According to Reporters without Borders (RSF – Reporters sans Frontières), the international non-governmental journalists’ organisation, almost 75 % of Mongolia’s media operations are controlled by politicians or people with close ties to politicians.

In cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which is close to Germany’s Social Democrats, the DW Akademie helped to establish the Media Council of Mongolia (MCM) in 2015. DW Akademie is Germany’s biggest media development organisation.

The Media Council of Mongolia is a private institution for the self-regulation of the media sector; it follows the European model. The MCM adopted a national ethics code and established a complaint mechanism. It appointed journalists, owners of media houses and representatives of civil society to its ethics commission, which has dealt with 500 complaints since 2015. Its decisions are public – and well argued.