"This report builds off research conducted in Czechia, Romania, and Serbia by an international team of media experts. The research aimed to identify inspiring and impactful ways that the private sector in these countries is engaging in efforts to counter disinformation and bolster independent journa
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lism. It sought to draw out what motivates the business community to meaningfully support information integrity, and what prevents greater involvement of this group." (Page 1) [...] "The research identified one promising example of a pooled fund created to support independent journalism—the Endowment Fund for Independent Journalism (NFNŽ) in Czechia. Established in 2016 by 12 businessmen who were all part of a local business club, the NFNŽ emerged as a reaction to the negative impact that oligarchization of the Czech media had begun to exert on the country’s democracy, a common concern of all its founders. The declared goal of the endowment’s founders is to maintain media pluralism and independence in Czechia, which they view as a key condition for meaningful political deliberation. The endowment has played a key role both in the philanthropic and journalistic communities in Czechia. A set of internal governance mechanisms ensures transparency of the fund’s actions and accountability of its decisions. As a result of the rigorous procedures, the NFNŽ has attracted financial contributions from around 200 small business donors. The endowment has played a central role in strengthening the health of the local journalistic culture by financing 110 journalistic initiatives to date that received a combined CZK 31 million ($1.4 million). Its projects aim to improve the work of various media outlets, such as the launch of a podcast section by Deník N. The fund also promotes independent journalism in the country. Since 2018, the endowment has organized the Journalist Forum, an annual event that has become the go-to networking venue for many of the country’s journalists." (Page 13)
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"Over the past decade, philanthropic organisations have poured millions of dollars into different specialised forms of journalism in Africa. While these new specialised forms of journalism are aimed at addressing existing gaps in news reporting on the continent, there has been growing concern over t
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he potential effects this has on the practice of journalism. This study explores the rise in philanthropy-funded journalism and analyses its broader implications for the practice of journalism in South Africa, focusing on the weekly Mail & Guardian newspaper and its two off-shoots, AmaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism and Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism. It is based on a combination of informant interviews with editors and managers of these three entities, secondary research, as well as analysis of documents from these entities." (Abstract)
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"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
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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." (Abstract)
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"Not-for-profit news organisations are increasingly funded by private foundations, supported by wealthy entrepreneurs. This raises a range of ethical dilemmas for journalists, which are particularly serious when their donors are alleged to have been involved in unethical or illegal activities. Altho
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ugh this is a relatively common occurrence in the non-profit sector, so far there has been no critical discussion of these issues in relation to foundation-funded journalism. In this article, we interrogate a rich and detailed case study of the relations between a non-profit news organisation and a donor accused of being involved in a massive, international fraud scandal. We document how the news outlet justified their acceptance of this donor’s money; the defensive strategies they used to protect their reputation, organisational values and editorial freedom; and the conditions that ultimately led to journalists parting ways with the foundation. In so doing, we draw on ideas about philanthrocapitalism, stakeholders and resource dependence in order to develop model of how nonprofits respond to “tainted” donors." (Abstract)
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"Both funding and making media are now dangerous in new ways: Foundations, publishers, editors and journalists across the world are facing not just familiar forms of repression and censorship, but new threats from breaches to digital privacy and a notably uncivil online culture. Funders need to work
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more systematically to educate and protect themselves and their grantees. Power dynamics are skewed in favor of American funders: The data emphasizes U.S.-based funders, who appear to be setting the agenda for foundation support of media worldwide, raising questions about power dynamics between these funders and local foundations and grantees [...] Foundations can have an outsized influence on a country’s media system: This power can be productive or disruptive depending on the context. On the one hand, funders can support convenings, monitoring, regional partnerships and even media distribution from outside of countries where anti-democratic leaders repress the media. On the other, foundations can create perverse incentives through supporting initiatives that don’t match needs on the ground, or through short-term funding that leaves local organizations stranded." (Conclusions, page 5)
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"Research into foundation-funded journalism is relatively scarce and disconnected. There is, for example, no single edited volume on this topic. This matters because while philanthropists and foundations often want to support journalism, it is not always clear how they should do this. Similarly, jou
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rnalists are often unsure about common practices in this area. For those interested in carrying out further research in this area, this matters because it is useful to know what methods have been used to study this topic in the past and how their findings compare to others." (Page 1)
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"Many journalism stakeholders have begun looking to philanthropic foundations to help newsrooms find economic sustainability. The rapidly expanding role of foundations as a revenue source for news publishers raises an important question: How do foundations exercise their influence over the newsrooms
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they fund? Using the hierarchy of influence model, this study utilizes more than 40 interviews with journalists at digitally native nonprofit news organizations and employees from foundations that fund nonprofit journalism to better understand the impact of foundation funding on journalistic practice. Drawing on previous scholarship exploring extra-media influence on the news industry, we argue that the impact of foundations on journalism parallels that of advertisers throughout the 20th century—with one important distinction: Journalism practitioners and researchers have long forbidden the influence from advertisers on editorial decisions, seeing the blurring of the two as inherently unethical. Outside funding from foundations, on the other hand, is often premised on editorial influence, complicating efforts by journalists to maintain the firewall between news revenue and production." (Abstract)
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"There are three main reasons for the limited amount of foundation support for international journalism: a) It rarely aligns directly with the strategic priorities of a foundation (and so has to compete either with all other forms of journalism, or with numerous other ways of achieving the specific
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objectives of a foundation). b) Many foundations and journalists are unwilling to accept or negotiate the risks and challenges involved in reaching a compromise on the nature of the beat being funded. c) There are inherent difficulties associated with isolating and measuring the impact of international news. Foundations rarely advertise ‘open calls’ for funding. Instead, support emerges from an informal process of relationship building and ongoing dialogue between foundations and non-profit news organisations/intermediaries." (Key findings)
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"How does donor funding affect the independence, role perceptions, and ideology of the journalism it supports? We begin to answer this increasingly important but underresearched question with a year-long case study of the humanitarian news organisation IRIN as it transitioned from being funded by th
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e United Nations to a private foundation, run by a Malaysian billionaire. Using content analysis, in-depth interviews, and ethnographic research, we document the changes that occurred in IRIN’s outputs, target audience, and public service values, and the complex interplay of influences that produced these changes. We find that, in this case, donor power operated entirely indirectly and always in concert with the dominant professional values within IRIN. In doing so, this case study highlights the importance of journalistic agency and contextual variables in the journalist–donor relationship, as well as the potential significance of contradictory dynamics. We also use this case to test whether Benson, Hessérus and Sedel’s model of media owner power can help to explain the workings of donor power." (Abstract)
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"As this study shows, many of the more than 21,000 German foundations contribute a wealth of ideas, and substantial funding, to a wide variety of journalistic projects and grants. But only around 120 foundations profess express support of journalism in their statutes. Unfortunately, the total moneta
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ry value of their activities remains in the dark. A project of the not-for-profit ZEIT-Stiftung makes the case in point what a focused engagement can look like. The area of interest is in Eastern Europe, where preconditions for independent reporting are entirely different from Germany, and where information is hard to get hold of, or cannot be accessed at all. Between 2000 and 2016, ZEIT-Stiftung has been awarding its prestigious “Gerd Bucerius Prize for a Free Press in Eastern Europe” for a total of 17 times (from 2004 in cooperation with Norwegian Fritt Ord Foundation). In a trusting international cooperation, the two foundations have awarded 97 laureates – 40 journalists and 57 media outlets – with €1.7m overall. The aim: to strengthen independent journalism in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, both foundations have launched the follow up project “Free Media Awards. Supporting Independent Journalism in Eastern Europe“.
It is well worthwhile further to encourage foundations to engage with projects that contribute to better journalism and plurality of opinion. Support for, and the defence of, press freedom; the free flow of information; and improving journalistic standards remain on top of the agenda. Notably, this is precisely not about steering opinion-forming processes, peddling of influence, or surreptitious lobbying. Moreover, foundations are not positioned to mitigate the adverse effects that come with the erosion of traditional business and distribution models. Nor can they develop alternative sources of media revenue. But as actors of civic society, foundations can uphold the importance of journalism. They can insist on the diversity, quality, and relevance of journalism – values that are constitutive for an open society. They can do so, for instance, through endowed journalism professorships, or by way of training and exchange programmes for mid-career journalists." (Foreword, pages 5-6)
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"In the context of the ongoing financial crisis in U.S. professional journalism, philanthropic foundation-supported nonprofits are increasingly proposed as a solution to the under-provision of civic-oriented news production. Drawing on an analysis of the social composition of boards of directors and
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interviews with foundation officials and nonprofit journalists, this article examines both the civic contributions and limitations of foundation-supported nonprofit news organizations. Foundations are shown to place many nonprofits in a Catch-22 because of competing demands to achieve both economic “sustainability” and civic “impact,” ultimately creating pressures to reproduce dominant commercial media news practices or orient news primarily for small, elite audiences. Further, media organizations dependent on foundation project-based funding risk being captured by foundation agendas and thus less able to investigate the issues they deem most important. Reforms encouraging more long-term, no-strings-attached funding by foundations, along with development of small donor and public funding, could help nonprofits overcome their current limitations." (Abstract)
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"Foundation Maps for Media Funding is a data mapping platform that brings the diverse and expansive field of media and philanthropy to light, allowing users to research and explore media and technology funding around the world. The tool captures activities related to media content and platforms; tel
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ecommunications infrastructure; media applications and tools; media access and policy; and journalism, news, and information that foundations across the globe have supported from 2009 to present. Specifically designed for funders, nonprofits and journalists, Foundation Maps for Media Funding enables users to see, understand and dig deep into the numbers, networks and trends surrounding media and philanthropy." (Page 5)
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"Media funders are still looking at questions of media assessment through many different lenses. The survey results indicated that the two biggest challenges facing this field are lack of consensus about what constitutes “impact” (33%) and lack of clarity about methods/measures within the media
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field (30%). Rather than a weakness, however, this may prove to be a strength. The diversity of approaches allows for small groups of like-minded funders and grantees to develop and test tools and methodologies specific to their shared goals. Rather than a single tool or approach, the field may end up with a suite of relevant approaches to be applied in various instances. MIF will continue to track this emerging field, and will work with funders to continue related conversations that help to hone more targeted methods." (Executive summary, page 3)
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"This work is an update of the October 2009 CIMA report, Experimentation and Evolution in Private U.S. Funding of Media Development by the same author. The field of private sector funding of independent media abroad has continued to undergo a massive upheaval over the past two years. Both the 2008 r
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ecession and the increased influence of digital technologies have shaped the field and driven it in a new direction. The working definitions of media development are also shifting, with the lines between “media development” and “media for development” becoming blurred. This report describes and analyzes the evolving landscape of private donor support for media development." (http://cima.ned.org, January 11, 2012)
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