The Mediastan story.
Mediastan is an online platform developed by International Media Support (IMS) to showcase its legacy and ongoing work of strengthening freedom of expression, journalists’ safety and public interest media in Pakistan.
For over a decade, IMS and its partners and coalitions in Pakistan have helped journalists and media organisations with much-needed support on their physical, digital and financial safety while promoting ethical and solutions-oriented journalism and building linkages with diverse stakeholders of the media system, including policymakers, civil society organisations, academia and the tech sector.
This work has included research, training, coalition-building and advocacy. It has helped save the lives of over 100 journalists, led to the successful enactment of two special laws for the protection of journalists, facilitated official and civil society mechanisms for journalists’ safety, improved the professional skills of thousands of media practitioners through training, grants and coaching, and created collaborations with dozens of media partners to produce good quality public interest content reaching over 10m people online. The initiatives have led to policy changes and actions by authorities to provide relief to local communities.
IMS and its partners in Pakistan have also strengthened the financial sustainability of media organisations through new business models and revenue streams, supported the community of women journalists to help make the media more diverse and inclusive, engaged with fact-checkers, researchers, educators and youth on promoting media literacy and countering disinformation, and produced dozens of knowledge products and research studies along the way to increase the contextual awareness of media development actors.
Yet, much of our story remains untold.
Mediastan is an attempt to communicate the impact and rich insights from 10 years of ongoing contributions by IMS, its partners and coalitions in the country. Mediastan also hopes to provide a digital home for Pakistan’s media development ecosystem to support localised and collaborative solutions for our media sector.
Visibility for coalitions and alliances
IMS and its partners facilitate and manage coalitions on journalists’ safety, outperforming disinformation, media education, inclusive journalism, digital media and digital rights. Mediastan will provide information for the activities and advocacy actions of these alliances.
Gateway for research evidence
Mediastan will provide access to research studies, mapping reports, baselines, context analyses, situation reports, policy briefs and white papers on the themes covered by the IMS Pakistan programme including digital journalism, media viability, journalists’ safety, AI, media laws and freedom of expression.
Impact and learning documentation
Through grassroots work and strategic initiatives with target groups and beneficiaries, IMS, its partners and coalitions have amassed a wealth of learning and insights about effective media development. Mediastan will curate lessons for the media development sector about what is needed, what worked and what could be done differently to improve Pakistan’s media system.
Our Vision
Based on the IMS Global Strategy, Mediastan envisions a peaceful, just, equitable and inclusive Pakistani society where informed citizens claim their rights and participate meaningfully in democracy, supported by an independent media and public interest journalism.
Our Mission
To bring visibility to the legacy and ongoing work of IMS in Pakistan by curating, communicating, and connecting media development initiatives, coalitions and partners that advance public interest journalism, inclusive media, and freedom of expression.