“You can't wait for a sustainable market to support independent media,” Etulain says during the Media Development round table. “You need the media now; you can't wait for the market to develop.”

USAID has a long track record of supporting independent media worldwide, granting US$55-60 million a year in media development. As the world's largest media development supporter, USAID has a presence in over 50 countries. In Afghanistan, for example, the organization supports citizen and civil-society access to multimedia training, production and distribution facilities, and facilitating the use of new technologies, such as mobile, to build platforms for citizen media access.

In South Sudan, USAID is using radio to reach the broadest segment of the population of more than 8 million. Learner's FM, the organization's radio station set up in conjunction with a local university, provides students with newsroom experience and exposure to the business side of the industry.

Free and independent media have the power to hold governments accountable, offer a voice to the marginalized and those with dissenting views, and challenge the status quo.