E VA LUAT ION R E P OR T 2 02 3

Executive summary
Mongolia
Impact study on the support of the Media Councilof Mongolia

dw-akademie.com

Background
Although, on paper, Mongolia has progressive media laws, there have been
several attempts to tighten the laws andincrease government control over the media. In parallel, the Media Council and other organizations are constantly lobbying
for improved conditions.
There are more than 500 registered media outlets of which around 130 are TV
stations, and several hundred are small
online news sites. Each of these outletscompetes for the attention of a total population of only 3.35 million inhabitants. Insuch a market, it is close to impossible torun a financially sustainable media business; the majority of outlets only exist
because of the direct support from businesses that often share the political affiliations of the owners of the media outlets.
As such, many outlets engage in a politicalrather than a journalistic or commercialagenda.
DW Akademie has been involved in strategic support to the media sector in Mongolia since 2013. The objectives of the existing programs working with the MediaCouncil of Mongolia (MCM) are as follows:

2015-2017: “The Mongolian Media Council
sets standards of journalistic professional
ethics and provides the Mongolian population with a complaints mechanism incases of unfair reporting.”
2018-2020: “Mongolian journalists are
sustainably strengthened in the independence of their reporting (from politicaland economic special interests).”
2021-2023: “Media actors dedicated to
ethically sound journalism have beenstrengthened for the long-term.”
And as part of the Asia regional program,
the Mongolia country project was expected to contribute to an overall regional
objective: “With the support of reliable
information, disadvantaged populationgroups, especially in rural areas, are able
to take responsibility for the shaping ofsocial and political processes, even in crisis situations.”
The support for the establishment anddevelopment of a Media Council has been
one of DW Akademie’s key activities in
Mongolia. The Council was establishedon the initiative of a local group of media
practitioners and civil society activists,
who saw the need for a self-regulatory
body to improve the quality of media content and defend journalists against government control and limitations on thefreedom of expression. The Council wasformally established in 2015 with a small
secretariat and a board of directors consisting of 15 people as well as two ethics
committees with a total of 30 members.
All members of the board and the committees are unpaid volunteers. Since its
inception, the MCM has received morethan 500 complaints.
The impact study was carried out from
December 2022 until March 2023. The following work process was applied: A kickoff meeting with DW Akademie project
staff and research specialists, an initial
document review, online interviews withkey stakeholders, additional document
consultations, an online survey, a field
mission with face-to-face interviews andfocus groups as well as follow-up document consultations.

Impact study results
In summary, the study team concludes
that:– The Media Council of Mongolia (MCM)
has established itself as a legitimate andcredible voice of the media sector.

sector, and the guidelines have contributed to a decrease in the number of violations of the basic principles of goodjournalism.

– The mere fact that the MCM exists andoperates has strengthened advocacy
against attempts to tighten government
control over the media.

– The decisions on complaints received
by the Council are regarded as quality
judgments by the media sector as well
as by the judiciary. The decisions serve
as guidance for newsrooms and courtsof law.

– The ethical guidelines developed by theMCM are widely accepted by the media– While the MCM is well known and accepted by the media sector, it still strug-gles to enhance its public outreach. TheCouncil is not known to the general public, which leads to a limited number ofcomplaints from ordinary citizens, especially from rural areas.
– The long-term financial sustainability of
the MCM is a critical issue which needs tobe resolved as soon as possible.

Selected recommendations

DW Akademie– The Media Council should aim to extend
its practice of proactive agenda setting– especially in regard to an accumulation of problematic habits or contents
occurring across the media sector. A
mode of operation could be introduced,
independent from incoming complaints,
that engages in regular monitoring witha focuson general media trends without“naming and shaming” individual media
outlets.

is Deutsche Welle's center forinternational media development,journalism training and knowledgetransfer. Our projects strengthen thehuman right to freedom of expression
and unhindered access to information.
DW Akademie empowers people
worldwide to make independent
decisions based on reliable facts andconstructive dialogue.

– A media trends monitoring could be
implemented in cooperation with othercivil society organizations and linked toongoing or future MIL projects.
– The MCM should consider publishinga quarterly “State of the Media” reportbased on the proposed monitoring.
– In connection with the distributionof its quarterly electronic newsletter,
MCM should circulate a short ready-toprint summary of its decision-making.
Main findings of the proposed media
monitoring should be included, onceimplemented.

– The MCM should review its complaints
handling procedures to ensure that theonline complaint option functions as intended, and no unnecessary technical orformal hurdles lead to complaints being
rejected or lost.
– The MCM should consider a legal screening of all complaints received and ensurethat the ethics committees have accessto legal expertise while processing complaints.
– As the DW Akademie’s support is set toend after 2024, the MCM should continue the efforts to secure sustainable,
alternative funding for media self-regulation in Mongolia. Other international organizations and bilateral donors
should be approached to explore thepossibilities of gap-funding for a shorter
period until the MCM can become fully
financially sustainable.

DW Akademie is a strategic partnerof the German Federal Ministry
for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment. We also receive funding
from the Federal Foreign Office andthe European Union and are active inmore than 70 developing countries
and emerging economies.

CONTAC TDr. Laura Moore
Head Research and Evaluation
laura.moore@dw.com
Berlin, Germany

DWAkademie@dw_akademie
DWAkademie
dw.com/newsletter-registration
dw.com/mediadev

The objective of the external evaluation is to provide a constructive assessment of the project results. It does not necessarily align with theperspective and planning of DW Akademie. Nevertheless, all findings were discussed in order to allow lessons learned to be incorporated intothe development of future strategies.