The International Institute for Educational Planning organizes a yearly Policy Forum to address and explore important trends and tendencies in the field of education. In June 2002 this annual event was centred on the Relations between ministries of education and the media. This Policy Forum created an opportunity for documentation and discussion on the crucial mechanism that the media has become for ministries of education to reach an important audience, to gain support for education in general and for specific reforms in particular. At the same time education is becoming an attractive content for the media – for both the general press and specialized journals. This is the case not only in industrialized countries, but in the developing world as well. Hence, ministries of education and the media live a symbiotic relationship – but with partly coinciding / partly divergent interests and goals that are revealed through multiple strategies and tactics. The latter are in no way stable, but are constantly changed and developed as the two parties make better acquaintance. A basic assumption put forth at this Policy Forum is that both actors would gain from a clearer understanding of the other’s modes of operation and internal functioning, which would in turn lead to improved information and communication towards the development of education.
