大象传媒

大象传媒 Media Action, the 大象传媒鈥檚 international charity, has launched its second season of Brave New Media, a podcast featuring journalists and editors from around the world working to remain independent in fragile spaces - sharing their struggles and successes, and exploring the solutions that may help future-proof other independent media.

In this season, our host and podcast developer Dr Maha Taki travels across rich audio landscapes to hear first-person stories of media in Indonesia, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Episode 1 takes us to  Indonesia to meet Evi Mariani, the founder of a public interest platform Project Multatuli, which found itself in direct conflict with authority when it took up the case of a woman who accused an influential civil servant of sexually abusing her children. Multatuli has had to cope with police harassment and cyber-attacks but has also learned the power of social media when stories go viral, and the strength of solidarity between journalists and civil society groups. We then hear from Rebecca Vincent, the director of campaigns at Reporters Without Borders, who shares her analysis of the situation.

Episode 2 explores a Tanzanian radio station run by Jacqueline Lawrence, Highland FM, where staff have had to steer a difficult course between accurately reflecting the concerns of their rural audiences in Tanzania while avoiding antagonising the authorities  who could close them down. Kenyan journalist Alphonse Shindu then offers his viewpoint on the challenges faced by Highland FM, and praises Jacqueline for her bravery.

And in Episode 3, Maha speaks to Argaw Ashine, co-creator of the Ethiopian media platform, Wazema 鈥� founded in exile, Wazema returned to Ethiopia during a time of opening, only to have the door again closed. Rashweat Mukundu, an advisor on African media for International Media Support, then reflects on Wazema鈥檚 story.

Dr Maha Taki, senior media development advisor at 大象传媒 Media Action, said:

鈥淭ruly independent, public interest media often face overwhelming odds just to survive. They may be operating in heavily politicised and polarised media environments, and facing serious legal, regulatory and financial pressures both offline and online. Yet these media organisations have never been more needed, to bring people trusted information and to deliver stories that often cannot be found anywhere else. With Brave New Media, we are digging deep into the real life stories of media organisations from around the world , and sharing reflections from specialists to help find solutions to their ongoing challenges.鈥�

Season 1 travelled to Lebanon, Ukraine and Paraguay, meeting pioneers in public interest media working against the odds amid conflict, misinformation and polarised media environments.

Join us on our Brave New Media journeys on , , and .

Produced by Holy Mountain, Brave New Media is part of P, an international media support consortium led by 大象传媒 Media Action and funded by UK Aid, which is working to learn what is most effective in supporting local public-interest media to thrive.

Brave New Media is available on ,  and  as well as on the 大象传媒 Media Action website at bbcmediaction.org.

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For more information or interviews, please contact Carolynne Wheeler, head of communications, on carolynne.wheeler@bbc.co.uk or, after hours, the 大象传媒 Press Office on press.office@bbc.co.uk.

About 大象传媒 Media Action:

大象传媒 Media Action is the 大象传媒鈥檚 international charity - we believe in the power of media and communication for good. We work in more than 20 countries supporting the independent media essential to democracy and development. Last year, our projects and programmes reached 120 million people facing poverty, inequality and insecurity with information they could trust, helping to improve health, protect livelihoods and our planet, bridge divides, challenge prejudice, and save and change lives.

We are not funded by the UK TV Licence Fee and we rely on our donors and partners to carry our work. To find out more, please see bbcmediaaction.org.