( MDDA ) was set up by an Act of Parliament (Act 14 of 2002) to enable "historically disadvantaged communities and persons not adequately served by the media" to gain access to the media. It's beneficiaries will be community media and small commercial media.

To achieve its objective, the MDDA will:

• Encourage ownership and control of, and access to, media by historically disadvantaged communities, historically diminished indigenous language and cultural groups;
• Encourage the channelling of resources to community and small commercial media;
• Encourage human resource development and capacity building in the media industry, especially amongst historically disadvantaged groups;
• Encourage research regarding media development and diversity