National Funds for Journalism: A GFMD IMPACT Policy Paper

"Caught between polarised hostile politics, broken economics, media capture, platform dominance, and a brutally competitive media and entertainment environment, journalism sectors worldwide are struggling to survive while preserving their key public interest function."

This policy paper looks at the emergence around the world of national funds for journalism (NFJs) as an increasingly important instrument for providing strategic, long-term financial support to independent public interest media and media sectors and ecosystems. Produced by the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) International Media Policy and Advisory Centre (IMPACT), the paper seeks to distil and crystallise some key questions, principles, and approaches that stakeholders - media, funders, investors, civil society, policymakers, and government - may need to consider as they contemplate if, how, and with whom to develop such a fund.

As defined in the paper, a NFJ is a "dedicated structure that is designed with a strategic sectoral purpose to provide long-term funding and financing to an independent journalism ecosystem in a particular country, region or place. It can take different forms, but in essence is designed to redress shortcomings, barriers or imbalances in a particular media market, or to incentivise, catalyse or accelerate new entrants or transformative processes in that market."

The paper forms part of GFMD's efforts to explore NFJs as a key pillar in the use of public and private funds to respond to the widely acknowledged financial crisis faced by independent public interest media. As the second draft, this paper has incorporated feedback and suggestions obtained during August and September 2023 via a number of fora. The findings and recommendations contained in this version will be used by GFMD IMPACT and its partners to further inform processes and consultations around the establishment of NFJs around the globe. Generally, GFMD IMPACT hopes that the development of this policy document will:

1. Inform the creation of planned NFJs;
2. Support the further development of or advocacy for existing funds; and
3. Encourage those considering NFJs to consider the pros and cons of the various models and mechanisms that are outlined in the paper and that would be best suited to their context.

The policy paper is designed to answer the following questions:

• What are NFJs, and how do they work?
• What kinds of objectives do NFJs have?
• What is driving increased interest in NFJs as a strategic solution?
• What systemic challenges can NFJs address?
• Which approaches are being used to establish NFJs?
• What practical steps and lessons learned about good practice can be observed from existing or proposed NFJs?
• What design questions do those setting up an NFJ need to ask?

To answer some of the above questions here in brief, the paper outlines the objectives of NFJs as:

• Ensuring that the public has access to accurate and reliable information;
• Supporting, stimulating, and scaling independent journalism to be able to hold those in power accountable at all levels of society;
• Counteracting and reducing fragmentation in funding, counterproductive incentives, and unhealthy competition in domestic funding ecosystems;
• Providing risk capital for diverse future-oriented approaches to doing or supporting independent journalism;
• Promoting equity of opportunities for historically excluded, marginalised, or oppressed groups, communities, or national regions with little or no access to media ownership or entrepreneurship;
• Increasing public trust by practising transparency of funding sources, governance and management structures, eligibility and selection criteria, financial awards, and assessment and evaluation, including through citizen participation;
• Supporting the independent public interest media sector to develop or strengthen its collective voice and knowledge and to advance media freedom;
• Strengthening the independent public interest sector as an economic sector; and
• Benefitting diverse parts of the independent media ecosystem and adjacent sectors, creating spillover effects.

In terms of the factors driving the current wave of interest in NFJs, the report cites the following:

• The recognition that journalism and media represent a powerful and strategic sector that contributes to democracy, economy. and community, and that independent and public interest media, in particular, are not only a public good, but also a significant sub-sector that needs strategic support.
• The realisation that media markets are failing to deliver journalism in the public interest and that substantial interventions - both through scaled-up funding and financing and through public policy (most crucially, reform of government advertising) - at a national level are needed to level the playing field for diverse types of independent media and to address information inequality.

Some of the systemic challenges that NFJs could address include, for example:

• Limited availability of multi-year core funding for independent public interest media (including investigative journalism organisations);
• Fragmented funding environment, with incentives and priorities often not locally set or owned, dominated by short-term project or programme funding, resulting in competition driven by scarcity rather than innovation;
• Lack of access to startup capital, research and development (R&D), or innovation funding; and
• Donor assumptions that investment approaches can be applied in all media markets, whereas, in reality, many markets require considerable support to become investment-ready.

In terms of which approaches to use, the paper makes the point that "there is no single or best practice approach and no single stakeholder that is best suited to developing the concept for or leading the establishment" of an NFJ. The choice of approach is very much context specific, and the paper discusses a number of approaches using examples from around the world. They include: government-initiated NFJs; public-private partnerships; a hosted approach where a regional or international intermediary acts as host for the fund until a new host can take over local ownership, or the fund is spun out into its own entity; a foundation approach where the fund is established as a standalone entity, or within an existing charitable foundation, which accepts and manages the funds and sets up the fund infrastructure; and a trust/endowment approach where governments, philanthropies, and other sources would contribute funds to a lump sum endowment that would be managed by an independent trust, the interest from which would fund the budget of the NFJ.

Practical steps and lessons learned from good practice are also discussed and include, for example, conducting a feasibility or scoping study, engaging a wide range of stakeholders, having a transparent and representative governance structure, and supporting equity, diversity and inclusion.  

Following a list of practical design questions that should be asked by those seeking to set up an NFJ, the paper concludes with an outline of considerations for the media development community in terms of concrete actions that could support the development of NFLs. These include further exchanges between practitioners or the establishment of a community of practice to share experiences, and promoting research and data on current and emerging examples of NFJs and the factors that impact on NFJs' success.  

As part of this policy process, GMFD IMPACT also commissioned "Creating National Funds to Support Journalism and Public-Interest Media", which focuses in particular on funds supported by governments (see Related Summaries, below, to find out more).

Click here to access accompanying case studies about NFJs in the Netherlands and Tanzania and to find out more about the GFMD IMPACT process.