GILabs Policy Notes: Enhancing Role of Media

~A research project by Governance Innovation Labs

A. OVERVIEW

The media is a strong tool which educates, informs and entertains us. It is a crucial channel for informing the public about politics and has a significant impact on setting public policy and opinion. But concerns over the state of media outlets have been raised in recent years. Distress caused by attacks on the impartiality or independence of the media. Changes in the media dynamics have increased polarizing language and false information while also resulting in budget cuts to local and investigative journalism.

B. RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Funding for Media:

One of the biggest and most urgent problems confronting public media today is funding to operate through a sustainable, viable, and healthy financial system that protects their independence.

• Contextual Advertising: This displays ads in contexts that are relevant to the interests and content of the audience by using data-driven targeting.
• Subscription Service: This kind of funding comes with strong safeguards for editorial freedom.
• Household Levy: The household levy is applied to all households at the same rate, regardless of the number of people living there.
• Government Funding: When media institutions get funding directly from the government, there should be additional legal and regulatory safeguards in place to assist maintain their independence. Programs for indirect state support may take the form of specific tax reductions or broad initiatives.

2. Actions beyond journalism:

• Initiatives that offer the public instant support and information or helpline number to answer public inquiries over the phone can be very beneficial.
• Crowdfunding platforms can be used to raise money for natural disasters or medical emergencies.
• Collaborating in real time with stakeholders can efficiently tackle difficulties in the community.
• Establishing an action committee within media houses

3. Role of journalists

• Adhering to ethical standards, seeking diverse resources, and prioritizing investigative journalism are essential practices.
• Journalists must strive to expose corruption and abuse of power, ensuring that democracy remains robust and transparent.
• News media companies are recommended to invest in professional education and training for their journalists, to update their professional skills to cope with the digital evolution.
• Professionalism, transparency and independence of journalists and media companies are particularly needed when dealing with the funding of journalism by intermediary platforms to avoid biases.

4. Using AI for promoting democracy

• By analyzing large datasets, AI can identify trends, and detect fake news
• Improve comprehension of budget allocation and increased revenue
• Enhance marketing flexibility with real-time marketing intelligence
• Better personalized advertising and marketing environment
• Easier privacy protection and content security
• Higher user satisfaction by providing personalized content
• AI-driven tools can also facilitate fact-checking, ensuring the accuracy of information.

C. ROADMAP FOR IMPLEMENTATION

1. Creating Action Committees

1.1. Teams for Fact-Checking

Create fact-checking teams whose job is to confirm information either physically or with the help of AI.

1.2. Involvement of the Public in Fact-Checking

Encouraging the public to voluntarily verify the facts by reporting false information and helping with the verification process.

1.3. Democratic Alliances

Organize pro-democracy groups to identify and curate news about problems that threaten democracy.

2. Facilitating Action Committees

2.1 Coordinating with Stakeholders

For smooth communication between action committees and relevant stakeholders, assemble a facilitation team.

2.2 Allocation of Resources

Make sure action committees have the required resources, like finance, technology, and experience, needed to do their job efficiently.

3. Publicity and Media Attention

3.1 Observation and Assessment

Establish a mechanism for monitoring committee decisions.

3.2 Awareness and Publicity

Develop a strong public relations team to inform the public about the accomplishments and activities of the action committees.

3.3 Involving the Public

Workshops and activities that involve the active participation of the public might foster a vibrant democracy.

D. BEST PRACTICES

• BritBox, is a subscription online video streaming service with a focus on British content that is run by UK public broadcasters BBC and ITV.
• Germany and Switzerland both are examples of the household levy that are well recognized.
• Some news organizations — Channel 4 Fact Check and BBC Verify, for example — engage in beneficial public fact-checking to combat disinformation
• 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.
• 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.