Pathways to Media Sustainability in a Broken Market: Is Independent Media a Public Good and Is Public Subsidy to Support It Realistic?

"Independent media is vital for people to access trustworthy information. In an age of misinformation, this is increasingly important yet ever-more challenging."

This paper assesses whether fresh approaches to public subsidy might provide part of a solution to funding independent media that works to support information as a public good, especially in low- and middle-income settings. Intended to prompt further research and debate, the working paper summarises and synthesises existing evidence and arguments around public interest media. It has been compiled for policymakers, media support institutions, and donors to guide them in making decisions on where to invest resources in supporting independent media.

The paper, produced by BBC Media Action, is the first of a series of briefs to support the work of Protecting Independent Media for Effective Development (PRIMED), a three-year programme led by a consortium of international and national media support organisations, including BBC Media Action. The main objective of PRIMED is to develop effective approaches to strengthening public interest media content in low-income countries.

As stated in the brief, "Viable public interest media provide an essential pillar of an informed society. Achieving it is increasingly likely to involve more active government policy that treats information as a public good and finds appropriate ways of mobilising public funds to support it." The paper outlines a set of analyses and policy options that governments who are committed to democracy might want to consider. The discussion acknowledges that this commitment does not exist in many low-income resource settings, but where it does, and where there is a democratic opening, the analysis could help guide strategies and policy action.

The paper begins by introducing the concept of information as a public good and explores why public subsidy has taken on fresh relevance and urgency in relation to the future of independent media. It goes on to examine whether, why, and how the media market is broken and briefly examines some lessons from history around public subsidy and media independence. Overall, it argues that business models capable of supporting independent media are decreasingly available, that media markets are increasingly fertile territory for government co-option, and that alternative sources of revenue for independent media are scarce.

With public subsidy, therefore, being an increasingly important option for funding, the brief provides an outline of the advantages and disadvantages of five main models of public subsidy: indirect subsidy from government (e.g., tax relief), direct subsidy from government to media, direct subsidy from publics to media through a framework guaranteed by government, flexible or transactional support to media (e.g., through government advertising), and international public subsidy from public resources.

In order to support new ideas and approaches for supporting public media, the paper also looks at how concepts of public subsidy are evolving and might further evolve. These shifts that may influence new models include, for example, those related to digitisation, the increasing prevalence of misinformation and disinformation, and the fact that political and factional manipulation of both online and offline media and communication spaces has become far easier and more prevalent.

Finally, the brief assesses what incentives already, or potentially, exist for governments in low- or middle-income countries to prioritise public support for independent media. Most notable is the fact that nearly all of the most urgent development challenges countries will be prioritising in the future (particularly climate change, conflict, and food and water security) will be almost impossible to achieve in societies characterised by information systems that do not prioritise public interest media but that are instead dominated by misinformation or government-controlled information.

The brief concludes by outlining some key factors that need to be in place before public subsidy can be considered as a potential contributor to a healthy, independent media ecosystem: "The government needs to be clearly and credibly committed to democracy and to a free and pluralistic media within that democracy. Public support for media needs to be routed through an agency or entity capable of exerting and maintaining editorial independence, or with the mandate to raise funding directly from publics. Civil society needs to have the capacity to, and interest in, scrutinising public subsidy and demanding its transparency, accountability and effectiveness. Systems and independent review structures may be needed to ensure that any early democratic commitments to a system of public subsidy are capable of withstanding subsequent shifts in government or policy." Even though it may seem politically challenging to meet these requirements, the paper stresses the need for more creative approaches to public subsidy models, more focused policy and academic debate, and increased attention to development of fresh approaches.