Survival of the Media in a Small Market: the Practice of Direct State Financial Support on the Example of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Abstract

In this article, the author studies the current state of the system of direct financial support of the media in Luxembourg and further prospects for its development. Direct government support for the press has existed in the Grand Duchy since 1976. In accordance with the law for the promotion of the print media, newspapers receive subsidies, however, the press subsidy system is currently in the process of reforming. In 2017, grants for online media were first made available. In addition, discussions are underway to change the criteria for receiving financial assistance: if before the amount of the subsidy depended on the volume of publication (number of published pages), in the future it will depend on the number of journalists in the editorial office and, possibly, on the circulation or number of subscribers. Since 2021, the government plans, like press support, to allocate subsidies for RTL TV channels, but this decision is often criticized, because it is essentially a monopolization of RTL and threatens the disappearance of economically weaker broadcast stations, such as “L’essentiel Radio”, “Radio 100,7”. In this regard, many politicians are in favor of expanding the social and legal media sector, which is currently represented in the Grand Duchy only by the socio-cultural radio station “Radio 100,7”. In general, direct state support of the press (and from 2021 on television), which exists in Luxembourg, on the one hand, is one of the guarantees for the survival of economically weak media in a small market, on the other hand, it can be a danger to their political independence.