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The Sustainability Imperative in Media Development: A Critical Analysis of a Self-Serving Myth

Michel Leroy

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2025), xxiv, 396 pp.

"This book critically examines how the media assistance and broader "development" sectors have appropriated the catch-all concept of sustainability, originally rooted in economic and environmental fields, to suit their agendas. Analysing 289 project evaluations conducted globally between 1999 and 20 ... more

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Reimagining Funding for Journalism: Key Takeaways from IJF 2025

Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), May 6 (2025)

"At the International Journalism Festival (IJF) in Perugia this year, journalism funding and sustainability took centre stage. International funders, media leaders, and innovators grappled with the urgent question of how to keep independent journalism not just alive—but thriving—in an era of shr ... more

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The Media Viability Manifesto: A Common Framework for Joint Action
Key Guidance

Laura Moore, Elena Köhler, Clare Cook

Bonn et al.: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie; Media Viability Manifesto Initiative (2024), 33 pp.

"The Media Viability Manifesto (MVM) provides an urgently needed common framework for joint action from the global media development community. Its aim is three-pronged: To foster conceptual clarity, to strengthen strategic collaboration between multiple stakeholders, and to align practical implemen ... more

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Manifiesto sobre la Viabilidad de los Medios de comunicación: Un marco común para la acción conjunta
Key Guidance

Laura Moore, Elena Köhler, Clare Cook

Bonn et al.: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie; Media Viability Manifesto Initiative; UNESCO IPDC (2024), 37 pp.

"El Manifiesto sobre la Viabilidad de los Medios de comunicación (MVM, por sus siglas en inglés) proporciona un marco común, urgentemente necesario, para la acción conjunta de la comunidad mundial de desarrollo de los medios. Su objetivo es triple: fomentar la claridad conceptual, reforzar la co ... more

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Manifeste sur la viabilité des médias: Un cadre commun pour une action conjointe
Key Guidance

Laura Moore, Elena Köhler, Clare Cook

Bonn et al.: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie; Media Viability Manifesto Initiative; UNESCO IPDC (2024), 37 pp.

"Le Manifeste sur la viabilité des médias (MVM) établit un cadre commun, dont le besoin est urgent, pour une action conjointe de la part de la communauté mondiale du développement des médias. Son objectif est triple : Promouvoir une vision claire, renforcer la collaboration stratégique entre ... more

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Where is the money? A global perspective on forms of funding, financing and investment for public interest media
Top Insights

Clare Cook, Ross Settles, Chris Kabwato, Hassan Abbas, Alexandre Goudineau, Janine Warner, Laura Aguirre

Copenhagen: International Media Support (IMS) (2024), 63 pp.

"Two years in the making, this report unfolds regional perspectives of new forms of funding, financing and investment for public interest media. It provides a multistakeholder reflection in four regions of the world on how public interest media can best be supported over the next decade. Through con ... more

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Press freedom under threat: Learn three ways USAID is ensuring free and independent media

Shannon Maguire

Medium; USAID (2024), 8 pp.

[...] Based on decades of evolving research, testing, and learning, USAID has expanded its understanding of the multiple intersecting threats media practitioners face - legal, physical, economic, and digital - and how necessary it is to work from many sides to build and reinforce media sectors that ... are as resilient as possible against the forces that would seek to shut them down. A major demonstration of this approach comes through USAID's Summit for Democracy commitments, a series of initiatives to address these threats and advance free and independent media. The first one is the Media Viability Accelerator (MVA), which was announced at the first Summit for Democracy in December 2021. The goal of the MVA is to preserve fact-based news and information media by providing access to the data they need to build strategies to survive, thrive, adapt, and grow as businesses. Through a public-private partnership with USAID, Microsoft, and Internews, MVA is a unique data platform using artificial intelligence and other digital tools to enable media outlets to better understand markets, audiences, and strategies that will maximize their odds of profitability. Second, USAID's $20 million contribution to the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) is helping to boost global support through grants to develop and sustain a wide range of independent news organizations. To date, IFPIM has committed nearly $9 million through 32 grants across 16 countries to media outlets in urgent need of financial assistance and to strengthen their long-term sustainability. USAID's initial seed funding has leveraged an additional $30 million from 15 governments, philanthropies, and corporate entities. The third initiative is Reporters Shield, an innovative program that helps protect investigative media outlets and civil society organizations from strategic litigation against public participation lawsuits, or other legal threats meant to silence their reporting. Prior to the launch of Reporters Shield, such help was inconsistent, ad hoc, reactive, and, often, expensive. USAID Administrator Samantha Power launched the next phase of USAID's Reporters Shield, at the United Nations Headquarters last World Press Freedom Day on May 3. Reporters Shield is now providing legal support services and capacity development for 12 media outlets and civil society organizations doing investigative reporting, with more than 100 applications still under review during the launch phase alone." (Pages 4-6) more

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The business of independent Myanmar media post-coup: Experimenting with business models inside the country and in exile

Jane Madlyn McElhone et al.

Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) (2024)

"More than three years after the coup, a significant majority of the 40 senior media executives interviewed for this report say they are still dependent, partially or fully, on grants to run their operations. While they cannot control the external factors impacting on their work, be that the conflic ... more

External Link (16)

Google Scholar (16)

WorldCat (17)

The Mediation of Sustainability: Development Goals, Social Movements, and Public Dissent

Ben Harbisher (ed.)

Lanham; Boulder; New York; London: Rowman & Littlefield (2023), 250 pp.

"This book examines the way in which SDG initiatives have been disseminated by mainstream media, in government discourse and by NGO’s, charitable organisations, and campaign groups. It questions to what extent sustainability narratives are being supported and how they are represented; how saving t ... more

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Consultation on media viability in Tunisia

Tunis: Al Khatt; Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD); Pamt2; Pencils Consulting; UNESCO (2023), 20 pp.

"[...] a roundtable on media sustainability was organised in collaboration with several stakeholders in the sector, to propose concrete policy recommendations to ensure the sustainability of media organisations. The roundtable brought together local media representatives, media development organisat ... more

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Consultation on media viability in Namibia

Windhoek: Editor's Forum of Namibia; Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD); Namibia Media Trust; UNESCO (2023), 20 pp.

External Link (15)

Consultation on media viability in Lebanon

Beirut: Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD); Maharat Foundation; Samir Kassir Foundation; UNESCO (2023), 15 pp.

External Link (19)

Google Scholar (16)

WorldCat (16)

Why collective resilience in journalism matters: A call to action in global media development

Jeannine E. Relly, Silvio Waisbord

Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, volume 11, issue 2 (2022), pp. 163-188

"The COVID-19 pandemic, global economic downturn, anti-press violence and worsening situation of labour precarity for journalists around the world have led to increased stress, trauma and burnout in the profession, which raises questions at the heart of media sustainability and approaches to media d ... more

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Media Viability: Learning Brief

Protecting Independent Media for Effective Development (PRIMED) (2022), 8 pp.

"[...] there was no single approach to measuring media viability. Deutsche Welle Akademie's (DWA) Media Viability Indicators are designed to assess viability on three levels, considering the overall economic environment (macro); the structure of the media market and potential sources of revenue (mes ... more

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Greening Africa’s News Deserts: The Search for Sustainable Local Media in Sub-Saharan Africa
Top Insights

Franz Krüger

Johannesburg: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) (2022), 38 pp.

"Among principles that should underpin policy choices are: a focus on systemic impact; particular attention on the areas where information poverty is greatest; platform-neutrality, while preferring platforms used most commonly; ongoing monitoring of developments in and around media at local levels t ... more

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Sustainability: Going Beyond the Buzzword
Top Insights

Michel Leroy

Forum Medien und Entwicklung (fome); MEDAS21 (2021), 31 pp.

"This paper aims to trace the social construct of sustainability in the context of media development and define what is to be sustained, at the level of the intervention (the process of change) or its outcome (the impact on the medium itself). It is intended for all those who are concerned, closely ... more

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Independent Media in Lebanon: An Economic Outlook

Metn: Samir Kassir Foundation (2021), 10 pp.

"Alternative media platforms in Lebanon vary in size and expenditures. Annual turnovers range between USD 15,000 to almost USD 1.1 million. Editorial costs make up the bulk of all alternative media platforms. Namely the salaries of core team members and journalists, as well as the fees paid to freel ... ancers, correspondents, and outside consultants/writers. Secondary costs include production equipment, rent, operation, equipment, legal fees, and technical feels. All interviewed independent platforms are non-profit. Almost all members of independent platforms are motivated primarily by their love of the job. Most independent platforms have relied on volunteering, either totally or partially, from their conception to their current stage. None of the platforms interviewed have a devoted person or team in charge of marketing and sales in the traditional sense of buying ads or working on partnerships. Partnerships are usually rare, approached informally, by word-of-mouth and networks, and decided up by editorial teams. All platforms have one person (full-timer or part-timer) in charge of marketing the platform’s own content on social media, but not advertising other brands on their own platforms, except The961. Almost all the platforms are unsatisfied with the current promotion model on social media. Most concerns are related to the clash between the platform’s values and the ethics and politics of social media platforms. Complaints also touched upon the fact that independent media have to invest time and money to create content, and then they have to pay social media to host it, rather than get paid by social media. Some platforms, such as Khateera, have adopted a pragmatic mindset from the start. “Our only objective is to get our message across to as wide an audience as possible,” they said. All media have agreed that good journalism costs money and generates very little, therefore other revenue streams are required to sustain it. All independent media interviewed have relied mostly on grants, except The961. Grants provide core funding and project-based funding. Both Daraj and Megaphone have also relied on volunteers but have shifted away from it. Sentiments towards grants vary. Most platforms in Lebanon have chosen donors that are not related to national, local or foreign authorities; donors that preserve their editorial integrity: i.e., no interference in editorial decisions and alignment with values and ethics. They all have a good relationship with their donors." (Findings, page 3) more

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Report: Leveraging Solutions Journalism for Revenue Growth

Solutions Journalism Network (2021), 11 pp.

"The Solutions Journalism Revenue Project (SJRP), which ran between February 2020 and February 2021, aimed to explore how a diverse range of newsrooms could leverage solutions journalism to generate revenue. Among the questions the project sought to answer were: Can reporting on responses to social ... more

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Simplifying Success: An Ecosystem Initiative for Improving the Financial Sustainability of Independent Digital News Media in Restricted Markets

Jason Lambert

Internews (2021), 24 pp.

"This report aims to progress the media development sector’s work towards the financial sustainability of independent news media. It proposes a new ecosystem-level framework for categorising media outlets, measuring their performance and making them more resilient to their obstacles in reaching an ... more

External Link (9)

Media Independence and Sustainability

Mira Milosevic

2020 November 16 Global Conference for Media Freedom (2020), 6 pp.

"Without new public funding, regulation of digital markets, and international support systems for non-profit media, independent professional journalism is in danger of becoming an expensive luxury rather than a universal public good. The press freedom and media development communities have joined jo ... more

The Media Viability Manifesto: A Common Framework for Joint Action Key Guidance

Manifiesto sobre la Viabilidad de los Medios de comunicación: Un marco común para la acción conjunta Key Guidance

Manifeste sur la viabilité des médias: Un cadre commun pour une action conjointe Key Guidance

Where is the money? A global perspective on forms of funding, financing and investment for public interest media Top Insights

Greening Africa’s News Deserts: The Search for Sustainable Local Media in Sub-Saharan Africa Top Insights

Sustainability: Going Beyond the Buzzword Top Insights

The Media Viability Manifesto: A Common Framework for Joint Action
Key Guidance

Manifiesto sobre la Viabilidad de los Medios de comunicación: Un marco común para la acción conjunta
Key Guidance

Manifeste sur la viabilité des médias: Un cadre commun pour une action conjointe
Key Guidance

Where is the money? A global perspective on forms of funding, financing and investment for public interest media
Top Insights

Greening Africa’s News Deserts: The Search for Sustainable Local Media in Sub-Saharan Africa
Top Insights

Sustainability: Going Beyond the Buzzword
Top Insights