United for News

United for News believes that the challenge facing local news and information demands systemic interventions that require cooperation by a range of stakeholders. These range from the global media industry to international brands, and from mobile operators, technology platforms, and advertisers to the local independent media organisations struggling to survive across the world. The project, therefore, seeks to leverage the core competencies of a range of stakeholders (see Partners, below). It has three overarching goals:

• Help local media thrive in the transition to digital environments;
• Foster the creation and distribution of trusted, quality content and vibrant media markets; and
• Increase the positive impact of quality content on the well-being of citizens, communities, and governments.

To achieve these goals, the coalition is undertaking a set of mutually supporting initiatives that focus on fostering financial sustainability and building trust in media. This approach is being piloted in a few countries selected according to distinct regions and income levels, with each country programme being customised to respond to unique market challenges and opportunities.

Sustainability: Evolving Digital Advertising for Quality Media
This aspect of the initiative works to create a global platform of reputable local media towards which brands and agencies can direct a greater share of their digital advertising budget. In doing so, advertisers help sustain trusted, local media while meeting their advertising goals.

In order to achieve this, the project offers access to hard-to-reach, reputable digital publishers that will enable advertisers to buy media in the best social interests of the markets they sell into without sacrificing performance. At the same time, the project has the potential to redirect global ad spending away from poor journalism, propaganda, misinformation, and hate speech and towards reputable local and national media that strengthens support for communities, societies, and economies.

At the heart of this solution is the United for News Index and Publisher Network. The Index is a dynamically scored database of digital media, organised by market and optimised in an effort to ensure that editorially independent, high-quality, and reputable media rise to the top of the rankings. The process involves a combination of multi-stakeholder engagement, purpose-built technology, market-specific human vetting, and consulting operations. Building on the Index, the Publisher Network is composed of reputable media that have a data-sharing agreement with United for News that enables them to serve ads on their sites. Specifically, the United for News Index and Publisher Network includes the following three primary elements:

1. Criteria for Indexing: A set of criteria to identify reputable publishers, developed through a collaborative, multi-stakeholder process;
2. Core System: A programmatic ad stack using best-of-breed technology that enables both buyers and sellers to connect using their current platforms to trade targeted, premium ads; and
3. A Digital Skills Development Fund: A fund made possible by revenues from the United for News Network that enables their team to support small publishers in need of digital transformation to become "programmatic-ready" so they can participate in global online advertising markets and create quality journalism.

Trust: Amplifying Women's Voice in Media
This work is guided by the understanding that news that reflects the makeup and viewpoints of the broad community - particularly of women - generates greater trust. In order to ensure that women's authoritative voices are included in news reporting, United for News created Reflect Reality, an initiative to increase the frequency that female experts are quoted in news reporting around the world. Its purpose is not just to generate greater trust in the media, but also to tackle gender bias and provide healthy role models for women and girls.

As part of this component, coalition partners are working to capture best practices and offer targeted assistance to newsrooms, to address both the demand- and supply- side elements necessary to build a robust pipeline of highly qualified female subject matter experts. On the demand side, this includes resources that allow media to analyse and adapt their processes for recruiting sources, track the gender split of sources, and set customised and achievable goals towards parity. On the supply side, it means facilitating access to locally relevant female experts and providing media training for women so they are ready to be interviewed by local and national media. This initiative includes three core elements:

• Advocacy: Since 2019, United for News has convened cross-industry conversations, engaging newsrooms and private industry on the need to increase women's voices in the news. Coalition members also share their experience and key learnings, helping make the case that the amplification of women's voices is a core business priority.
• Sharing Best Practices: Coalition partners are deeply engaged in amplifying women's voices within their own organisations. The project is capturing best practices and resources from their work and making them available to newsrooms globally. In March 2020, United for News launched the Reflect Reality toolkit for newsrooms, journalists and business professionals to increase women as sources in the news media (see Related Summaries below for this resource).
• Newsroom Engagement: Based on the Reflect Reality handbook, the project is designing and running targeted programmes in diverse countries around the world to help newsrooms quote more female subject matter experts.

For more information and to keep up to date on developments, visit the United for News website.

Media Development, Gender, Women

Rationale:
"News media around the world is crippled by the transition to digital environments. People are losing the news and information they need to make good choices for their families, to participate in their communities and hold their governments to account. Most at risk, in every country, is local and community media, the connective tissue of healthy media environments. As media struggles, bad actors and information have rushed to fill the gap. There is a global proliferation of misinformation, disinformation, propaganda and hate speech....While the flow of digital advertising revenue is steadily increasing, little is making its way to the media organizations who employ journalists and create original news content. While some global news companies have built strong digital advertising infrastructures, the vast majority of smaller and local media organizations do not have the skills or technical knowledge to participate in these fast-moving markets, dominated by increasingly consolidated digital platforms."