Media development seeks to support and promote a pluralistic, editorially independent and financially sustainable media sector. An independent media sector buttresses key governance goals such as voice, accountability, and transparency -- not through dissemination of messages about these issues, but through its very existence. This handbook is the result of a multi-year effort, the first stage of which 'Public Sentinel: News Media and Governance Reform'. That book explored key issues surrounding the media and governance, including: the ideal role of the media system in strengthening democratic governance, the conditions under which media systems fulfill their objectives, and the policy interventions most effective at helping the news media live up to its democratic potential. The second stage of this effort, presented here, is meant to bridge the gap between theory and practice. A survey reveals that very few governance advisors understand the concept of media development and how such programs could play a key role in advancing good governance. Ultimately, this handbook is designed for those who may be interested in media development programs, but are unclear about the whys, hows, and whens. It will introduce the fundamentals of media development, provide ways to conceptualize and analyze the sector, and help guide programming based on political economy analysis as well as individual country context. It also includes ideas on monitoring and evaluation of media development programs, plus links to further resources.

As the Internet diffuses across the globe, many have come to believe that the technology poses an insurmountable threat to authoritarian rule. Grounded in the Internet's early libertarian culture and predicated on anecdotes pulled from diverse political climates, this conventional wisdom has informed the views of policymakers, business leaders, and media pundits alike. Yet few studies have sought to systematically analyze the exact ways in which Internet use may lay the basis for political change. In O "pen Networks, Closed Regimes, " the authors take a comprehensive look at how a broad range of societal and political actors in eight authoritarian and semi-authoritarian countries employ the Internet. Based on methodical assessment of evidence from these cases --China, Cuba, Singapore, Vietnam, Burma, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt --the study contends that the Internet is not necessarily a threat to authoritarian regimes.