The existence of a vibrant and independent local media ecosystem that serves the public interest of its local communities is a cornerstone for our democratic societies.
Local, regional and community media are the key to empowering citizens to grasp and exercise their rights in the communities where they live, and they are better placed to gain the trust of their native audience and confront disinformation and misinformation. The robustness of these media ecosystems also serves as a meaningful indicator of media capture, a growing and most worrying phenomenon in Europe.
Today, however, the very existence of local, regional and community media has become uncertain in many areas of the European Union.
Against this backdrop, the project will contribute to building an enabling environment where a pluralistic and independent media landscape can thrive.
The project has four specific objectives: 1) to improve the knowledge base of the regional, local and community news media in the EU; 2) to provide quality and comprehensive data so that policy-makers make relevant and useful media policies to support regional, local and community news media, especially those in dire need area, e.g. news deserts; 3) to provide support (both financial and technical support) to improve startup, local and regional media’s capacity to reach underserved communities and audiences with new products and services; and 4) to help local, regional and community news media build resilience and independence.
One of the key activities will be a research and mapping of news deserts in the 27 EU Member States with the aim of defining and identifying existing and emerging news deserts in Europe, highlighting both challenges and good practices, as well as developing policy recommendations for media stakeholders and national and European policy-makers.
Since the view at local media from a democratic perspective is gaining relevance in our changing media environment, while we know little about local media in Austria, this opens up an important field of research as a meaningful enhancement of the group's program.
The "Local Media for Democracy" project started in 1 February 2023 and will develop over a period of 18 months. It will be coordinated by the European Federation of Journalists, in a consortium with International Media Support, JournalismFund.eu and the European University Institute (EUI).