Mapping an unknown media landscape

By Malte Werner, Netzwerk Recherche

How can independent public interest journalism convert its public value into financial value? With the Journalism Value Project, we aim to find that out.

Why? Because as journalists ourselves, we know how hard it is to be a founder, CEO and editor-in-chief all in one. And we know how crucial knowledge transfer can be for media start-ups to thrive in challenging environments.

The JVP is a two-year collaboration between three independent European newsrooms and two major journalism networks: Átlátszó Erdély, Fumaça, Investigate Europe, Netzwerk Recherche, and the Reference Circle, part of Arena for Journalism in Europe.

Together we aim to support European public interest media to become financially sustainable through better monetising the value they provide to society.

The first part of the project is the most in-depth survey to-date on the state of independent public interest media in Europe, to get a clear and comprehensive understanding of the landscape. With this we aim to better understand how these media organisations are currently financed, what business models work in which context, and how funders can better support the sector.

This research builds upon Netzwerk Recherche’s The New Sector Report (2022), the work of the Institute for Nonprofit News in the US and PINF in the UK. It also tries to add up to Project Oasis’s recent report.

In order to learn about revenue streams, correlations between audience engagement and sustainability, and the value of these outlets for society and democracy, we have reached out to all European news outlet from the growing sector of nonprofit and for-profit media organisations. More than 170 have filled out an online survey, which helps us in the quest to map the European independent public interest media’s status, significance, and its key challenges.

We are currently analysing the results, and this will turn into a comprehensive report that showcases business tactics in different regional or political contexts which can be used as blueprints by everyone in the field. We will also publish an interactive map of the respondent media, and more cases can be added in the future.

Together with the podcasts and reports, that are also part of the JVP project, we hope to pinpoint the importance of independent public interest journalism for our democracies in times of rampant populism and diminishing trust in media and advocate to stakeholders like funders and politicians for more effective support schemes.

With a deeper understanding and stronger evidence of successful business models and powerful value indicators in hand, we aim to kindle a new era of resilient, thriving public interest media in Europe.

The project is co-funded by the European Commission. The research is supported by the Journalism Funders Forum.