"Using the OECD Principles for Relevant and Effective Support to Media and the Information Environment as a lens, the GFMD mapping highlights several pressing issues.
1. The dominance of governmental funding, particularly from the United States, underscores the sector’s heavy reliance on a narrow range of external donors. When these donors pause or withdraw, countless media outlets face abrupt funding gaps and, in some cases, closure.
2. Though there is growing acknowledgement of the need to “localise” support, most aid continues to flow through European and American intermediaries, with limited direct funding to local organisations.
3. Financial sustainability is often overshadowed by more traditional capacity-building, project-based and topic-focused programs—even though robust business models and revenue diversification have emerged, in every mapping and survey, as the top criteria for long-term viability.
These findings reveal a sector where investigative journalism, research, and advocacy remain critically underfunded, and where donor policies can make or break entire media ecosystems. Worse still, the freeze on U.S. foreign assistance has amplified existing pressures. Independent outlets—especially in conflict affected contexts—are contending with mounting operational challenges just when citizens need reliable news and information the most." (Main cocnlusions and key trends, page 3)