Media Funding Research Articles

Exploring Current Media Funding Model: Strategies and Recommendations for Sustainability

Media plays a vital role in the globe as it is perceived as the primary source of information which will make people more participated in the society. However, to ensure sustainability and development, funding is indispensable for establishing, operating, and maintaining media businesses. Through a literature review and the case study of press subsidies in Germany, this paper aims to delve into the historical and current states of media funding models, exploring challenges and future directions of media funding models, proposing recommendations for improving media funding. The result suggests that the current funding model has ensured the operation of the media industry while funding with more autonomy and democracy is capable of establishing a better news environment as well as a society with higher democratic resilience.

The Role of Community Radios in Changing Perceptions of Cattle Rustling Communities in Turkana County, Kenya

Cattle rustling has constantly devastated and disrupted normal livelihoods of the pastoral community in Turkana. Traditionally, cattle rustling is a growing phenomenon and was perceived as a cultural activity through which cattle were raided to pay dowry among Turkana communities. However, in society today, cattle rustling has taken a different dimension altogether! It is characterized by the proliferation of sophisticated small arms in the wrong hands of bandits, which has resulted in wanton and reckless killings, children and women maimed, and property destroyed. To bring to an end the escalating challenges bedeviling the pastoralist community, as a result of persistent banditry in Turkana, In this regard, the study investigated the role played by community radios like Ekeyokon and Echami on changing perceptions of pastoralists in providing a long-lasting solution to the menace. The four objectives of the study were, first, to explain the extent to which community radio programs change perceptions of communities on cattle rustling. Second, to examine the role stakeholders play in providing an enabling environment for community radio stations to change perceptions of cattle-rustling communities. Third, to appraise the strategies the stakeholders put in place to leverage on the community radio stations, and finally, to evaluate the challenges community radio stations face in changing perceptions of communities on cattle rustling in Turkana. A descriptive research design was used in the study. Target population was 400,000 listeners. A sample size of 400 was determined using the Lamola and Yamane formula. Purposive sampling was used to identify the pastoralist community. A simple random sampling technique was also used to identify 5 radio editors, program producers, chair MCK-Turkana, County Director of Peace, and a representative of the Peace partner. Agenda-setting theory was used to evaluate the research problem. On data collection, the study administered a structured questionnaire and key informant interview schedule. Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 26 and content analysis were used to analyze data. The study concluded that community radio in Turkana was the only powerful game-changer that influences pastoralists’ mindsets and social behavior on cattle rustling. The study recommended the county government intentionally establish a Community Media Fund to effectively support community radios to change pastoralists’ mindsets on the barbaric cattle rustling. It also put forward that the county government must formulate policies and legislation that make radios more effective and efficient. At the same time, outlaws cattle rustling. The study applies to academia, national and county governments, and non-state actors.

Public money well spent? Unintended consequences and challenges arising from Trans-Tasman public journalism funds

ABSTRACT This paper identifies various issues associated with the increase in direct public funding of news media across Australasia. We conduct a comparative analysis of outcomes from two Trans-Tasman public interest journalism funds: the Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF) in New Zealand and the Public Interest News Gathering Fund in Australia (PING). By investigating the allocation of funding, the paper identifies risks and unintended consequences arising from the direct public funding of private media. It also raises issues that policymakers need to address when drafting media policies in the future as government support can lead to negative outcomes. While a substantial proportion of the public money of the two funds was aimed at retaining newsroom roles, redundancies and newsroom closures have continued, highlighting the limitations of these specific government interventions.

PROBLEMS OF MEDIA FINANCING DURING WAR AND WAYS TO SOLVE THEM

The article is devoted to the issue of financing the media industry during crises and wars. The main difficulties faced by the Ukrainian mass media after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine are studied. Analyzing the financial instruments used for the survival and development of the media. We all understand that the media is not only a source of information space, but also one of the sectors of the state’s economy. Therefore, as we turn the page of the second year of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, we cannot but address the question: “What financial difficulties did our media face during the war, how did they overcome them, and what are the possible sources of funding now?” That is, to look into the eternal question “Where to get money?” and how can media enterprises survive in times of crisis? Unfortunately, the problem of media funding during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation has not yet been sufficiently addressed in scientific research. However, due to the extreme relevance of this problem, it was primarily addressed by journalists themselves, raising it at journalistic forums and in their materials. The purpose of the article is to outline the problem of media financing during the war and the ways to solve it that are used by Ukrainian media in everyday life. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to consider changes in grant support for the media, analyze support from volunteer “donors”, consider the possibility of contracts with local authorities for coverage as a source of funding, consider potential opportunities for paying for content, analyze state support for Ukrainian media, and more. Thus, the loss of 90% of the advertising market at the beginning of the invasion, the departure of some journalists abroad, the inability to fulfill their financial obligations, the loss of offices and many other disappointments did not stop active, dedicated professionals in their desire to create! And tools, especially those such as finance, are always available when you have a great desire and a dream. Since Ukrainian journalism has been addressing the issue of alternative financing for two years, the field for further research is almost unlimited, and many economic experts are just now beginning to delve into this issue.

Academics with disabilities during transformation to a New African University in South Africa

The idea of transformation to a ‘new African university’ has become topical in contemporary African education scholarship. Whilst it is claimed that the process seeks to include all stakeholders, academics with disabilities are excluded because of discourses and dynamics in Africa’s higher education that have remained deeply embedded in Eurocentric thinking and mind-set. This paper applied Critical Disability Theory to analyse the challenges that face academics with disabilities in the areas of teaching, research, community engagement and doctoral supervision in South African higher education and that must be appropriately and adequately addressed for a successful transformation to a “‘new’ African University”. Data were collected through an analysis of South African literature on exclusion of students with disabilities as research, community engagement and supervision are regarded as a continuum and involve both students and the academics. Findings revealed that academics with disabilities are confronted with specific challenges similar to those faced by students with disabilities, as they all function within the same context during transformation to a ‘new African university’. The challenges are inaccessible physical environment, negative attitudes from the community members, impairment-related disadvantages, lack of adequate funding and lack of adequate media for use, which all compound to limit their functioning like their able-bodied counterparts. Including the voice of academics with disabilities in disability policy was proposed as a way to alleviate the challenges they confront enabling them to contribute positively to scholarship and thus affirm the transformation to a new African University

Öffentlich-rechtlicher Rundfunk unter Druck

Abstract In the wake of recent scandals, public broadcasting has again come under criticism. In the coming years, public broadcasting faces three major challenges: Firstly, considering recent scandals, an effective system of corporate governance must be installed. Secondly, the funding of public broadcasting must be rethought. Thirdly, in the longer term, public broadcasting must be adapted to a digitised and changing media landscape. In addition to various approaches for better corporate governance, alternative solutions for determining the financial resources of public broadcasting are discussed. Finally, structural reform options as well as a comprehensive reform by means of a media fund for the digital media age are analysed.

Contrasting State-Run TV Channel Ratings: A Comparative Analysis of the Evolution of “Qazaqstan” and “Al-Jazeera”

A comparative analysis of the activities of pro-state TV channels Qazaqstan TV and Al-Jazeera and their relationship with the state are detailed herein, taking into account the specifics of their functioning and the evolution of the television industry in Kazakhstan and Qatar. Using the example of Al-Jazeera, the study demonstrates that the state funding of media does not necessarily aim to fuel branding propaganda through TV channels, but rather to help them acquire independence from state regulation, for example, increasing the role of an entity that complements the functions of the state, and identifies the information needs of its audience. On the other hand, data are presented that indicate the difficulties Qazaqstan will have to face in the post-pandemic era and the rapidly changing digital world, as well as challenges ahead in terms of competitiveness and competition for the audience. Qualitative and quantitative statistical methods were employed to validate the hypothesis that the rating of networks does not hang with the factor of state funding, but related to the content materials. A detailed content analysis of the information agenda was carried out, and a brief historical development of both TV channels was studied. Statistical data provided by open international sources, as well as comparative financial data on these channels, were investigated. In the context of the article, recommendations are made for Qazaqstan TV to tailor their agenda according to a changing socio-political environment. Keywords: Qazaqstan TV, Al-Jazeera, public opinion, political discussion, news agenda.

Media diversification: Redefining reliance on advertising revenue and autonomy implications

The search for a media funding model has attracted scholarly attention over the years due to the growing strategic importance of the media in spearheading critical public debates in contemporary societies. With the recent global financial and economic turmoil, it has become imperative that the search for funding model continues, especially for a developing country like Ghana where there is limited body of literature on the subject without sacrificing its global significance. On the premise that media should be strengthened financially to survive in a competitive market to better execute its public mandate functions, media businesses, particularly newspapers, need to explore revenue generation sources to ensure that they do not lean on a lone income stream. The present study examines the extent to which newspapers have diversified into non-media ventures and argues that by this funding approach, print firms have a better chance of sustaining their businesses, publications and achieving autonomy. Overall, this work shows that majority of the print firms in Ghana have not diversified at all, the few diversified ones are within the media industry and only Daily Graphic has invested into non-media ventures to generate revenue.

Kiswahili language deficiencies in print media: Interrogating the policies, guidelines and practices of selected Kiswahili newspapers in Tanzania

Over the decades now, Kiswahili newspapers have attracted criticism from stakeholders primarily because of writing the language poorly or incorrectly (Massamba, 2004; Serengeti Advisers, 2012; Tanzania Media Fund, 2013; Gidion, 2016). Most of these complaints originate from exploratory or explanatory studies as well as from individual experience after reading Kiswahili newspapers. This paper, therefore, sought to explore systematically the situation and come up with empirical evidence that can explain why Kiswahili newspapers are alleged to write the language poorly. Using a case study design, the researcher studied three giant serious private media houses, which were purposively selected—one newspaper from each media house—to generate crucial data from their editors, proof-readers, and reporters. Using in-depth interviews with these paradoxically not a criterion for employing reporters and editors for these Kiswahili newspapers. The main criterion for their employment is training in Journalism or Mass Communication. Moreover, media houses lack personnel development plans and on-the-job language training policies and programmes. Furthermore, there is an uneven distribution of linguistic capital in the newsrooms.

“We’re Essential Because You’re Essential”: How Louisiana Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Organizations Adapted Outreach Efforts and Health Messaging during COVID-19

ABSTRACT Within weeks of the World Health Organization declaring the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic, domestic violence and sexual assault incidents increased. To adhere to new health protocols, social service providers were encouraged to move outreach efforts to virtual formats. We draw on 21 in-depth interviews with Louisiana organizations working in violence against women to examine how they 1) transitioned to online outreach efforts and 2) adapted their messaging to the COVID-19 context. We found that organizations who successfully moved to virtual efforts credited their success to thinking creatively and properly matching educational activities to digital media platforms, while those who struggled pointed to obstacles such as digital media fatigue and funding limitations (RQ1). We also identified three changes to message framing (RQ2): 1) Empathy and reassurance, especially, reiterating that centers “are there” for victims 2) Addressing racial justice issues, and 3) describing COVID-19 protocols and conducting lockdown-focused education efforts.

Windows Towards the West: Exploring the Emergence of Popular Magazines in Yugoslavia in the 1960s and Early 1970s

The 1960s were a golden age for Vjesnik, the largest publishing house in Yugoslavia, which invested in market research to launch new, successful issues, largely modeled on Western magazines. This paper explores the factors that enabled their emergence and argues they were the product of significant changes occurring in Yugoslav society in the 1960s. Building on the literature on press theory, the development of tourism and consumerism, and Western cultural influences in Yugoslavia, the changes are identified as the following: opening towards the West and changes in work time that enabled the rise of tourism and consumerism; a more liberal media policy, and the implementation of self-management that enabled different sources of media funding and the professionalization of journalism. The main goal is to examine how these changes spurred the development of Vjesnik in view of the launch and characteristics of its successful magazines in the 1960s and early 1970s.

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNITY MEDIA IN UKRAINE

The ongoing globalization of mass media offers ample opportunities for citizen debate and pluralism of thought. One of the recent world media trends is the creation of different models of public media, which are an alternative to other means of communication. Public media might address issues of contemporary journalism, namely the quality and independence of media, ensuring that citizens receive accurate and impartial information. Ukraine has undergone tremendous changes since it has gained independence in 1991 but the political and legal systems remain unduly centralized, the economy weak, and the government attempts to limit freedom of speech and work of media. During both the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Euromaidan 2013–2014, the need to deepen democratic freedoms was emphasized. Major advocates of the reform called for strengthening the rule of law, decentralization, denationalization of media, and the establishment of community media in the country, which will be created by the society, serve the society, and work under its control. Measures to increase the diversity of Ukrainian media are one of the practical means to guarantee freedom of speech and diversity of viewpoints. The diversity of media includes not only the diversity of content and multiplicity of media owners but also the variety of media types. Along with traditional models of public service media and private commercial broadcasting, community media emerged as the “third level” of media development that enhances freedom of speech. This article examines the legal aspects of community media implementation in Ukraine, their compliance with the standards and principles of the media law of European countries that govern the media community, and illustrates the development of community broadcasting in the world. It also provides an overview of the international standards for community media, which are backed by legislatures and regulators. Analyzing the Ukrainian media legislative draft, the author of the article offers improvements to the content and funding of community media in Ukraine.

The State and Media Financing: Bulgaria and the Mediterranean Media Model

The study examines the applicability of the comparative framework of Hallin and Mancini (2004) with their three models of media‒politics relations (Mediterranean or Polarized Pluralist Model, North/ Central European or Democratic Corporatist Model, and North Atlantic or Liberal Model) to a post-communist country like Bulgaria. The answer to this question is sought through a study of the role of the state in relation to the media system, particularly the state funding of media in its various forms. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the Bulgarian media system is most similar to the Mediterranean Model due to the power of еtatism (the state finances public media, and the government buys media love through state and municipal advertising). At the same time, ineffective media regulation favors media concentration and the instrumentalization of large government media groups. The processes of rapid liberalization, privatization and deregulation in the media sector after 1989 brought Bulgaria closer to the countries included in the Liberal Model. Therefore, its media system is hybrid to some extent, but the similarities with the Mediterranean Model remain in the lead. The clientelism through which they are tamed, resp. corrupt the media, brings Bulgaria closer to the Latin American countries where it is much stronger than in the Mediterranean region (Hallin, Papathanassopoulos 2002). The concluding part predicts that, in the future, the analysis of the Bulgarian media system can be enhanced with a study of the applicability of the concepts of the “captured liberal model” of the media (in Latin America) and the “captured media” in the post-communist world.

Funding Democracy: Public Media and Democratic Health in 33 Countries

This study examines whether and how public media systems contribute to the health of democracies in 33 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, the Middle East, Latin America, and South America. We gather national economic data and public media funding levels, audience shares, and regulatory data, primarily for 2018 and 2019 but in some cases earlier, due to lack of available data. We then assess correlations with strength of democracy indices and extend Hallin and Mancini's typology of North American and European media systems through hierarchical cluster analysis of these 33 countries. We find five models of public media systems around the world, ranging from “state-administered” systems with low levels of independence (Botswana and Tunisia) to systems aligning with Hallin and Mancini's “Democratic Corporatist” model, with strong and secure (multiyear) funding, large audience shares, and strong regulatory protection for their independence. In between, we identify three mixed models: a “Liberal-Pluralist” model, a “Direct Funding” model, and a “Commercial–Public” model. Correlations and cluster analyses show that high levels of secure funding for public media systems and strong structural protections for the political and economic independence of those systems are consistently and positively correlated with healthy democracies.

Information management in government policy: the challenges of time and responses to them

The article examines the peculiarities of the formation of government policy in the field of information management under the influence of systemic challenges of recent years. Particular attention is paid to the role and place of civil society, in particular its network segment, in the relationship between the state and the media in the media market. The authors propose a rationale for information management and social capital of society as interrelated political and social phenomena. After all, the effective promotion of certain models of information management is possible under the conditions of attracting social capital to the mechanisms of political communication. At the same time, social capital as an exclusively group resource is both an object and a subject of information flows involved in the processes of political communication. The problem of mass media involvement is covered in two aspects. First, through the consideration of communication techniques. Secondly, it was found that in recent years the practice of forming qualitatively different models of mass media financing has become established. The article analyzes the prospects of diversification of mass media funding sources through public activist campaigns of donors and crowdfunding, in particular in Ukraine. In the domestic socio-political realities, according to the authors, it is worth talking more about attempts to introduce such a systemic practice. And this is not surprising, because the spread of donor and crowdfunding practices of the mass media is one of the indicators of the maturity of civil society. However, traditional and modern channels of interaction between the government and civil society in the field of information management can have unpredictable consequences, such as the threat of manipulative influences of different directions.

Citizen Participation in Public Service Media: What It Really Means

In a converged media system where the public is more than ever in control of what, when and where to consume content, public service media must put citizen participation at the heart of their strategies. That means giving the audiences more control over funding of public media, increased participation of civil society in the governance of these media outlets and more meaningful involvement of citizens in their content production process. This paper summarizes recent trends in how media companies in general engage with their audiences in the digital economy and explores opportunities and models of citizen participation in the public media of the future. The paper argues that without adjusting to the realities of the digital economy, which would mean first and foremost building audience centric networked platforms of content distribution, public service media will have a hard time to attract new followers, especially among younger audiences, and risk alienating their already declining audiences. In a media ecosystem populated by a growing number of content producers that are all fiercely competing to capture people’s attention, public service media can gain a competitive edge only if they engage citizens in innovative, meaningful ways. Without the citizen participation element, they risk becoming a marginal player or, worse, a thing of the past.

Innovation in Public Funding for Local Journalism: A Case Study of New Jersey’s 2018 Civic Information Bill

This article explores an effort to direct state-level public funds toward journalism by using a national policy window combined with an intensive grass-roots effort. We use the lens of Kingdon’s policy process model to showcase dynamics that contribute to the media policymaking literature. The process and enactment of New Jersey’s 2018 Civic Information Consortium bill are analyzed using a combination of archival research and oral history, highlighting the efforts of policy entrepreneurs and knowledge-brokers, who served as key advocates for the bill’s passage. However, they faced strong oppositional political factors that dampened their efforts; specifically, a policy window narrowed by institutional pushback and the tradition of conservative opposition to public funding of media limited the ultimate outcome for the novel initiative. Looking at implications for policymaking and media, the results provide a framework for a new model of public funding for journalism, but the case study also highlights the headwinds facing these types of policy initiatives, at least in the current political climate.

Frozen 2: Communication Rights and the Thaw of Public Funding in Small Media Systems

AbstractThis contribution investigates how public funding of media can be reinterpreted to fit a communication rights–based approach to media policy. To this end, it describes and evaluates current public funding in small democratic-corporatist European media systems. While public funding is no longer “frozen” in its late twentieth-century state, as funding mechanisms have undergone significant change, when held against a rights-based approach, it appears there is a need to shift the basis for funding from safeguarding the survival of media industries to safeguarding the communication rights of citizens, allowing media to become “enablers” in executing these rights.

Frozen 2: Communication Rights and the Thaw of Public Funding in Small Media Systems

AbstractThis contribution investigates how public funding of media can be reinterpreted to fit a communication rights–based approach to media policy. To this end, it describes and evaluates current public funding in small democratic-corporatist European media systems. While public funding is no longer “frozen” in its late twentieth-century state, as funding mechanisms have undergone significant change, when held against a rights-based approach, it appears there is a need to shift the basis for funding from safeguarding the survival of media industries to safeguarding the communication rights of citizens, allowing media to become “enablers” in executing these rights.

Introduction: Communication Rights in the Digital Age

Introduction: Communication Rights in the Digital Age