Krishna Kumar’s One Size Does Not Fit All

The Center for International Media Assistance is pleased to publish One Size Does Not Fit All: Objectives and Priority Areas for Media Assistance in Different Societies, a thought-provoking paper that we hope will stimulate a lively and sustained discussion among media assistance practitioners.

One Size Does Not Fit All was written by Dr. Krishna Kumar, a senior social scientist in the Office of the Director of Foreign Assistance at the U.S. Department of State. Dr. Kumar has been involved at virtually every level of media assistance, principally with the U.S. Agency for International Development, during the democracy and governance sector’s expansion over the past two decades. He is the author of several books and journal articles on the subject.

In One Size Does Not Fit All, Dr. Kumar posits that the international community must tailor media assistance to meet the unique needs of the societies being helped. He has come up with a variety of recommendations for addressing the particular needs of different types of states-authoritarian, democratizing, war-torn and post-conflict.

Uniquely among the publications that CIMA has produced in its two-year history, Dr. Kumar’s paper lends itself to analysis and discussion. The paper represents the personal views of Dr. Kumar and does not necessarily reflect the views of CIMA or its parent organization, the National Endowment for Democracy, nor of Dr. Kumar’s employer, the Department of State.

Dr. Kumar’s views and insights should be of interest to a wide range of media assistance advocates. We invite you to read the report, think about the ideas, and share your thoughts below by responding to this post and/or the associated commentaries.

To view the report in its entirety, click here.

To download a PDF of the report, click here.