Media Sustainability Index

The International Research and Exchanges Board’s (IREX) Media Sustainability Index (MSI) is a tool to evaluate the global development of independent media. The MSI is one of the most important indices "to assess how media systems change over time and across borders", in addition to the Freedom of the Press Index compiled by Freedom House and the Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

The Media Sustainability Index (MSI) was elaborated by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2001. Since then annual reports about “the development of media systems over time and across countries” have been published. The reports rate independent media sustainability in today 80 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe & Eurasia and Middle East & North Africa. The reports not only contain ratings, but also “an extensive Executive Summary of regional findings as well as individual country reports”. However, not all regions have been evaluated from the beginning. Middle East & North Africa were added first in 2005 and the Africa MSI was launched in 2007. The MSI does not gauge Western Europe or the United States. The surveys are funded by USAID, the US state department, UNESCO, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the People Technology Foundation. "Sustainability" within this concept "refers to the ability of media to play its vital role as the ‘fourth estate’". In other words it relates to a media system that provides citizens with "useful, timely and objective information" and as well to a media system that can operate free and independent without political, legal, social or economic restrictions. Furthermore it refers to a media system in which Journalists have professional standards. And to a system where everybody has the right of free speech and access to information as the Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says. With the aid of the MSI an international comparison of the independence and/or sustainability of media systems is possible. An international comparison allows policymakers to parse media systems and examine the areas in which media development assistance can advance citizens’ access to news and information. Moreover, the results of the MSI provide essential information for the media, their representatives and outlets and inform them as well as the civil society and the governments of the strengths and weaknesses of each country.

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