"This report responds to a rising demand from the media development field to understand how private capital can complement and strengthen traditional donor funding. It explores the potential of innovative financial instruments to support sustainable, independent journalism and build healthy informat
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ion ecosystems. Drawing on expert interviews and case studies, it assesses both the demand side – how to build investable media enterprises, and the supply side – which financing tools are best suited to different political and economic contexts? The private sector alone will not save journalism, but it cannot remain on the sidelines. New capital, new actors and new models are urgently needed to sustain public interest media. The present report addresses the following questions: What is the rationale for catalysing private capital to support public interest media? What funding sources – such as development finance institutions, impact funds, venture capital, family offices and community lenders – could be leveraged? What financial vehicles – concessional loans, equity investments, blended finance, impact bonds – are most promising for the media sector? What can be learned from applying impact investing approaches from other sectors to journalism? Can private sector approaches incentivise new business models and greater financial resilience among public interest media outlets?" (Introduction, page 5)
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"Just as in the global context, new tools are being used by the media in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (ALI/ML) is not limited to large, corporate media. But the reality of different news organisations with a variety of bu
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dgets and markets can vary deeply. In Latin America, only a handful of media organisations are embracing AI or machine learning in house, most notably in Argentina, Perú and México and none as part of a long term effort to embrace the technology. While most of the news organisations consulted are using some sort of AI implementation through vendors or third party solutions and there is strong appetite for more it is rarely part of a strategic vision. In CEE, digital natives are embracing AI/ML solutions and the region has been produced a few AI/ML based third party solution providers with global reach or ambitions. Competition for talent is a major bottleneck, as media have to compete with the global outsourcing of IT jobs to the region. The other challenge is state pressure on media, especially in such markets as Russia or Belarus, which makes long-term planning and investment impractical." (Key findings, page 5)
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"In early 2020 hromadske reached a crisis point. Despite many successes achieved over 7 years of existence the organization was struggling motivation was low, staff turnover was high, previously set goals seemed irrelevant or unrealistic. The path forward was unclear. From March to September 2020 hr
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omadske embarked on a journey to recreate its organizational structure, operations, planning and team management, the revenue model … basically everything related to setting and realizing goals. Such transformations are rare in the media industry. Big changes in how things are done can be perceived as an admission of past mistakes or failures something that doesn’t sit well for many managers in our image conscious industry. More importantly, media transformations over focus on the visible part the journalism. But problems in editorial are often a symptom of deeper issues. hromadske decided to “pop the hood” and dig into the organization’s engine starting from the basics. The present document aims to provide a preliminary template for other media contemplating radical change, that we hope will be further developed by other media organizations going through similar issues. It lays out the challenges we faced, what we did to resolve them, and the lessons we learned along the way. We hope it will provide some insights and guidance." (Page 1)
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