Best Practices of Media for Democracy

~A research project by Governance Innovation Labs

Politicians and the media collectively have the responsibility for preserving a robust media environment. Risks have been recognized by experts in both halves.

1. Funding for the Media:

• The Netherlands has three ways of funding for the media. These programs offer grants and support for media works.

a) The Dutch Cultural Media Fund provides funding for artistic endeavors. It encourages collaboration between cultural organizations and broadcasters, as well as cultural works for public television.

b) CoBo Fund encourages public broadcasters, or public broadcasters and independent filmmakers, to collaborate on movies and documentaries.

c) Fund for Journalism Promotion supports independent, diversified, and of the highest caliber journalism, financing in order to keep journalistic media from becoming overly reliant on government assistance.

• Contextual advertising is a type of targeted advertising shown to users depending on the page or content they are watching. For instance, advertisements for athletic wear or sporting goods may appear to a user who is reading a sports article. Advertisers can place ads on websites in Google AdSense’s network. The software provides a wide range of targeting choices. Amazon Advertising, Facebook Audience Network, and Bing Ads are a few other platforms. Companies have to investigate a number of networks in order to choose which one best fits the target market and the objectives of their campaign.
• For public broadcasters, adhering to legal restrictions on advertising that address content, duration, and air periods may provide difficulties. Many nations have restrictions on public media advertising, including in Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia.
• The US philanthropy model is the closest funding approach for public media to a subscription service. This entails philanthropic contributions that enhance federal financing and alternative revenue streams to guarantee enduring financial backing for public media endeavors and programs. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) receives donations via the PBS Foundation while National Public Radio (NPR) also receives charitable contributions and endowment support via the NPR Foundation.
• BritBox, is a subscription online video streaming service with a focus on British content that is run by UK public broadcasters BBC and ITV. It is a Netflix-style TV service that debuted in the UK in 2019 and is currently accessible to viewers worldwide.
• Germany and Switzerland both are examples of the household levy that are well recognized. There are few exceptions to the monthly household levy that has been in place in Germany since 2013. Switzerland likewise implemented a device-independent household fee for public broadcasting in 2019.
• Funding for Radio New Zealand (RNZ) is provided by NZ On Air, an independent Crown organization. RNZ and the government are therefore maintaining “arm’s length.” The Press Ethics Advisor helps Estonia’s public broadcaster, ERR, retain its independence despite receiving funding from the state budget as well.

2. Action beyond journalism:

• The Bureau Local (UK), focuses on local investigative reporting. It approaches studies on issues like homelessness, council budgets, and housing by gathering information from several UK newsrooms and journalists. This has increased public involvement with local issues and improved ability for local investigative reporting.
• Italy’s “L’Italia Delle Slot’’ focuses on an investigation on the widespread use of slot machines and gaming. This was done by cooperation between media outlets, data scientists, and journalists. They mapped and examined the effect and distribution of slot machines using data journalism.This resulted in increased public knowledge and sparked policy debates on gambling control.
• Lännen Media (Finland)’s goal is to enhance local journalism through regional media partnership through a group of local newspapers that pool resources and content. Benefits include lower expenses, pooled editing knowledge, and better local news coverage. The challenge is in preserving individual newspaper identities while working together.
• The public continues to view news broadcasters as being much more accurate than social media sites, and some news organizations — Channel 4 Fact Check and BBC Verify, for example — already engage in beneficial public fact-checking to combat disinformation

3. Role of journalists:

• Karan Thapar, who has a reputation for doing tough interviews with influential people, has worked for a number of media outlets since 1981. His relentless probing even caused a stir in an interview with the prime minister, Narendra Modi, demonstrating the power of bold reporting.
• Based in Mumbai Journalist Faye D’Souza gathers information and pursues a story through to its logical conclusion. The former TV anchor left Mirror Now in 2019 because Indian media was losing its authentic and moral voice. In response to questionable WhatsApp messages that spread panic amid a terrible pandemic during COVID-19 in India, D’Souza started sharing authentic daily news updates on Instagram. At that point, she started the #CircleOfHope to confirm the availability of public and private helplines.
• Punya Prasun Bajpai is an excellent writer and journalist whose body of work demonstrates his in-depth understanding of Indian politics. Renowned for his show “Masterstroke,” Bajpai departed from ABP News because he felt pressure from the government, demonstrating his dedication to objective reporting.
• Others who make substantial contributions to a varied media environment include Ajit Anjum, Dhruv Rathi, and Ashutosh Gupta, who provide updates on politics, in-depth analysis, and insights into ground realities, respectively.
• Journalists must refrain from polarizing and biased views that target the viewer’s sentiment. Such concerns were particularly expressed during the Brexit process, when the Daily Mail referred to judges as ‘enemies of the people’, the House of Lords members ‘traitors’, and MPs as ‘saboteurs’. Such headlines ran the risk of escalating the division surrounding Brexit and fostering mistrust of important political institutions.

4. AI in Media:

• Artificial voices have been utilized by the BBC and German Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg for automated traffic and weather updates in order to better serve people in various areas around the clock.
• According to the EBU research, the Agência Pública team in Brazil employs cloned voices to deliver long-form investigative reports in order to increase their audience reach. When planning an inquiry against a corrupt politician who was misusing his position to force people off their property, they experimented with the technology. To assist one of the affected farmers they had interviewed in responding to the investigation, they gave him an audio version of the article produced using machine reading technology. This turned out to be a hit; the farmer and others in his neighborhood listened to it and shared it with other people who were impacted by the tale.
• With the help of AI the national public media organization of Finland, Yle, initially offered in their native tongue, aimed to aid in the integration of 62,500 Ukrainian immigrants into Finnish society. This may be launched in two weeks with machine translation followed by a journalist’s review.

REFERENCES

https://www.silverpush.co/blogs/contextual-advertising-guide/#:~:text=Contextual%20advertising%20is%20a%20type,sports%20equipment%2C%20or%20athletic%20apparel.

https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/case-studies-collaborative-local-journalism

https://www.inma.org/blogs/Generative-AI-Initiative/post.cfm/report-on-journalism-and-genai-features-important-use-cases-biggest-challenges

https://digpu.com/opinion/indian-journalists-who-have-upheld-true-journalism

https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/about-us/what-is-psm/psm-funding-models/

https://rm.coe.int/msi-res-2022-08-good-practices-for-sustainable-media-financing-for-sub/1680adf466

https://verbit.ai/media/ai-in-media-industry-latest-technology/#:~:text=AI%20in%20the%20media%20industry,creators%20to%20work%20more%20efficiently.

https://www.infosysbpm.com/blogs/media-entertainment/use-of-ai-in-media-entertainment-industry.html