麻豆约拍

In 2018, 麻豆约拍 Media Action asked whether the financial crisis confronting independent media around the world warranted a much more ambitious, better organised and resourced response from the international community. We proposed then the establishment of a new global fund, focused initially on resource-poor countries where the crisis was most acute.

Two years on, in the midst of a global pandemic in which trusted information is critical – and critically endangered – it is even more clear that this Fund is essential to the future of independent and public interest media.

In co-operation with, and with the support of, , a newly published, detailed feasibility study now outlines why such a Fund is so urgent, and how it could be set up, governed, resourced, structured and evaluated.

This study builds on almost a year of consultation and debate with media and media support organisations, donors, international organisations and others.

The case made for this Fund is ambitious. It needs to have resources of at least $100 million per year – but could usefully be 10 times that size. We argue that resources should come from official development assistance, which currently allocates just 0.2% to international media assistance, as well as technology companies and other philanthropic resources.

This Fund would make it much simpler to allocate additional funding to this politically complex area of assistance. Rather than the reorganisation of existing sources of media support, it would dramatically expand the resources available to support independent public interest media, especially in resource-poor settings, while lowering the transaction costs of development agencies and other donors, and increasing the legitimacy of financial support being provided to independent public interest media, as decisions on resources spend would be governed by an independent board. Media support would be more coherent, more co-ordinated and more consistent, with improved impact, impact assessment and learning of what works and does not work in this highly complex arena.

Much of this study was researched and written before the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic. That pandemic, and the associated that is helping fuel it, has highlighted in even greater detail the critical importance of widespread public access to trustworthy information.

Yet this pandemic is accelerating the demise of many of the public interest media institutions best-placed to provide that trustworthy information. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism estimates that news organisations worldwide will lose more than $20 billion through the decline in advertising and other revenues brought about by the pandemic. Commentators now ask whether independent media in even the richest countries are going through an '', as advertising revenues and other revenues collapse.

The idea of an International Fund for Public Interest Media is attracting increasing support. But it will take time to become reality. In the meantime, many independent media institutions, especially in resource poor countries, will face immense challenges.

麻豆约拍 Media Action is also working with Luminate and others to build better coordination systems among the many individual funds and initiatives now emerging in response to the pandemic. Ultimately, however, an International Fund for Public Interest Media will be essential to rebuild public interest media after this crisis.

The first steps towards establishing this Fund are under way, as Luminate works with the MacArthur Foundation and other donors to establish an interim secretariat and hire an interim Executive Director. While 麻豆约拍 Media Action will not be directly involved in the establishment of the Fund, we will continue to do all we can to ensure this feasibility study does translate into reality. Amid this existential crisis for independent media, such a Fund can help secure these essential foundation stones of society.

--

For further information on the International Fund for Public Interest Media contact james.deane@uk.bbcmediaaction.org

James Deane is Head of Policy at 麻豆约拍 Media Action, currently consulting with Luminate to advance the International Fund for Public Interest Media proposition.

Maha Taki is Senior Adviser, Media Development at 麻豆约拍 Media Action.