The Poten­tial of Upheaval

Digi­ta­li­sa­tion is shaping the media land­scape, chal­len­ging it, and in some respects has also disrupted it. It is chan­ging the way jour­na­lists work and has brought a host of new compe­ti­tors into the world of infor­ma­tion. Above all, howe­ver, it has disrupted the conven­tio­nal funding models and subse­quently drag­ged down nume­rous maga­zi­nes and news­pa­pers, as well as the prin­ting indus­try that depends on them (see p. 38). But there are still media compa­nies making good money today – even if they no longer invest it in jour­na­lism. This brings us to the real ques­tion: who should be paying for jour­na­lism in the future? And why?

A key compo­nent of the demo­cra­tic order

Why? Jour­na­lism is the fourth estate of society. It is the life­b­lood of demo­cracy. Jour­na­lists provide infor­ma­tion during refe­ren­dums and elec­tions; they unco­ver and inves­ti­gate, and build a shared base of infor­ma­tion that people use to form their opini­ons. This system is based on the assump­tion that people want to live in a demo­cra­tic society. Howe­ver, this is now being called into ques­tion: follo­wing the elec­tion in the United States and the deve­lo­p­ments in many of our neigh­bou­ring Euro­pean count­ries, it is clear that we can no longer assume there is a consen­sus on this matter. Right-wing popu­list move­ments are chal­len­ging our cultu­rally evol­ved demo­cra­tic struc­tures. The forces working to streng­then demo­cracy cannot limit them­sel­ves to simply high­light­ing what a func­tio­ning demo­cracy needs. As the fourth estate, jour­na­lism must explain why demo­cracy is the right system of govern­ment for our society. This is a chall­enge, and can only work as long as there is media diver­sity. Digi­ta­li­sa­tion, social media and AI present new oppor­tu­ni­ties to create a solid foun­da­tion for basic jour­na­li­stic coverage. They offer cost-effec­tive opti­ons, espe­ci­ally for regio­nal and local report­ing. They provide an alter­na­tive to the uniform supply of infor­ma­tion offe­red in a media land­scape charac­te­ri­sed by media concen­tra­tion. This calls for inno­va­tive, commit­ted media compa­nies such as We.Publish and Pola­ris. Howe­ver, these models also cost money. 

The cost of quality

Those who want media diver­sity and inde­pen­dent jour­na­lism must be prepared to pay for it. This includes publishers that make a profit from plat­forms, as well as consu­mers them­sel­ves. The extent to which the state should contri­bute is curr­ently the subject of poli­ti­cal debate. If we assume that there is a func­tio­ning demo­cracy with its fourth estate, it is the respon­si­bi­lity of the state. This is the preva­lent view of certain cantons. Compa­nies, SMEs and NPOs need to ask them­sel­ves where and how they want to contri­bute. After all, they are all depen­dent on insightful, relia­ble journalism. 

There are also areas where the phil­an­thro­pic sector can get invol­ved. If an orga­ni­sa­tion is commit­ted to chari­ta­ble work, it should also take a holi­stic approach to funding. This does not only apply to projects with the speci­fic aim of streng­thening demo­cracy, but also to funding areas such as culture and rese­arch. Their social rele­vance also depends on how they are recei­ved. Some­thing hasn’t really happened until it’s been repor­ted in a news­pa­per. Theatre events, exhi­bi­ti­ons or ground­brea­king rese­arch results only achieve their full impact on society through jour­na­li­stic report­ing. This is where phil­an­thropy comes in.

Foun­da­ti­ons are taking on the challenge

Foun­da­ti­ons are well aware of this respon­si­bi­lity. A few of them are alre­ady actively invol­ved in media funding. The Media Forward Fund was laun­ched this year with a substan­tial funding volume of 9 million Swiss francs, and the initia­tors want to raise even more funds. This funding alli­ance aims to support jour­na­lism that is geared towards the common good, as well as formats that are alre­ady up and running in the growth phase. 

Foun­da­ti­ons can keep media alive – such as the Aven­ti­nus Foun­da­tion, which acqui­red the Le Temps news­pa­per from Ringier Axel Sprin­ger Schweiz in French-spea­king Switz­er­land in 2021. They can also fund indi­vi­dual projects. For exam­ple, the Fonda­tion Liliane, Rosa­lie et Robert Jordi pour le jour­na­lisme in Colom­bier awards scho­lar­ships for in-depth inves­ti­ga­tive rese­arch. Other funds also provide targe­ted support for speci­fic reports, such as Journa­FONDS. Last autumn, Gebert Rüf Stif­tung and Fonda­tion Leen­aards laun­ched the Inno­va­tion Fund for Multi­me­dia Jour­na­lism. As a focal point of the ‘Scien­tain­ment’ programme, this initia­tive aims to estab­lish multi­me­dia formats more firmly in Swiss jour­na­lism. The fund is endo­wed with 500,000 Swiss francs. 

Focus on media literacy

Reco­g­nis­ing the value of jour­na­lism requi­res media liter­acy. As part of its Scien­tain­ment programme, Gebert Rüf Stif­tung also funds the PUMAS project, which runs day- or week-long media events at schools. These events enable students to improve their media liter­acy in a world where a multi­tude of media chan­nels present fake news just as enti­cin­gly as facts. Such chan­nels are easy and free to access, which means they pose a chall­enge to young people’s media liter­acy. But it’s not enough to merely iden­tify false infor­ma­tion as such. We need people to reco­g­nise the value of carefully rese­ar­ched facts. Jour­na­lism does not work without inte­res­ted readers, listen­ers and view­ers. At the end of the day, it’s up to the consumers.