Database: consultations on media viability

National consultations were organised in 2021, in order to understand, from a practitioner’s point of view, how preserving media viability is considered in ten different countries: Brazil, El Salvador, Indonesia, Jamaica, Lebanon, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal and Tunisia.

In each country, a varied group of stakeholders from the media sector discussed the challenges and solutions regarding media viability for independent media outlets.

Each national consultation was conducted on the basis of the following approach:

• FPU summarised conclusions from research by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on key indicators in the country.
• Discussion: are these findings correct and actual (still valid) according to you? Is any essential information missing about the media landscape?
• Discussion: what are the challenges to media viability?
• Discussion: what would be possible solutions to improve media viability?
• Discussion: what needs to change with regard to the enabling environment (legal, political, social, economic, technical) for these solutions to be effective and sustainable?

The consultations have been described in-depth in the following report: National consultations on solutions to promote media viability while preserving media independence .

Challenges and Solutions for Media Viability

Challenge/ solution	Issue	Input	Country
Challenge	Ownership	Wealth concentration creates monopolies in society, including by the big media outlets of the country.	Brazil
Challenge	Government	Main problem lies with the corrupt, lobby based relationship between the present government and the oligarchic media environment.	Brazil
Challenge	Business models	Not much awareness of sustainability models, or accessibility to funds.	Brazil
Solution	Government	Regulation of the media, with public policies for financing, and surpassing publicity based financial sources.	Brazil
Solution	Government	Set up both a regulatory media body where rules are followed and a compilation of the regulatory instruments.	Brazil
Solution	Government	Develop more local(ised) media outlets which are supported by local governments.	Brazil
Solution	Learning	Promote learning of best practices on sustainability, from media outlets that are independent (such as Nexo Journal)	Brazil
Solution	Ownership	Ensure transparency in media outlets	Brazil
Solution	Ownership	Commercialise the media to address the issue of wealth concentration. Additionally, the wealth concentration should be diversified.	Brazil
Challenge	Government	Change in the relationship between the press and state apparatus when President Nayib Bukele took office in 2019. Co-optation or domination of state channels by the current administration.	El Salvador
Challenge	Government	During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state never carried out a policy of stimulus for the communications or journalism sector.	El Salvador
Challenge	Access to Information	Journalists not affiliated with state media lack access to public information and credible/quotable sources within the government.	El Salvador
Challenge	Government	Current judicial system is in danger of losing its independence which makes the journalists’ job as watchdogs of the State harder.	El Salvador
Challenge	Advertising	Vast majority of media outlets depend on state advertising.	El Salvador
Challenge	Tech platforms	Large corporations are investing in large social network companies, instead of national media and local media, leaving them with fewer resources.	El Salvador
Challenge	Retention of journalists	Non-state media groups were unable to retain their best journalists when the government, sought to bring them into the state apparatus and diminish the investigative press by offering salaries that practically doubled and sometimes tripled the salaries they had in independent media.	El Salvador
Solution	Engage audiences	Digital portals that seek to break media control should try to reach more sectors of the population in order to enjoy popular roots.	El Salvador
Challenge	Engage audiences	Media receive little support from the public when they are attacked because they have not created a link.	El Salvador
Solution	Engage audiences	Sources that are discredited by the President should seek public support, which could help in retaining their status and credibility as watchdogs.	El Salvador
Solution	Formats	Turn to more attractive and shorter formats to attract the interest of the audience, who are looking mostly for audiovisuals.	El Salvador
Solution	Learning	Reform journalism schools to create a generation who believe in the principles of ethics and freedom of the press.	El Salvador
Solution	Learning	Strengthen a training centre on minimising risks, with high standards	El Salvador
Solution	Engage audiences	Strengthen community media close to large social sectors so that they can contribute to guaranteeing the defence of press freedom.	El Salvador
Solution	Access to Information	Create or improve an independent functioning Institute of Public Information that is accessible for all journalists	El Salvador
Challenge	Tech platforms	Most ad revenue goes to big tech companies. More advertising money is flowing towards platforms like Instagram and to online influencers (so-called ‘celebgrams’).	Indonesia
Challenge	Advertising	There is a lack of data of local government spending on advertising.	Indonesia
Challenge	Advertising	The advertising market is controlled by large media companies and is concentrated in the large cities. There is no equal access to the advertising market for local media.	Indonesia
Challenge	Covid-19	The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the income of 80% of surveyed journalists.	Indonesia
Challenge	Government	The government likes to work with influencers rather than media outlets due their reach and less critical approach.	Indonesia
Challenge	Ownership	Concentration of ownership creates problems in terms of diversity of content and diversity of voices.	Indonesia
Challenge	Diversity	There is no obligation for broadcasters to secure the diversity of content from various, regional outlets. Licensing has been eliminated.	Indonesia
Challenge	Ownership	Current regulation cannot address cross ownership. Administratively, it is difficult to verify ownership.	Indonesia
Challenge	Government	Lack of enforcement of existing law and regulations and poor monitoring of compliance of current regulations	Indonesia
Challenge	Ownership	Some of the owners of big companies are also politicians and influential people in society and in government.	Indonesia
Challenge	Government	Local government budgets sometimes have funds available to local media, but this is being used in ways that affects media independence. The budget is used to control the media and many media outlets and journalists make news that serve the government.	Indonesia
Solution	Digital technology	According to the Digital News Report 2021, Internet penetration has reached 71%. This creates potential in the use of media and technology, as more people have more access to media and information.	Indonesia
Solution	Learning	Focus on education and training to better serve audiences with quality content without sacrificing journalist principles and ethics	Indonesia
Solution	Diversity	Focus on inclusive journalism training.	Indonesia
Solution	Engage audiences	Explore new platforms and engage audiences	Indonesia
Solution	Learning	Invest in a learning and knowledge center that collects knowledge from across the globe on how media can survive financially and as a business	Indonesia
Solution	Business models	Explore the possibility of the public participating in models to finance media companies; ask the public to become more involved in funding quality media content.	Indonesia
Solution	Engage audiences	Media, academics, digital literacy activists and audiences should collaborate to invest in and increase digital literacy and media trust; audiences should feel the need for quality media.	Indonesia
Solution	Tech platforms	Set up a dialogue with the digital giants such us YouTube, Google, Facebook to achieve fair profit sharing with media companies.	Indonesia
Solution	Ownership	Ensure revision of the competition rules and merger controls in the Broadcasting law; regulation should be integrative, not overlapping, and should be adaptive to technological change.	Indonesia
Challenge	Safety	Different forms of self-censorship exist. When reporters want to report on crime or corruption, their safety is a major concern.	Jamaica
Challenge	Safety	One of the things lacking is protection for journalists against physical harm in doing investigative pieces.	Jamaica
Challenge	Tech platforms	Digicel as a major player is important. Big Tech companies are taking over everyone’s media.	Jamaica
Challenge	Advertising	Smaller media outlets in particular are facing the challenge of a declining advertising revenue.	Jamaica
Challenge	Retention of journalists	There is a trend that youngsters start working, but they do not necessarily remain. Retention in the newsroom, particularly of young journalists, is a problem.	Jamaica
Challenge	Retention of journalists	Students will study journalism and then they will graduate and say they do not want to work in the newsroom because the salaries are not attractive.	Jamaica
Challenge	Retention of journalists	Older media workers do not want to learn as they feel they are not going to be good at multimedia journalism, so they also end up exiting.	Jamaica
Challenge	Engage audiences	The trust deficit in institutions, including media, needs to be addressed. People seem to be valuing journalistic news no differently than other sources such as information circulated on social media.	Jamaica
Solution	Capitalisation	Some kind of incentive or starter programme to help journalists with venture capital should be set up.	Jamaica
Solution	Learning	Give journalists some business management training.	Jamaica
Solution	Formats	Place more of an emphasis on documentary making for journalists, and those working in the creative arts sector. There is a lot of room for development and improvement in this area.	Jamaica
Challenge	Covid-19	There were no government interventions or allowances or tax relief for media companies during the pandemic.	Jamaica
Solution	Covid-19	Some sort of furlough would be appreciated - leave whereby 70-80% of basic pay that is met through some scheme – to include journalists, so that they do not lose their job.	Jamaica
Solution	Formats	Teach journalists how to make podcasts, because that is one of the ways they can also use their skills to be able to do something different.	Jamaica
Solution	Digital technology	There should be a more seamless integration of traditionally separate platforms.	Jamaica
Solution	Capitalisation	Consolidation is needed, media houses should get themselves in order and join forces to get a listing (maybe 2 or 3 together), and then go after the capitalisation and keep the doors open.	Jamaica
Solution	Advertising	Cease dependence on government advertising because independence will enable criticism of the government, without risking a cut in advertising revenue.	Jamaica
Solution	Business models	As a media market, Jamaica has been able to sustain some very popular entertainment shows by selling it to the diaspora.	Jamaica
Challenge	Ownership	No transparency on media ownership and funding, including direct foreign funding.	Lebanon
Challenge	Ownership	Financial sustainability is one of main reasons that owners of business, but also of the media, ally with politics. The strong intersection between business and authority affects media seeking editorial independence.	Lebanon
Challenge	Government	Legal preconditions are problematic for the media. You cannot speak about media viability without speaking about access to information and freedom of expression first.	Lebanon
Challenge	Advertising	Advertisement and incentives for media are generally unavailable for media with an independent editorial team.	Lebanon
Challenge	Capitalisation	Media cannot survive on the Lebanese currency, but needs foreign currency to retain its operations.	Lebanon
Challenge	Retention of journalists	Many talented journalists have left the country to countries in the region where they have more job security and income.	Lebanon
Challenge	Business models	The majority of the Lebanese do not have access to a bank account and cannot pay or donate online. The collapsed banking system implies that many media viability models based on a functioning digital market do not work in Lebanon.	Lebanon
Challenge	Business models	Traditional media are starting to implement rights-based business models that were previously used by more alternative media to receive donor funding.	Lebanon
Challenge	Engage audiences	Traditional and new media are both struggling with outreach: how to understand the audiences and how to reach the right audiences.	Lebanon
Challenge	Government	A legal structure to enable media start-ups and support new media operations is non-existent. This means they have to find external ways for funding, e.g. through NGOs, civic companies etc.	Lebanon
Challenge	Tech platforms	Building relations with big tech is time-consuming and challenging. They are ready to engage on the surface, but little cooperative in practice.	Lebanon
Challenge	Engage audiences	Big tech algorithms are problematic because the audience is increasingly consuming its news through social media.	Lebanon
Solution	Advertising	Focus on advertisement in the region, and at the international level, to expand editorial independence.	Lebanon
Solution	Engage audiences	Partnerships between traditional media and alternative media could be beneficial to both to bring the message to the audiences.	Lebanon
Solution	Media support	International support and funding is critical. Supporting traditional media without code of ethics or professional journalism standards is a waste of money and decreases the audience’s trust in the media.	Lebanon
Solution	Engage audiences	Small media initiatives, such as citizen journalism platforms, which are very locally based and they have strong engagement with the local community, reflecting their voices.	Lebanon
Solution	Media support	Capacity support is required to encourage the potential of new and alternative media.	Lebanon
Solution	Advertising	Online advertisement creates new possibilities. The downside is that for smaller media, the revenues are still insufficient and not sustainable.	Lebanon
Solution	Business models	The diaspora can support quality journalism. They can subscribe, pay, and we should consider them when it comes to funding, donations and subscriptions. Lessons-learned from diaspora supporting media in other parts of the world should be studied.	Lebanon
Solution	Business models	Media could focus on production and services for the international market to generate an alternative source of income. For example, production of video content and documentaries, training, translations, designing etc.	Lebanon
Solution	Tech platforms	Support and acknowledgement from big tech is needed.	Lebanon
Solution	Tech platforms	Fact checking initiatives from big tech companies could work very well with local media.	Lebanon
Solution	Tech platforms	The sector needs to continue engaging with social media platforms, not only about funding, but about reach and the impact of algorithms.	Lebanon
Challenge	Government	Freedom of Expression is guaranteed by the constitution. But some politicians do not respect this, and the private sector has much influence through the power of advertising. There is self-censorship, and discouragement to communicate about LGBTI communities.	Namibia
Challenge	Advertising	Oversupply of media outlets without a corresponding supply of advertising revenue. The media market has become very fragmented, splitting advertising revenues across a wide range of media outlets.	Namibia
Challenge	Advertising	Traditional media houses have seen their dual markets business model erode as more audiences access content for free online. Advertisers have redirected their budgets to digital advertising.	Namibia
Challenge	Advertising	People are accustomed to free content. People will resist paywalls. Advertisers go to Facebook, Twitter.	Namibia
Challenge	Capitalisation	It is a challenge for media organisations to grow and get listed on the stock exchange	Namibia
Solution	Business models	Innovative business models. Example of Windhoek Observer: since COVID-19 they went from print to e-paper (distributed via WhatsApp) and they use audience data to approach advertisers.	Namibia
Solution	Media support	Rise in donor-driven journalism with focus on corruption, e.g. by OSF.	Namibia
Solution	Covid-19	Invest in COVID-19 relief funds to save some media organisations, but make sure to maintain editorial independence.	Namibia
Solution	Digital technology	Continue increase of internet access with new infrastructure.	Namibia
Challenge	Formats	The challenge for print media is to figure out how to keep newspapers interesting for their readership because all information is available online as well.	Nigeria
Challenge	Formats	A lot of print media use their online presence to replicate the content that they have printed, rather than explore the ways in which online presence can allow for content that is not printed.	Nigeria
Challenge	Digital technology	A lot of media platforms that try to go online lose a lot of credibility because of the competition to keep up with the blogs.	Nigeria
Challenge	Retention of journalists	Newspapers are downsizing and the ones that do not downsize are barely surviving. Quite a number of journalists have lost their jobs in the past two to three years.	Nigeria
Challenge	Retention of journalists	Really good journalists would like to earn a salary that is almost at par with what they would earn internationally, yet local media cannot afford this.	Nigeria
Challenge	Learning	Media organisations are not investing in training. Some journalists are not trainable or not willing to follow training, but the vast majority are very keen.	Nigeria
Challenge	Advertising	The political structure interferes with the economy. Not being in the good books with the government might have an impact on getting advertising from private individuals.	Nigeria
Solution	Learning	Media outlets need to develop management to understand business: keeping records and using proper auditors. Being a decent journalist does not automatically mean being a decent businessperson.	Nigeria
Solution	Media support	A business model cannot solely be built around donor funding. At the end of the funding period, the media outlet needs to be stronger and ensure that funding is never the only stream of income.	Nigeria
Solution	Learning	Connect local media to international media, through twinning. This partnership could help with skills exchange which would help to make a business viable.	Nigeria
Solution	Media support	Media outlets need the support of organisations which understand the importance of journalism and its added value to development and democracy.	Nigeria
Solution	Engage audiences	Local media have a responsibility to repair the trust of their audiences that has been lost, but which needs to be earned back and retained.	Nigeria
Solution	Learning	If media professionals become more professional, what they are selling is credibility - and people will pay for credibility.	Nigeria
Solution	Safety	Safety is crucial. This can be achieved when there are stronger collaborations and stronger networks, because it will enable media outlets to better protect themselves.	Nigeria
Solution	Safety	Media organisations cannot be asked to function if the Nigerian government is not a safe space for them to operate within. The media needs to be able to operate without fear, which includes the fear of losing important investors.	Nigeria
Challenge	Government	A Digital Media Policy has been under discussion for the last 3- 4 years, but nothing substantial has been achieved yet.	Pakistan
Challenge	Advertising	Digital media are not able to receive the same types of government funding and advertising.	Pakistan
Challenge	Government	Digital media are not protected against (government) pressure to remove content.	Pakistan
Challenge	Tech platforms	Many types of services from Facebook, which media internationally are using, are not accessible in Pakistan. Most importantly: monetisation.	Pakistan
Challenge	Tech platforms	Social media algorithms disadvantage local media. Facebook and Google algorithms prioritise international media and deprioritse local media.	Pakistan
Challenge	Digital technology	Legacy media are not efficient with online content.	Pakistan
Challenge	Copyright	In practice, copyright protections are not respected nor enforced enough.	Pakistan
Challenge	Advertising	With advertising budgets increasingly shifting to online media, competition from international media organisations as well as social media companies is increasing.	Pakistan
Challenge	Government	The media has become more and more dependent on government advertising. It has been documented that the government uses its advertising budget to influence content by media organisations.	Pakistan
Challenge	Ownership	The law allows for more ownership concentration than should be possible. Higher audience concentrations in fewer hands lead to a greater likelihood of content manipulation and pressure to make compromises on content.	Pakistan
Challenge	Government	Media viability is hindered by costly regulations, which in recent years have resulted in an increase in the frequency for licence renewals as well as steeper licence fees.	Pakistan
Solution	Learning	If legacy media and digital-only media cooperate more, with legacy media learning from newer media outlets and adjusting their practices, then digital media in Pakistan can become more efficient and fund more journalism with the same income.	Pakistan
Solution	Learning	Cooperating with Indian digital media organisations and learning from best practices in the Indian market. Indian digital media platforms are currently more effective and offer (payment) options that do not exist in the Pakistani digital media market.	Pakistan
Solution	Tech platforms	There should be an opportunity to discuss grievances constructively to see if digital media organisations and the platforms can jointly tackle the issues facing the digital media landscape in Pakistan.	Pakistan
Solution	Tech platforms	The algorithm of Facebook and Google should give particular priority to local and national news content.	Pakistan
Solution	Advertising	Government advertising policy: there should be a clear, neutral and transparent allocation mechanism for government advertising. This should include a percentage towards local media as they are most vulnerable and dependent on government advertising.	Pakistan
Solution	Advertising	Private companies should reserve a percentage of their advertising budget for local media outlets. To achieve this, local media might need to cooperate and proactively reach out to these companies with a broad offering of local media to advertise in simultaneously.	Pakistan
Solution	Media support	Media development organisations make a positive impact and will remain necessary for the foreseeable future to ensure the existence of independent (local) news outlets. This is part of the media viability strategy for (local) online media outlets.	Pakistan
Challenge	Business models	Current economic model is not sufficient for the existence of these media, and the revenues received are not in accordance with the needs of the sector.	Senegal
Solution	Business models	Media outlets need a business focus to survive. There needs to be cooperation with journalists who own outlets and individuals who are finance-savvy.	Senegal
Challenge	Ownership	Concentration of some media outlets is posing a problem for the media landscape in Senegal.	Senegal
Challenge	Ownership	A lot of media outlets exist for the sole purpose of business and interests, such as politics.	Senegal
Solution	Government	Ensure execution of the legal framework: at the moment, the legal framework gives space for independent media, but existing laws are barely applied.	Senegal
Solution	Advertising	Advertisement to state-owned media needs to be limited and the private media needs more space to receive an income through advertisement.	Senegal
Solution	Government	Create a new press institution that is more responsible with regard to the press code.	Senegal
Solution	Learning	Media professionals need the support of administrative people, and finance/affairs experts.	Senegal
Solution	Tech platforms	Tax the big corporations such as Google and Facebook	Senegal
Solution	Advertising	Advertising needs to be tied to strict criteria in order not to ruin editorial independence	Senegal
Challenge	Government	Since the 2011 Revolution, despite some legal and constitutional changes, the government has had no clear vision on the development of media, the importance of media as a democratic good.	Tunisia
Challenge	Government	Absence of a strong legal framework for independent media	Tunisia
Challenge	Advertising	Lack of understanding on the advertisement market in Tunisia, and very limited investment in it.	Tunisia
Challenge	Tech platforms	The advertisement market was gradually taken over by big tech companies, such as Google, Facebook and Amazon.	Tunisia
Challenge	Covid-19	Some newspapers have stopped their printed versions over the years. The economic situation and COVID-19 affected journalists and their work.	Tunisia
Challenge	Digital technology	Digitalisation and the influence of big tech influence is a hurdle for traditional media, who continue to count on the traditional market.	Tunisia
Challenge	Digital technology	Often the online platforms work with few journalists, there is much copy/paste, the journalistic principles are not adhered to, and the quality is not monitored.	Tunisia
Challenge	Tech platforms	Media cannot easily engage with the Internet giants, who now control the online advertisement market. Tunisia is also not a country that can negotiate the online advertisement market driven by big tech to be more fairly distributed.	Tunisia
Solution	Engage audiences	The digitalisation and dominance of big tech has drastically changed the media landscape and advertisement market, but also opened new ways of engaging with audiences.	Tunisia
Solution	Engage audiences	Encourage participation of consumers in the media to foster their engagement.	Tunisia
Solution	Government	Foster media advocacy to help authorities understand that media plays an essential role in supporting the democratic processes and guarantee diversity, pluralism, independence and participation.	Tunisia
Solution	Formats	The media need to respond to that by understanding how to diversify its products using graphics, text, videos, podcasts etc. However, a problem currently is that there are limited studies on audience consumption and behavior, and much of that is needed.	Tunisia
Solution	Engage audiences	Create a kind of loyalty with the consumer to establish a media that the audience trusts, likes and wants to be involved with, and ultimately, will want to finance.	Tunisia
Solution	Media support	Fund journalists and media operations that are ready for transition, who have a plan and who are principally strong on diversification, deepening and engaging, and who can be supported to create their own sustainable media.	Tunisia
Solution	Learning	Support traditional media by bringing in the know-how of new media and its business models.	Tunisia
Solution	Government	State reforms in relation to media, guaranteeing the editorial independence of media, and focusing on proximity media to ensure true media viability and further diversification of the media.	Tunisia