The Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) is proud to offer its members a range of exclusive benefits and services that enhance their ability to advance independent media and trusted journalism worldwide. By joining GFMD, you gain access to tools, platforms, and networks that amplify your impact.
| 4. June 2025
Here’s what GFMD membership includes:
Trust.txt is an initiative designed to help publishers demonstrate their association with other reputable news organisations, fostering trust within the digital media landscape. Managed by the non-profit JournalList, which is owned and operated by its members, trust.txt was created by former journalist Scott Yates. It serves as a tool for digital entities to acknowledge mutually trusted communities, particularly focusing on news publishers.
The main goal of trust.txt is to help distinguish legitimate news organisations from illegitimate ones, which is increasingly important for automated systems like programmatic advertising and web crawlers that cannot easily differentiate between real and fake news. By providing a machine-readable file containing an organisation’s relationships, social media links, and contact details, trust.txt supports this process.
All members of GFMD are automatically included in GFMD’s ‘circle of trust’ and will soon receive their trust.txt files with instructions on how to use them. GFMD members are welcome to contact us if they would like their own trust.txt code for embedding directly into their website. This ensures your credibility is clearly signalled across digital platforms.
Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) is expanding its provision of free legal support to independent media through the ‘Legal Service for Independent Media’ (LSIM) initiative. This global service allows newsrooms to request advice or guidance on legal issues arising from their daily operations, helping them mitigate vulnerabilities and protect themselves from future legal attacks by states or private entities. LSIM draws on TRF’s global pro bono legal network, TrustLaw, which includes over 120,000 volunteer lawyers offering their expertise and support free of charge.
The LSIM service provides a range of support, including assisting with the registration process to expand to new jurisdictions or respond to a hostile media environment, reviewing data protection and Intellectual Property policies to prevent regulatory issues or SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), and examining employment contracts for compliance with legal requirements. Additionally, LSIM offers structuring advice to help newsrooms maximise their financial sustainability through diverse revenue sources. TRF also publishes a variety of legal tools and resources to assist journalists and newsrooms globally, covering topics such as defamation, media freedom laws, and reporting on protests.
As a member of GFMD, your organisation will be able to access TrustLaw’s pro bono legal service. For individual journalists, including freelancers, LSIM offers legal support through referrals to the Legal Network for Journalists at Risk (LNJAR), which provides access to a network of 18 media-focused organisations offering legal support and representation. Legal training is also available, depending on funding. To learn more or access TRF’s legal services, please contact the LSIM team via email here.
FT Strategies, supported by the Google News Initiative (GNI), is offering free strategic consultations to its valued partners. These consultations, available in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, are part of the News Sustainability Project launched by GNI and FT Strategies, the consulting arm of the Financial Times. The project aims to gain a deeper understanding of publisher sustainability worldwide, collecting and anonymising detailed financial and survey data from over 450 publishers.
Based on this work, GNI and FT Strategies have developed a comprehensive sustainability diagnostic tool, along with health checks on specific topics such as subscriptions, AI & tech readiness, and business strategy for emerging news organisations. While this tool is available for free to all publishers, GNI is funding a series of additional strategy consultations for those interested. These consultations allow publishers to discuss the report and receive tailored in-depth advice.
To claim a free consultation, simply fill out the short sign-up form here. Participating news organisations will receive:
- A tailored report with a ‘sustainability readiness score’ and benchmarks, based on their responses to the diagnostic or health check.
- A 1-hour consultation with the FT Strategies team to discuss the report and your organisation’s wider strategic context.
- A detailed follow-up email with key recommendations based on insights from the consultation.
Once you complete the diagnostic/health check and claim your consultation, FT Strategies will reach out to arrange the session. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the FT Strategies team here.
Igloo 2.0 is a pro-bono digital security initiative by Qurium Media Foundation that supports investigative journalists, independent media outlets, and human rights organisations operating in internet-repressive regimes. The programme offers holistic and tailored security solutions to organisations at risk, including attack- and block-resilient website hosting via Virtualroad.org, digital forensic support for ongoing investigations, mentorship in digital security, and in-depth analysis of targeted digital attacks. Support is available in English, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian.
The programme prioritises small to medium-sized newsrooms that have experienced digital attacks or are at high risk due to their reporting or country context. While global in scope, organisations based in Western Europe and North America are not eligible. Although media development organisations are not the primary target, smaller ones may be considered on a case-by-case basis. Larger media development organisations can also play a key role as referral partners, helping share the opportunity with eligible media outlets in their networks.
Since 2019, the Igloo program has run in three phases and supported 60 at-risk organisations. This fourth phase offers another 15 organisations the opportunity to participate. More information on how to apply is available here.
Please note that this programme extends into the first quarter of 2026 but continuation after this date will depend on further funding.
Reporters Shield is a global initiative designed to provide legal protection to media outlets and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that report in the public interest. This includes NGOs focused on human rights, environmental, and labour rights, as well as investigative journalism platforms. The programme offers institutional membership (not individual), although individual journalists may be covered if legal threats arise from content published by a member organisation. Both non-profit and for-profit media organisations can join, provided they meet criteria such as transparent ownership, editorial independence, and clear separation of opinion from news reporting.
The initiative provides three tiers of legal support:
Membership fees are based on the individual organisation’s risk profile, including factors like location, publication volume, and legal history. Reporters Shield can work alongside existing media insurance to enhance protection and reduce premiums. Members may retain their own lawyers if approved by the programme, and membership confidentiality is respected upon request. Coverage is available in most jurisdictions worldwide, with exceptions in countries where judicial independence is lacking, and is available in Arabic, English, French, and Spanish.
For more information or to apply, visit Reporters Shield’s website or contact their team directly.
The Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) is a global standard designed to promote trustworthy journalism and strengthen transparency, editorial independence, and accountability in the media sector. Developed as an ISO-type standard by Reporters Without Borders and over 130 global experts, the JTI provides media outlets with a structured path to demonstrate and improve the credibility of their journalistic practices. It was created to counter disinformation and manipulative content that compete directly with professional journalism, resulting in declining audience trust and media revenue.
The JTI process includes three steps:
Media organisations that complete the process gain tangible benefits, including improved audience trust, visibility in digital algorithms, appeal to advertisers, and eligibility for donor support and regulatory benefits. The JTI does not assess individual content but focuses on the organisational practices behind journalism. This makes it a powerful tool for reinforcing integrity across the news ecosystem.
Interested organisations can begin with the JTI self-assessment tool or contact the team at jti@rsf.org. Learn more at journalismtrustinitiative.org.