Lit' review & case studies

POLICY REPORT

National funds to support journalism and public interest media - By Brigitte Alfter and Anya Schiffrin (March 2023)

Please note that this is a draft and not for distribution.

This draft paper aims to fill the gap in the existing literature by providing insights into their design and allocation and offering recommendations for governments, philanthropists, and journalism organizations looking to establish new funds.

CASE STUDIES & LITERATURE

You can find examples of over 50 national funds and relevant literature in this spreadsheet. Please continue you to add to it.

We have included a summary of the case studies in the mapping spreadsheet below:

Country	Fund name	Description	Resources
Tanzania	Tanzania Media Fund/Foundation	TMF is a national level non-governmental organization (NGO), set up in 2015 to contribute to transparency and accountability through media development work. TMF emerged out of the implementation of the Tanzania Media Fund project from June 2008 to September 2015. Before the Foundation was established, from 2008 to 2015 the Fund was hosted by Hivos.	Report, authored by Sanne van den Berg From the Field: Assessing the Impact of TMF on the Tanzanian Media: A Practical Approach
Siera Leone	National Fund for Public Interest Media	In April 2022 with the support of BBC Media Action through PRIMED, a national conference brought together government, media organisations, industry leaders and other stakeholders, to explore the options and create a national action plan to strengthen public interest media in the country.	Began with the National Conference on Public Interest Media; Introduction to the Sierra Leone National Media Viability and Investment Initiative
Armenia	Endowment Fund		The Media Development Foundation Strategy Document - March 2020
Argentina	Fondo para el Desarrollo de Medios Argentinos (FOMECA)	A tool for redistributing resources from the audiovisual media (taxes and fines) to promote community, border and indigenous media.	The relevance of public policies for the sustainability of community media: Lessons from Argentina;
South Africa	Partnership: SA government grants and Universal Service and Access Agency (USAF) levies paid by broadcasters	managed by Media Development and Diversity Agency

OTHER LITERATURE

UNESCO Finding the funds for journalism to thrive: policy options to support media viability

Media Viabilitywww.unesco.org

https://impact.economist.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/breaking_news_the_economic_impact_of_covid-19_on_the_global_news_media_industry.pdfimpact.economist.com

Review of the Funding Landscape for Media Development Actors in Lebanon (Jan. 2022)

Global Forum for Media Development- MICHAEL RANDALL

This report presents how after the events that have impacted Lebanon since August 2020, donors and implementors have considered and sought new ways to support the media sector. There have been new calls for proposals that have responded to the implementors' concerns of having demand-led programmes. However, this report presents an overview of the funding landscape in Lebanon, reviews of recent calls for proposals, and conclusions, geared towards how donors can support implementers better.