Finding the Funds for Journalism to Thrive: Policy Options to Support Media Viability

"The time for action to address the news media viability crisis is now. As the spectre of retrenchment and closure of news outlets continues to materialise, it is increasingly hard to reverse."

This policy brief addresses how policymakers can best respond to the severe financial crisis threatening the supply of independent journalism and contributing to the erosion of press freedom globally. It provides a typology of global responses, assesses their pros and cons, and makes actionable recommendations for all stakeholders. It builds on the Windhoek+30 Declaration, which underlines media viability as a core principle of information as a public good.

The brief comes as part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) series "World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development", which seeks to offer timely insights into new and evolving challenges in the field of freedom of expression and media development. Drawing from the expertise of specialists in the given topic, the briefs offer summaries of pressing issues and recommendations for action (see Related Summaries, below, for some of the recent publications in this series).

The brief describes the financial pressures facing media outlets and the impact of these pressures on media pluralism and the need to ensure that all voices of society are heard. It also: makes the case for why governments should fund independent media and outlines problems governments can face when media is underfunded; looks at a number of solutions tried around the world to support diversity of quality information; and discusses the role of big tech companies and why big tech should help pay for news. Finally, it explains the issue of public subsidy, its risks (e.g., state capture), and opportunities, and it outlines how tax credits can help existing outlets of all sizes.

Overall, the following are key trends outlined in the brief:

• Pluralism and democracy require an economically viable independent news media. But the world is facing a growing crisis in the supply of professional journalism for the wider public.
• The traditional business model of the news media has been deeply eroded by a shift in advertising revenues to online platforms.
• Media outlets must intensify efforts towards more inclusive journalism, alternative business models, and diversified revenue streams. Urgent action from other actors is also required in order to save - and, ideally, expand - the range of news providers serving the public.
• Injections of essential revenue for trustworthy journalism can come from donors, public subsidies, and financial support from tech companies. But such investment should come without strings attached.
• Multi-stakeholder task forces or commissions of inquiry can tailor solutions and help prevent new funding from compromising editorial independence.

Generally, the brief builds on the idea that "making more quality news available will spur consumption, but monitoring and evaluation are necessary. At the same time, because trust in journalism and circulation of quality news services rose during the pandemic, there is a window of opportunity for maintaining and deepening public trust in and appetite for independent journalism - which can also be a strong factor in favour of viability."

The brief offers 22 policy recommendations as guidance for governments, lawmakers, regulators, media, and other stakeholders as per their diverse roles. All measures taken should include explicit and precise safeguards for editorial independence.

The following are some examples of practical steps that are recommended:

• Create multi-stakeholder national commissions/task forces to investigate the challenges and propose solutions for mobilising resources.
• Consider giving tax breaks to local independent news outlets, or vouchers for subscriptions, along with subsidies for hiring local news reporters, especially where the viability of local news is under extreme pressure, or where "news deserts" have evolved.
• Provide subsidies for news entities to hire dedicated journalists to report on key issues, such as climate change, municipal affairs, elections and threats to democracy, public health, gender and other diversities, and migration.
• Avoid cutting the operating budgets of independent public broadcasters (as distinct from state broadcasters), in recognition of the fact that these entities can be especially vital for audiences who are not served by the market.
• Ensure that government advertising is independently and transparently allocated, based on objective criteria. This may require oversight boards, stringent regulations, and full transparency.

Examples of recommended knowledge-based interventions include:

• Ensure that evaluation efforts are research-based and lead to industry wide knowledge-sharing.
• Include in funded projects a requirement for collaboration with expert researchers, which can ensure data collection at the outset and allow for assessment of effectiveness and adjustment of enabling support.
• Establish independent programmes of research specifically tasked with assessing the impact of internet companies on (i) audience trust in news (ii) media viability.

Recommendations related to making internet and other companies part of the solution include:

• Regulate to require social media companies to increase transparency reporting and provide greater access to data in the field of their management of the content ecosystem on their services, as relevant to the profile, availability, and labelling of news.
• Require that companies that are significant intermediaries for news maintain and make available to the news producers relevant audience data regarding the reach and engagement of news on their platforms and associated advertising metrics.
• Pursue anti-trust cases and competition policies that address monopolistic behaviour in advertising markets.

General recommendations include:

• Earmark special funds for small and medium enterprises to stimulate news start-ups and digital transformation in existing news organisations.
• Where applicable, raise the percentage of international development support budgets to media development (currently under .03% generally).
• Join international efforts to raise independent public interest media on policy agendas.

Funding for this work was provided by a special allocation from UNESCO's International Programme for the Development of Communications (IPDC) and from UNESCO's Multidonor Programme for Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists. The work was commissioned to the International Center for Journalists.