The Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a further blow to the media sector, already ailing, slashing revenues and causing job losses in media outlets worldwide. As the world of media continues to grapple with this ongoing crisis, what initiatives are being developed to help chart a sustainable future for journalism and media around the world?
EUROPEAN COMMISSION CALL FOR PROSAL: MEDIA OWNERSHIP MONITOR
Deadline: 09/02/2021
Grant The European Commission is launching a Call for proposals for the Pilot Project “Media ownership monitor”. The Media Ownership Monitor project will create a tool to better inform policy and regulatory interventions that support media freedom and pluralism, by clearly delineating where ownership lies, making potential issues more visible and thereby helping to improve the understanding of the media market. Concretely, the Monitor will provide a country-based database containing information on media ownership, assess systematically relevant legal frameworks and identify possible risks to media ownership transparency.
GFMD HIGHLIGHTS SUSTAINABILITY AT WORLD PRESS FREEDOM CONFERENCE 2020
This year’s virtual World Press Freedom Conference (WPFC) is taking place online from 9-10 December 2020, and GFMD is taking a front-and-center role in ensuring that journalism and news sustainability is on the agenda.
PRESS RELEASE: GFMD RESPONSE TO EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY ACTION PLAN (EDAP)
GFMD welcomes the European Democracy Action Plan (EDAP) as an important step in recognising the challenges faced by the media and journalism landscape and the deterioration of pluralistic media environments, particularly in light of COVID-19.
APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR MEDIAFUTURES SUPPORT
Deadline: 28/01/2021
Grant Are you a startup from the media field, working with data? Are you willing to make data exploration both entertaining and informative? Do you question the impact of data and technology on individuals and society? The MediaFutures support programme is looking for startups eager to reshape the media value chain through innovative, inclusive and participatory applications of data and user-generated content.
HOW TO MINIMISE THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON YOUR MEDIA BUSINESS – EIGHT MONTHS INTO THE CRISIS
Eight months into the COVID-19 crisis, MDIF are offering a set of recommendations to help mitigate the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on media businesses.
OPEN CALLS: NEW STANDARDS IN GRANT MAKING
Over the past few years, funders in the open source tech sector have been hosting open calls for projects, providing innovators with opportunities to bring projects to the funders, rather than dictating the needs on the ground. This GFMD blog offers examples of these open calls and outlines how they work.
LAUNCH OF FORUM ON INFORMATION AND DEMOCRACY WORKING GROUP ON SUSTAINABILITY OF JOURNALISM
On November 24, the Forum on Information & Democracy launched a working group on sustainability of journalism which will seek recommendations from media stakeholders, academics, and jurists on how to improve the sustainability of quality journalism.
DC-SUSTAINABILITY LAUNCHES INAUGURAL ANNUAL REPORT
The IGF Dynamic Coalition on the Sustainability of Journalism and News Media (DC-Sustainability) has launched its inaugural annual report, which features case studies and analyses that examine the intersections among journalism and news media sustainability, Internet governance, and digital policy.
CALL FOR PROPOSAL: MEDIA FREEDOM AND INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Deadline: 20/01/2021
Grant The European Commission (EC) has launched a call for proposals for Media Freedom and Investigative Journalism. This Call combines three references in the European Parliament’s budgetary remarks for 2020: Action 1 – Pilot Project: A Europe-wide response mechanism for violations of press and media freedom. Action 2 – Preparatory Action: Cross-border investigative journalism fund. Action 3 – Pilot Project: Supporting investigative journalism and media freedom in the EU.
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FROM MEDIA IN ETHIOPIA
Deadline: 22/11/2020
Grant BBC Media Action and Media Development Investment Fund are inviting applications from public interest media organisations in Ethiopia that are committed to providing credible, independent news, information and debate to apply for capacity building support that will run from January 2021 to June 2023.
GFMD AND DC-SUSTAINABILITY AT THE 15TH INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM
Beginning next week, GFMD and the DC-Sustainability will participate in the 15th Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which will be held virtually from 3-17 November. On 5 November, the DC-Sustainability will host its annual session at the IGF and also host the official launch of its first annual action plan.
UNITED NATIONS DEMOCRACY FUND PROJECT PROPOSAL GUIDELINES 15TH ROUND OF FUNDING
Deadline: 01/12/2020
Grant UNDEF supports projects that strengthen the voice of civil society, promote human rights, and encourage the participation of all groups in democratic processes. In this Round, UNDEF particularly welcomes projects that address challenges to civic space and democracy as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
OSCE: CALL FOR PROPOSAL FOR IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Deadline: 31/10/2020
Grant The aim of the #SAIFE project is to develop policy recommendations on the most effective ways to safeguard freedom of expression and media pluralism, when deploying AI. Funded initiatives must support RFoM’s #SAIFE project on the impact of AI on freedom of expression, as well as the overall mandate to safeguard media freedom and freedom of expression across the 57 OSCE participating States.
USAID’S BMAP 3RD MEDIA INNOVATION LAB: REPORTING ETHICALLY DURING A PANDEMIC
Deadline: 09/11/2020
Grant The Media Innovation Lab will gather lead experts in the field and provide different perspectives, teach new skills, and inspire participants to tackle new challenges! On the last day, participants will present their projects to a jury for a chance to receive seed funding of up to $5,000 USD to further develop their prototypes and ideas after the event into full-fledged tools and projects that can be rolled out for use by media across the region.
THE MCGRAW FELLOWSHIP FOR BUSINESS JOURNALISM
Deadline: 15/01/2021
Grant The McGraw Fellowship provides editorial and financial support to journalists who need the time and resources to produce a significant investigative or enterprise story that provides fresh insight into an important business, financial or economic topic. They accept applications for in-depth text, video or audio pieces, and they encourage proposals that take advantage of more than one storytelling form to create a multimedia package.
FUND TO SUPPORT LEBANON’S NEWS INDUSTRY
The Facebook Journalism Project, in collaboration with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), has announced that it will invest $300,000 in a new program that aims to support the stabilisation and recovery needs of journalists and news organisations in Lebanon affected by the tragic explosion in Beirut on August 4.
GFMD MEMBERS’ CAPACITY TO ADMINISTER EMERGENCY GRANTS: SURVEY RESULTS
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the media industry, GFMD designed and distributed a survey aiming to gather concrete information about our member organisations’ capacity to administer grant and sub-granting mechanisms to journalism and media organisations.
DW-AKADEMIE DEVELOP MEDIA VIABILITY INDICATORS
Now, more than ever, a clear understanding is needed of how news media outlets can stay – or become – viable. To aid this, DW Akademie has developed a new set of Media Viability Indicators to allow media managers, media development experts, donors, and academics to gather data and evidence of viability by evaluating individual media outlets or entire information ecosystems.
JOINT EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR JOURNALISM AND MEDIA SUPPORT
To mark World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) 2020, GFMD, the International Civil Society Organization on the Safety of Journalists Coalition, and numerous GFMD members, partners, and affiliate networks have launched an emergency appeal for support for journalism organisations and independent media in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.