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…