As digital media growth begins to surpass that of print media, newspapers are becoming increasingly threatened financially. The problem is not so bad in developed countries, but in emerging markets, where print is often the only widely available news medium, the danger is compounded. To combat this, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-INFRA) has called for socially conscious investors to come forward to ensure the continued existence of newspapers in developing markets and the freedom of the publications available.
One of the problems is that many developing countries operate in a state of political turmoil. This means that not a lot of local funding is available for media, self-funding is often not viable because bank loans are too expensive, and in many cases the state funds and owns the media, which makes objective reporting impossible and media freedom a joke.
Mirjana Milosevic, the WAN-IFRA programme director who coordinates the Social Investment in Media Initiative, calls it the "capitalisation gap". She says, "We are working to address this gap and help the growth of financially healthy media outlets as one of the key conditions for the existence of a free press."
WAN-IFRA is joined in its mission by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF). Pia Hallonsten, senior policy specialist at Sida, says that a possible solution lies in public-private development partnerships. "Public-private development partnerships can generate significant added value to development projects. Sida has recognised this and is striving to strengthen the role of development partnerships with private sector."
Sasa Vucinic, MD of MDLF, says, "Impact investments in independent media provide an opportunity to invest in a sector
View the Original article
No comments:
Post a Comment