The evaluators’ constructs of sustainability are put into perspective in the context of the sometimes deeply rooted practices of the media action sector on the ground. A mediated sustainability emerges, in which social actors negotiate their agency as a powerpower balance. Notions such as survivability in a time of disruptions or professionalisation in a lack of aid recurrence are thus explored in this light, as well as the differentiated understanding of brokeringbrokering in the sector.