Research Report Alternative models of financing investigative journalism Commissioned by the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament Prof. Dr. Michel Clement, Dr. Anke Lepthien, & Petra Schulz Hamburg Business School University of Hamburg PD Dr. Wiebke Loosen Hans-Bredow-Institut, Hamburg Contact:
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Executive Summary This report aims to identify, evaluate, and discuss models to finance investigative journalism in the EU. To provide a thorough evaluation, we developed a set of criteria that cover six areas to that the financial source may exert an influence from high to low degrees. Those are (1) Independence, (2) Quality, (3) Market Structure, (4) Processes, (5) Sustainability, and (6) Competitiveness. This set of criteria is applied to eight representative financing models that stretch from the classical publishing house over innovative financing to publicly supported media. The analysis reveals that only a mixture of models allows the market to benefit best from each model’s core asset. The diversity of finance models is a natural inhibitor of market concentration, when regulative interference is well dosed. Also, the pluralistic set of finance models supports independence in that power is spread over many market actors. This must stretch out from local and regional to European and international levels. We advocate for efficient structures to connect across those geographic entities and emphasize the importance of networks. Support in both directions on all levels (local global) may serve as a valuable source of stabilization. Inside organizations, low barriers between the content production and content financing side may negatively impact the degree of independent reporting.