“He won’t solve the business model question”

Courtney Radsch is the director of the Center for Journalism and Freedom In Washington, which develops policy solutions to ensure that news media is, as the center statement of the center mission says, “fully independent and strongly funded in the digital economy of the 21st century”. DW Freedom spoke with Radsch how to oppose the challenges he presents in public interest media business models.

DW Freedom: Media development organizations and their partners have been working for years in strengthening the sustainability of the media. However, media with public interest is increasingly under economic pressure. Should we rethink the stability efforts of the media development sector?

Courtney Radsch: A part of the strategy we need to follow is a level approach to addressing the financial challenges for journalism. There is often this idea that we have to work on the business models of individual media organizations. However, these business models depend on the wider political and economic landscape in which they are embedded. And so, in an economy where a small proportion of American technology giants control most of the online business models and information flows, there is a very limited business group available. In our media ecosystems, the media of the public interest are dying because Big Tech gets all oxygen – they control access to advertising, audiences, attention and data.

Similar to social media, it is another technology that undermines public interest media business models. Are we better prepared this time?

As it happened with social media platforms, innovation and development in it are largely run by companies and larger countries. It is not that technology, it is the prevailing corporations of the one that is undermining media business models. Media ecosystems can be analyzed at different levels: globally, at a country level, or even at the ecosystem level of a city. However, at all these levels, the Big Tech is forming the infrastructure of technology that determines the business opportunities for media of public interest operating in a particular ecosystem. We are making a concern for the era in which we are now continuing to take a largely country -based approach. We need a global approach to regulating it because powers like JB and EU have more lever with these major technological firms.

Has the media sector fully understood the implications of it still?

So far, the media sector is mainly discussing how to use it in the newsroom, which will increase the sector dependence on the Big Tech even further. There is little debate on how to form politics and it in a way that makes sense to the media of public interest.

Most news rooms are small and therefore it is unrealistic to expect smaller media to treat advocacy, research and policy making. We need coalitions in sectors; Partnerships with creative industries, small businesses or advertisers to build a domestic coalition to postpone for greater control. A three-way strategy-licensing, litigation and legislation-is essential for addressing the impact of it on journalism.

The media sector should also be more strategic than and when to approximate digital rights groups. We know that in the countries where this cooperation is taking place for the specific legislation or regulation, they have a higher degree of success. At the same time, I do not think that the regulation of it will solve the business model question for the media of public interest, as any compensation media can receive it will be just a very small part of the budget.

How can media with public interest support the fairer regulation of great technology?

Media of public interest can promote awareness by covering the main issues. Only one example: In a historical test, the US Department of Justice is sued Google to monopolize the digital advertising technology market. How many public interest media covered this trialIn depth – the one who literally touches every business and media all over the world? Reporting on this trial would have been a great opportunity as it is not just about the media that cover an issue that matters to them. The trial matters to everyone in our community.

Some media outlets are blocking their contents for the deleters of it. Do you think it’s useful in any way?

Is a two -edged sword. On the one hand, it can strengthen the media claims for compensation if the courts rule against it for scraping content. And that can change the balance of power between the media and the corporations of him if enough media would stop the heels of him. However, it also means that high quality independent journalist producing public interest media will not be included in his models. Especially in countries where the media in accordance with the state dominate the information environment, means that the independent voice will be missing in models. The Russian propaganda sites are not blocking the dragging and for this very reason, so the narrative they offer will remain in the system.

This brings us to the issue of quality. Some argue that he should be trained for reliable sources, and the media of the public interest may play a key role in this effort.

This is a direction we are moving. The media development community can have a powerful role to help create this framework. For example, imagine offering companies to a collection of 12,000 independent, reliable African media and saying, here you go, you can license it. Beginnings can easily integrate into their systems, I think it can be really promising.

However, this requires considerable infrastructure. The media will need to structure their data and ensure that they can benefit from such a market. To avoid issues such as collision or violation of antitrust provisions, a collective framework of negotiations may be necessary, and technical infrastructure will need to be developed. I know it is a high bar, a challenging task, but I believe we need to focus more on this aspect.

Interview: Laura Moore, Ines Drefs

The interview was edited for concise and clarity.

DW Freedom is the center of media development thinking at DW Academy. He invests in research, builds networks and advocates for free and open media systems across the globe. “Journalism Financing” is one of the thematic areas of the thematic focus of DW Freedom. Addressing the financial challenges facing the journalist, DW Liria advocates for fair compensation for news publishers.