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However, many Indigenous Peoples have insufficient resources to partake, despite Article 16 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) underlining their right to establish and operate their own media and to have access to all forms of non-Indigenous media without discrimination. This is in part due to a lack of support to media established by Indigenous that still experience debilitating funding gaps and exclusion from public discourse.

In 2023, UNESCO was  (UNPFII, ) to prepare a study on Indigenous Peoples and the media, to be delivered in 2025. 

In addition, two resolutions adopted by the  and the  reaffirm Indigenous Peoples’ rights to establish media channels in their own languages, to access to all forms of non-Indigenous media, and highlighted the need to support the development of media established by Indigenous People.

Responding to this important call to action in 2023, UNESCO organized a series of consultations with relevant actors of the media sector, civil society, and academia. 

On 18 April 2023, in partnership with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) and Whakaata Māori (Māori Television), the first multistakeholder event “Creating an enabling environment for free and independent Indigenous community media” took place in the framework of the 22nd session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York.

A second consultation meeting, “The launch of the thematic study on Indigenous Peoples and the Media”, was organized in partnership with European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Public Media Alliance (PMA) on 19 July 2023 in Geneva on the margins of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP). 

These consultations for the development of a global study on Indigenous Peoples and the media resulted in the establishment of a working group, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Griffith University in Australia, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous media organizations. A research team from Griffith University conducted a broad literature review and developed the methodological framework and survey instrument to be used in the study.

They also brought to light several suggestions that will be accounted for in the ongoing work towards the production of the study. These include notably:

• The importance of capacity building: practitioners of Indigenous media require training on technical and editorial skills. Avenues to deliver such training in a diversity of contexts and environments should be explored. Meanwhile, mainstream media must also benefit from training on the delivery of content that is relevant for Indigenous audiences. 

• Legal recognition: governments must put in place policies to allow independent and community media to thrive in the face of competition against mainstream media organizations, including licensing.

• Financial viability: funding is essential to the ability of Indigenous medias to produce good quality content. Medias should also be empowered and given the tools to seek alternative financial resources.

• Raising visibility on Indigenous issues: empowering Indigenous medias allows for the free expression of Indigenous issues and identity, however these must also be reflected to improve representation and diversity by all media organizations.

Moreover, in its 23^rd session in 2024, the Permanent Forum reiterated its commitment to Indigenous Peoples’ right to media, with another recommendation to UNESCO. In the oral report, UNPFII invited UNESCO to present the study at the next session in 2025 and thanked the Organization for the progress made.