2015-2016 Annual Report: Europe & Eurasia Media Sustainability Index

The index was cited in more than 80 reports and research papers, supporting in-depth research into media development and advocacy for media freedom. Coverage in the Republic of Georgia was robust, including national television coverage, due to events organized by IREX in that country in late April and early May. The 2016 Executive Summary provides an analysis of overall findings based on a reading of the entire study and in the context of past studies. Topics investigated include the circumstances under which the public at-large will come to the aid of media when threatened, the extent to which panelists report Kremlin-financed media influencing news and information in their country, the prevalence of corporate money and influence on editorial policy and media content, and how the refugee issue in areas under study were covered by local media. New this year was a collection of recommendations gathered from MSI panelists, organized into five categories: Education Opportunities & Reform, Media Content Development, Legal Support Mechanism, Financial Support Mechanism, and Solidarity and Civil Society & Association Support Mechanism. IREX has established targets to demonstrate use of the Media Sustainability Index, including website usage, mass media citations, citations in academic studies, hard copy distribution, and use by advocates, donors, and policymakers. Monitoring and evaluation data is attached as Annex 1. The targets were roughly achieved in two cases, nearly achieved in one case, and far from achieved in two cases. IREX has made changes to its website that eliminated the E&E landing page as a stopgap measure during major changes to IREX's website, resulting in a decrease in unique pageviews. However, IREX is overhauling its MSI website and expects to complete the work by the time the 2017 edition launches in March. IREX has a target of 9000 unique pageviews annually of the overall E&E Media Sustainability Index web page, but received only 1965 unique pageviews over the past year. IREX has a target of 200 total annual citations of the E&E Media Sustainability Index, with an average of 12 per country by media from within countries under study, but missed most of their targets significantly. IREX will be making additional resources available to in-country study coordinators to promote and track local news coverage of the Media Sustainability Index. The Media Sustainability Index continues to be a valuable resource for media freedom and media development advocates, donors, and policymakers, and IREX will continue to promote its use through outreach activities such as conference participation and outreach to students and academics.