Editor’s note: this article was previously published by the Media and Journalism Research Center and is republished by The Fix with permission.

In 2021, the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC) launched a program to aid independent media organizations in heavily controlled environments, where media outlets are either directly controlled by the government or by individuals with vested interests seeking political influence rather than profitability. Media capture, as this phenomenon is known, creates heavily distorted market conditions, making it nearly impossible for independent journalism to thrive.

Over the course of four years starting in 2021, we have worked with local experts to address media capture by supporting independent online media organizations operating in rural areas. The program’s primary goal is to strengthen the sustainability of these news portals, with three main areas of focus: financial and organizational sustainability as well as audience growth.

With a budget of nearly US$1 million, the program doled out support to three categories of media organizations.

The first category includes outlets run by a professional, business-minded team. The second category consists of organizations launched by journalists with less experience managing a news organization, focusing less on the operational and business side. The third category encompasses micro-organizations run by one or two journalists, where editors usually handle every task, from sales to project management.

In addition to providing financial support that helps keep these outlets afloat, our program also includes a mentoring component.

At the start of the project, each media outlet we included in our program outlined its goals to advance sustainability. Organizations with robust business-oriented management proved more successful in achieving these objectives. Conversely, organizations led only by journalists struggled, at least in the program’s first years.

What works

The program’s key achievement was the notable improvement of the outlets’ operations. “I cannot even tell you how useful this project was in terms of maintaining the outlet and improving it,” argued an editor from a media outlet enrolled in the program.

What sets our program apart from similar support initiatives is the availability of financial resources to cover operational costs. Similar initiatives often focus exclusively on financing training to improve special skills or reporting on specific topics. While focusing on training is useful for mainstream media organizations that already possess the necessary funding for core operations, small media outlets cannot embark on programs aiming to achieve sustainability without solid financial support for their day-to-day operations for at least a few years.

In our program, training and counseling were supplementary elements to the overall financial support. All training activities were designed to be minimally burdensome, allowing the media outlets in the program to balance them with their regular duties. Webinars covering topics such as fundraising and internship schemes, areas where many outlets lacked expertise, were perceived as particularly valuable. The experience was “eye-opening,” an editor said, shedding light on the substantial financial and human resources required for a successful internship program.

Beyond enhancing capacity, the MJRC program successfully aided outlets in expanding their reach. Nearly all organizations reported growth in social media followers and readership. “This project gave an opportunity to not only survive but to turn this organization into a real news outlet,” said an editor.

The financial support has facilitated relatively stable operations, enabling the publication of groundbreaking articles on topics less covered by other media. Nationwide outlets, for example, with few exceptions, struggle to cover stories that matter to local citizens. Furthermore, as in many media-captured environments, government-aligned companies control swathes of local media outlets. Some of the outlets in our program are the only source of critical coverage on local issues.

What does not work?

By far, the media landscape itself is the most substantial hurdle in programs supporting independent journalism.

Independent news outlets in such countries face challenges such as limited access to government officials, are often labeled as opposition media, and are subjected to continuous smear campaigns. This problem is also present at the local level, with news organizations frequently encountering difficulties engaging with municipalities.

Securing advertising revenue poses another major challenge. In media markets controlled by the government, the state only funds aligned outlets. Companies owned by local municipalities seldom allocate advertising funds to independent media, even when the town is governed by opposition parties.

Moreover, many private companies are hesitant to spend money on ads in independent media due to concerns about potential repercussions from the authorities. Some media editors supported by the MJRC program have shared instances where company leaders confided in private conversations that they were directed not to advertise in independent media. One editor mentioned that in a more favorable economic climate, they might have been able to generate more advertising revenue, which could have enabled them to offer higher salaries to their journalists.

In countries where economic crises occur, the situation becomes even more complicated as independent media outlets face additional challenges, such as high inflation rates and increased overhead costs. Furthermore, during such times, companies dealing with financial constraints reduce their marketing and advertising expenditures, also including those that would otherwise allocate funds to independent media.

Along with economic obstacles, media companies participating in our program faced substantial human resources challenges. Some companies required extra staff to facilitate expansion, while others needed additional manpower for daily operations, such as hiring individuals for tasks unrelated to journalism. This change represented a key move towards sustainability, enabling organizations to dedicate more time to crucial tasks beyond content production.

Despite this, many organizations encountered significant challenges when trying to fill positions such as sales managers or community coordinators. This was sometimes due to salary constraints and other times due to the negative perception attached to independent media, which discouraged potential applicants. In countries with authoritarian governments, there is a widespread concern that working for independent media could also have negative implications for family members employed by or dependent on the local government, which is often the case in smaller towns. “I know of a candidate we would have hired, but then someone warned them not to work for us,” recounted an editor who participated in our program.

Finally, the heavy reliance of many media outlets on Facebook, the most popular social media platform in numerous countries affected by media capture, poses a significant challenge. Consequently, the outreach of independent media outlets is vulnerable to the platform’s algorithm. Meta’s decision to reduce news media reach in 2023 led to a noticeable decline in daily traffic for many outlets. An editor in our program explained: “The changes in Facebook’s algorithm significantly reduced the reach of news media, resulting in a significant loss for us.”

Prompted by these changes, some news outlets in the MJRC program chose alternative outreach solutions, such as launching newsletters or expanding to other social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok. However, this activity also requires funding to pay skilled social media managers, which the outlets often lack.

The path forward: flipping the script on our thought patterns

One important lesson learned from the MJRC program is that the long-term sustainability of media in captured environments depends on having a variety of revenue streams. However, this is very difficult to achieve, especially for media outlets in rural areas. Their access to advertising and public funds is almost entirely cut off, which forces them to seek funding from philanthropic sources or directly from the audience.

Although philanthropic funding is crucial, it does not provide a long-term solution for sustainability in countries with media capture. Therefore, the only solution left is the audience’s pockets.

After almost four years of running our support program, we have concluded that the most effective – and perhaps the only – approach to supporting media in authoritarian countries is to concentrate solely on the audience. In these countries, the audience is the sole source of credibility for a media outlet and the only domestic source of funding that is really available.

Therefore, focusing on the audience is the only strategy to give these media outlets a competitive edge in a market dominated by government propaganda. An editor working for an outlet in our program argued, “Despite the devastation of local news media after the takeovers [by government-aligned owners], there is still an audience segment that is interested in independent media.”

When implementing a program like the MJRC one, organizations should be encouraged from day one to constantly seek feedback from their audience, enhance content analysis, specifically focusing on identifying the types of stories that resonate with people in their community, and constantly gather insights from the audience about their willingness and ability to support the media financially.

Secondly, it is time for journalism funders to dramatically change their strategies. Year after year, donors kept financing media, hoping that they would one day become sustainable without any guarantee or evidence that they, in fact, could. On the contrary, in most of these environments, there is plenty of evidence that achieving sustainability as an independent outlet is almost impossible.

In certain countries, a large number of journalists produce content, but their ability to compete is hindered by media companies that have significant market and financial power. Thus, instead of or in addition to continually funding small media outlets to become competitive and sustainable in a distorted market where sustainability is not achievable, support should be also given to projects that aim to embed journalism in spaces other than social media, where audiences spend time or are likely to be.

The specific nature of these spaces is the theme of an ongoing research project at MJRC. Our research has already told us that media outlets need to start developing a more granular understanding of where the public in their area spends their time and money. Knowing that will enable those outlets to better position their content in those spaces or adjust their focus to fit them.

Finally, the willingness to pay for news content is typically very low in countries with media capture. Cultivating this source of funding is a lengthy and laborious process.

Therefore, journalism funders should only consider financing news organizations in media-captured environments if they can commit to supporting them for a longer term, meaning at least five to eight years.

This would allow media outlets to connect with local audiences and develop sustainable business plans. One editor in our program said: “The project provided us with a lifeline. I am not saying that we wouldn’t operate without it anymore, but it would most probably only be a hobby, not a real news organization.” Another editor added, “If this kind of funding were to dry up, our very existence would be in danger.”

This blog post summarizes the main findings of an upcoming academic article assessing the lessons learned during the four-year independent journalism support program implemented by our center. Primarily for safety reasons, we do not disclose the names and locations of the media outlets that are part of the program. We are open to discussing our experience with other journalism funders. For more information, please contact us at mjrc@journalismresearch.org.

Source of the cover photo: generated by ChatGPT, DALL·E

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