National Funds for Journalism (Policy Paper)

Ariadne Network, 2018

Donors working around the world are concerned about the threat posed by closing space, including intensified threats against freedom of expression and information, and media freedom. This compounds the crisis that the field of journalism – a critical pillar of open, democratic societies – is already facing worldwide. At the same time, the technical and financial barriers to entry into the journalism field have never been lower, and the opportunities to innovate and have impact with journalism have in many ways never been greater. Against this backdrop, the journalism field is increasingly turning to philanthropy for support, including to human rights, social change and transparency donors. An Introduction to Funding Media and Journalism, developed by Ariadne and the Transparency and Accountability Initiative and written by Sameer Padania, aims to help funders boost their understanding of the key issues, debates and approaches in funding journalism and media. We hope that this will help prepare funders focused on human rights, social justice or transparency and accountability to engage in the journalism and media field effectively and ethically, with a stronger shared understanding of why, when and how to do so.

Commercial journalism is failing in many countries around the world. Numerous factors contribute to this crisis, but at its root lies a “systemic market failure” in which for-profit news institutions, in particular those that depend on advertising revenue, are increasingly unviable. Symptomatic of this broader decline, traditional news organizations’ cost-cutting measures are depriving international news operations of the considerable resources they need to survive. In recognition of this systemic failure, a healthy global civil society requires structural alternatives — specifically, non-market models — to support adequate levels of journalism. In particular, we need a large global trust fund to finance international investigative reporting. Given their role in hastening the decline of journalism and proliferating misinformation, platform monopolies should contribute to this fund to offset social harms. While setting up such a fund will be novel in many respects, there are models and policy instruments we can use to imagine how it could support the public service journalism that the market no longer sustains.

The Communication Review, 2011

Journalism Studies, 2019

ABSTRACT Private foundations are an important source of funding for many news outlets. It has even been suggested that they may offer a partial solution to journalism’s economic crisis. Yet we do not know how foundation funding shapes journalistic practice. In this article, we show that foundation funding has a significant effect on the “boundaries of journalism”. That is, the ways in which journalists understand, value and practice their journalism. This argument is based on 74 interviews with the most active foundations funding international non-profit news and the journalists they support. In general, we found that these foundations did not try to directly influence the content of the journalism they funded. However, their involvement did make a difference. It created requirements and incentives for journalists to do new, non-editorial tasks, as well as longer-form, off-agenda, “impactful” news coverage in specific thematic areas. As a result, foundations are ultimately changing the role and contribution of journalism in society. We argue that these changes are the result of various forms of “boundary work”, or performative struggles over the nature of journalism. This contrasts with most previous literature, which has focused on the effects of foundation funding on journalistic autonomy.

2018

Triple C, 2011

n the midst of what is probably the worst economic and financial crisis the capitalist world has ever experienced, professional journalistic structures and news organizations are disintegrating. While mainstream current economic and media gurus – and the whole media executive class around the globe – are clamouring for a business model change that allows them to go on making lots of money, many voices have been raised in unison to ask for a true radical change: the public interest should be the first goal, and not money. This paper presents the outcome of a research project on non-profit alternatives currently under debate, the aim of which is to help journalism survive.

CIMA Report, 2019

With independent media around the world in crisis, what is the role of international donors and private foundations? And how can these international actors provide effective support when the driving forces behind independent media’s decline—simultaneously technological, financial, social, political, and institutional—are so complex and difficult to disentangle? This report argues that complexity is no excuse for inaction. Solutions to this crisis will require that political agency rise to the daunting level of the challenge, and that the structures of international cooperation—forged as the global response to World War II—are now put into motion to safeguard the foundations of independent media. Based on input from media actors, freedom of expression activists, implementers, and donors, the report puts forward three interrelated objectives that, if achieved, would help to international cooperation in the media sector

Journalism Studies , 2019

Private foundations are an important source of funding for many news outlets. It has even been suggested that they may offer a partial solution to journalism’s economic crisis. Yet we do not know how foundation funding shapes journalistic practice. In this article, we show that foundation funding has a significant effect on the “boundaries of journalism”. That is, the ways in which journalists understand, value and practice their journalism. This argument is based on 74 interviews with the most active foundations funding international non-profit news and the journalists they support. In general, we found that these foundations did not try to directly influence the content of the journalism they funded. However, their involvement did make a difference. It created requirements and incentives for journalists to do new, non-editorial tasks, as well as longer-form, off-agenda, “impactful” news coverage in specific thematic areas. As a result, foundations are ultimately changing the role and contribution of journalism in society. We argue that these changes are the result of various forms of “boundary work”, or performative struggles over the nature of journalism. This contrasts with most previous literature, which has focused on the effects of foundation funding on journalistic autonomy.

2008

CIMA’s 2008 Inaugural Report provides an in-depth assessment of U.S. international media development efforts, both public and private, and calls on future efforts to be more long-term, comprehensive, and need-driven. The U.S., through government and private sector initiatives, spends at least $142 million annually on media development efforts in countries around the world. Media assistance is increasingly being regarded as a fundamental building block in developing democratic states. These efforts can help countries make democratic transitions, spur economic growth, improve government accountability, conduct public health campaigns, increase education and literacy levels, and empower women and minorities. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommending a more holistic approach, the report looks at the international media development field from a number of perspectives: •funding •professional development •education •the legal-enabling environment •economic sustainability •media literacy •new media •monitoring and evaluation Empowering Independent Media was the culmination of CIMA’s work since its inception in late 2006, and draws upon its reports, working group discussions, meetings, and additional research on topics including the public and private funding of projects, financial sustainability of independent media outlets, global investigative journalism, community radio development, among others.