific purposes, even that of peace, the perception that journalists ought to be ‘neutral’ needs to be overcome. Simply by being there and reporting on a conflict, the media alter the communication environment and are thus inherently involved in the conflict and non-neutral. Furthermore, there is a very fine line between discarding one’s objectivity and viewing events with a certain attitude towards conciliation. In other words, though the media are usually run for profit, and, moreover, conflict sells better than cooperation, journalists should ensure balanced reporting with a view to preventing the escalation of tensions. It is possible to move in this direction by covering peace initiatives - at the very least – in as much detail as renewed escalations, by choosing to counter hate speech, and thus reducing the negative potentials of the media in conflict situations. Media that are sensitive towards the task of promoting tolerant and diverse viewpoints can be both informative as well as entertaining and have a large potential audience. In strengthening local capacities’ efforts, assistance can focus on three different aspects of local media structures: creating an open media culture that allows different voices to emerge and be heard, enhancing professional training and education for journalists, and supplying technical equipment to local media institutions." (Pages 2-3) more