Getting the Story Straight

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the dominant framework for media assistance has been based on a Western philosophy that values free media for the functioning of a liberal democracy. Through a careful examination of a media assistance program in Cambodia, this chapter shows how multiple media, communication and development approaches can operate simultaneously within a program. In particular, it shows the value of integrating communication and social changes theories and approaches to participatory communication in order to rethink the contributions of media assistance to governance and democracy in terms of power and relationships between citizens and governors. This shift has important implications for the program theories used in projects, and suggests new ways of understanding the outcomes and impacts from media assistance.