I would agree with the conclusions of this report. I worked for eight years as a foreign reporter in Vietnam and for the last two have been trying to rally the donor community to support media reform here. Vietnam is a one-party state and media freedoms are extremely limited. However, growing corruption that the Communist Party recognises as a threat to its long-term stability has been growing and the government has begun to ask the media to 'help' it uncover corruption - a job very few journalists here are able to do well after decades of state control. The donors see this linkage between media development and anti-corruption as a way in to dialogue with the government about media reform and, on the face of it, appear very keen to become more heavily involved. Yet only the Swedes, who have supported media development here for over a decade, are truly active. So far, no-one else seems willing or able to commit the time and money needed to help Vietnam's journalists develop the skills they need to uncover corruption (move beyond often-sensational reporting based on dubious sources) or build a regulatory and bureaucratic framework able to support them. DfID, to its credit, seems to be moving this way, but others are finding it hard to make that leap from theory to action. Some have advocates on the ground but can't rally financial support from their home base, others have the funds but have dedicated no-one on the ground to pick up the cause and run with it.
I'd welcome any thoughts from people with similar experience or with thoughts/advice. Please feel free to contact me via catherine.mckinley@gmail.com.