The Search for Sustainable Local Media: Tools and Models

"There is a fixed set of income streams available to media, whatever market they are in....The task of public policy is to design mechanisms to enable media to draw on these sources in a way that most effectively enables them to serve the public interest in reliable information."

This paper looks at the challenge of sustainability faced by local media serving regional and metropolitan audiences, including marginalised communities, in Africa and other parts of the Global South. It considers the role of public policy in supporting these outlets and enabling them to access diverse income streams such as advertising, government subsidies, cross-subsidisation, and community support. The paper was presented at the National Media Viability and Investment Conference in Sierra Leone, which was organised by BBC Media Action as part of the Protecting Independent Media for Effective Development (PRIMED) programme. The conference brought together government, media organisations, industry leaders, and other stakeholders to explore public funding and advertising models that have been used to support media viability around the world and to create a national action plan to strengthen public interest media in Sierra Leone. (See Related Summaries, below, for all papers presented at the conference.)

In the paper, the author contends that public support should:

• Focus on the ecosystem and create an environment conducive to media development;
• Promote high-quality journalism and prioritise areas where reliable information is in short supply;
• Guarantee media independence and introduce mechanisms aimed at preventing political interference; and
• Be platform-neutral, while paying close attention to where audiences are concentrated.

Four areas of support are discussed:

1. Creation of an enabling environment - Governments need to establish an appropriate legal framework that includes measures to curb the abuse of media power, such as prohibiting media ownership by politicians and placing broadcast licensing in the hands of a visibly independent body. In addition, argues the report, public authorities should support institutions that offer high-quality training in journalism and other media-related competencies including technical and managerial skills. Support should also be offered to effective audience research mechanisms that can provide a more reliable basis for advertising sales and rates.
2. Indirect support - Mechanisms for indirect subsidy for media are common around the world. Examples include giving preferential postal tariffs to newspapers, removing tax obligations from public interest websites, offering lower rates of value-added tax (VAT) to encourage investment in media, and reducing licensing fees for community broadcasters. Care must be taken to ensure that benefits such as tax breaks do not simply increase profit margins but result in real investment in high-quality media.
3. Direct public funding - Several countries have funds that support independent media, including outlets that serve ethnic minorities or people living in remote regions. These measures have been credited with ensuring the survival of healthy media systems. In Norway, for example, direct public funding has supported the distribution of newspapers in the sparsely populated north, as well as a range of innovation projects. The South African Media Development and Diversity Agency offers funding to community broadcasting and small commercial print publications. Part of its funding comes from broadcast licensees who are obliged to contribute a percentage of their revenues to the fund. The agency also spends money on research and training for community media.
4. Government advertising - Government communication budgets make an important contribution to the viability of media markets, and international organisations such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have developed policy guidelines aimed at ensuring these funds are spent equitably. In South Africa, there are longstanding calls for the government to allocate 30% of its advertising budget to local and community media. Furthermore, countries in Latin America have launched initiatives to establish a principled basis for the purchase of advertising by creating a registry of media and by requiring government entities to develop an annual campaign plan. In Argentina, such arrangements already exist at state level. The city authorities of Buenos Aires, for instance, operate a "neighbourhood media registry". Media projects using a range of different platforms can register, and the city then pays them a regular monthly sum on the condition they broadcast some official advertising. Commentators say that, to date, this measure has not been subverted for political goals.

Editor's note: The above summary is based on the one-page summary document [PDF] submitted by the author.

Click here for more information (including a video) on the Sierra Leone National Media Viability and Investment Conference.