International FUND - Public Interest Media

NOTE: There will be a WEBINAR on 5th May at 3:00 PM BST to consider this FUND. The registration details and link are within the summary of the Fund feasibility study here.

Yesterday, April 29, we published a detailed Feasibility Study for an International Fund for Public Interest Media.  Developed by BBC Media Action and with the support of and in cooperation with Luminate, it is the product of over a year's consultation. The Study builds on and has sought to reflect the perspectives of hundreds of people from the donor, media support, journalistic, academic, international development and other communities in multiple geographies who have generously provided their insight and perspective. We are very grateful for your contributions to the study.

The rationale is a simple one. The business model for public interest media is broken, the democratic and developmental consequences are immense, and rebuilding a new economic paradigm for public interest media requires a clear, coherent, well-resourced and structured response. Such a response is both feasible and necessary. Our focus is on resource poor countries where the economic (and often political) climate is most hostile and the need for trustworthy public interest media often greatest.

The Study lays out why an International Fund is needed and outlines how it would be governed, structured, resourced, evaluated and operationalised.  It also proposes what an exit strategy for such a Fund would look like and how it can contribute to rebuilding and remaking a business model for public interest media.

The Fund is designed to:
 

a)     expand the resources available to support independent public interest media especially in resource poor settings;

b)     lower the transaction costs of development agencies and other donors in doing so;

c)     increase the legitimacy of financing and funding of independent media;

d)     improve the coherence, coordination and strategic consistency of such support;

e)     improve the impact, impact assessment and learning of what works and does not work;

 
The study was prepared before the worst effects of COVID-19 became apparent. The pandemic, and accompanying "infodemic" of mis and disinformation related to the virus as the Director of General of WHO has put it, is highlighting in even starker detail the public demand for news and information people feel they can trust.  It is also, sadly, turbocharging the already grave financial as well as political challenges confronting public interest media.  The International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) is designed as a long term, strategic response to those challenges.  Luminate and others who have developed the case for the Fund  are also engaged in developing a better coordination structure for the much needed crisis responses that have emerged in recent weeks.

IFPIM plans over coming months to build financial and political support and, once established, we believe it will provide a key pillar for an international strategy necessary to rebuild independent public interest media around the world.
 

REMINDER: There will be a WEBINAR on 5th May at 3:00 PM BST to consider this FUND. The registration details and link are within the summary of the Fund feasibility study here.

All best

 
James

 
The COVID-19 Media, Communication and Community Engagement HUB - the Network for Shared Knowledge and Active Dialogue in Support of Effective COVID-19 Action