There are important claimants on more aid, from those who wish to see major boosts in spending on health and education, to those who want a greater aid focus on poorer Asian, Middle Eastern and African countries. Unquestionably, in light of recent events, there will be strong pressures to devote more aid to building democracy in many parts of the world. Within this context it is surely time for the bilateral and multilateral aid agencies to assign priority to strengthening press freedom.

An effective and independent press is crucial in building a world where there is greater understanding of differing views, great tolerance for dissent, greater transparency in the ways of government and greater public accountability by politicians and civil servants. And, actions to strengthen the press are now urgent in many parts of the world.

In Afghanistan, where there is barely a functioning domestic media, and across the border in Pakistan where courageous journalists face daily pressures, building democracy will depend in part on securing a credible press. In Botswana, where political leadership is threatening to license journalists, and across the border in Zimbabwe where a dictator has smashed a free press, the valiant and excellent journalists of these countries now need support. Efforts to strengthen the press are vital today in Peru, where massive corruption has tainted media owners, and across the border in Colombia where reporters are being murdered as they investigate crime and corruption.

A central function of a free press is to investigate and expose corruption and recent events have underlined the relationships between corrupt governments and terrorist organizations. Terrorism, for example, has been all too evident in many of the countries perceived (according to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index) to have very high levels of governmental corruption, such as Pakistan, Russia, Tanzania, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Cameroon, Kenya, Indonesia, Uganda, Nigeria and Bangladesh.

Censorship in different forms is widespread in many developing countries and provides cover for the corrupt practices of government leaders. Insufficient efforts are being made by Western aid agencies to pressure the recipients of aid to reduce censorship and strengthen transparency. Most governments use the pretext of ìnational security,î for example, to curb all public discussion and knowledge of defense spending and arms imports. The international arms trade is a major area of grand corruption and the excessive use of ìnational securityî places ever more weapons in the hands of dictators and opens the gates to weapons supplies to terrorist organizations. It hides illicit trade in diamonds, gold and other natural resources that finance arms purchases and support both the growth of terrorist organizations and the enrichment of corrupt politicians and military leaders.

So what practical actions can be taken? I believe the time is right and the opportunity present to strongly encourage adoption of a 10 point action agenda, consisting of the following:-

Bilateral and multilateral aid agencies should forge grand coalitions at regional and global levels to promote excellent journalism ñ coalitions involving governmental agencies in partnership with business, private foundations, media organizations and other civil society groups.

The coalitions should support aggressive programs to train journalists, and media owners and managers in developing countries. At the core of training programs should be the encouragement of ethical approaches designed to boost integrity in all uses of the media.

Leaders in developing countries must be encouraged to support press freedom, counter all forms of censorship, and recognize the need for independent judges and public prosecutors to guarantee press freedom.

Coalition partners need to campaign against censorship (against physical intimidation of the media, against vicious libel actions, and against excessive governmental use of the term ìnational securityî).

Aid agencies and philanthropic foundations should strengthen financial support for civil society organizations dedicated to building a free press ñ these organizations need to be the on-the-ground leaders in strengthening capacities to secure effective media.

Aid agencies should assign greater overall priority in their dialogues with countries to supporting programs and projects to strengthen the media.

Aid agencies should devote more financial resources for this purpose and recruit more experts with knowledge of journalism and media management.

Aid agencies should emphasize in ëgood governanceí program negotiations with officials in developing countries the need to build institutions to support a free and independent media, and assure freedom of information on all aspects of public policy. These programs should promote the development of laws to guarantee press freedom.

Governments in developing countries should be encouraged to promote the development of strong private media enterprises and adopt laws to ensure media competition.

Research should be undertaken to determine the most effective means to financially support competitive media firms, to secure adequate resources to pay journalists decently, to support investigative journalism, and to explore the potential of Internet news media.

We live in a world of constant security dangers. A safer world, where the prospects for accelerated human development is possible, calls for greater tolerance among peoples, greater understanding of differing perspectives and greater public support for governmental institutions. But establishing vibrant democracies challenges the comfortable and corrupt elites in many nations that profit from political systems that are largely secret. Critical to challenging these systems is the strengthening of the media and the time has surely come when development assistance agencies should take the firm lead to make a major contribution on this front.