Dublin county is one of the smallest in Ireland but by far the most populated, given the capital city sits there. While the centre is bustling with activity and news, just 20km north risks getting left behind. Local newspaper Dublin Inquirer is hoping to fill this gap by expanding its innovative business model to the region of Fingal county.  Towards the end of last year, one of the largest media companies in Ireland shut its edition covering Fingal in the north of Dublin. The Dublin Inquirer, a local and independent newspaper, is hoping to fill this gap by expanding their…

Lithuanian radio station, Radio FM99, a partner of the EFJ-led Local Media 4 Democracy (LM4D) project, published a story about a development plan that would destroy the historical heritage of Alytus. The story gained traction and the Prosecutors’ Office opened an investigation into the plan. All of this was funded by the LM4D and the radio benefited from the mentorship by the project. We talk to Vilija Ramanauskiene, journalist at Radio FM99, to find out more. Radio FM99 is a legacy radio outlet in South Lithuania and one of the first commercial radio stations in independent Lithuania. This year, it…

The first mentorship workshop was held for the successful candidates of the Local Media for Democracy project this week. Within the project, 17 media outlets across Europe received funding and the opportunity to technically develop their media and projects to help mitigate news deserts in their regions.  The first online workshop, organised by the International Media Support (IMS), took place on 7 September. The IMS advisors Iryna Vidavana and Clare Cook led the workshop for the 12 successful applicants from around the EU. This first webinar was centred around the  common element for all projects to focus on – defining…

The LocalMedia4Democracy project is supporting 17 small local media outlets. These outlets aim to serve the public interest in localities and regions where access to information has significantly decreased in the European Union. This grant scheme is operated by Journalismfund Europe and International Media Support (IMS), and co-funded by the European Commission.  The 17 media outlets are from Belgium (1), Croatia (1), France (2), Hungary (2), Ireland (1), Italy (1), Latvia (1), Lithuania (1), Poland (4), Portugal (1), Romania (1) and Spain (1). The total amount distributed among the 17 proposals was €524.265.  Check the list of the granted media…

The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Pluralism (CMPF) published their preliminary study, “News deserts in Europe: assessing risks for local and community media in the 27 EU Member States”. The study, carried out as part of the Local Media for Democracy (LM4D) project, illustrated that one of the main causes for the desertification of accessible independent media throughout Europe is the lack of adequate and sustainable funding for media organisations. For the scope of this project, and in line with the methodology adopted by the Media Pluralism Monitor, the CMPF developed a comprehensive and Europe-specific definition of news deserts…

In the context of the project Local Media For Democracy, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) interviewed Clare Cook, Media Adviser and Business Viability at International Media Support (IMS), the largest media development organisation in the Nordic region. Clare has talked to us about the work of IMS, a partner of the project, alongside the Center For Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (ECPMF) and JournalismFund Europe. She touched upon the topics of digital natives, community and independent media, and the challenges faced by those outlets, especially in news desert areas in Europe. According to the Center for Media Pluralism and…

The existence of vibrant and independent local media that serves the public interest of its local communities is a cornerstone of our democratic societies. They are the key to empowering citizens to grasp and exercise their rights in the communities where they live. However, the very existence of these media has become uncertain across different parts of the European Union. We spoke to people researching this phenomenon in Turkey, Portugal and Croatia. They spoke to us about the news deserts emerging in their countries, a term developed by US scholars and policymakers to explain the crisis of traditional news media…

The article was originally published here. The concept of news deserts was initially developed by US scholars and policymakers to explain the crisis of traditional news media and the vanishing of local news outlets as a consequence of the digital transformation and the 2008 global economic crisis. In an attempt to provide a definition for this concept, some authors have focused on digital accessibility by measuring the availability of broadband and wireless technology in local communities. A second group have focused on linguistic and cultural barriers that leave ethnic communities marginalized and disenfranchised, whereas a third group have concentrated on the quality…

Cliquez ici pour le français Kliknite ovdje za hrvatski Clicca qui per l’italiano Klicken Sie hier für Deutsch Clique aqui para Português The new grant programme Local Media for Democracy is launched today; a pilot media funding scheme that will inject €1.200.000 financial support to local, regional and community media who are struggling to serve the public interest in the so-called “news deserts” areas in Europe. These news desert areas can be a geographic or administrative area, or a social community, where it is difficult or impossible to access reliable, diverse and independent local, regional and community media. In other…

Struggling local, regional and community media in Europe is to receive a financial boost of over 2 million euros through a new EU-funded project “Local Media for Democracy” (#localmedia4democracy). It aims to revive the local media landscape in the news desert areas with measures to build resilience, independence, and sustainability by improving their capacity in innovation, business strategies, and audience engagement.  The project will be led by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) with a consortium of partners, the Centre for Media Freedom and Pluralism (CMPF), International Media Support (IMS) and Journalismfund.eu. It will inject €1,200,000 financial support through a…