Call for investment in public interest media

The economists’ high level panel assessed risks to the economy and society of a degraded media caused by AI firms and an outdated business model

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he High-Level Panel on Public Interest Media, urgently calls for decisive public action now to secure a future for public interest media and develop the policies needed to shape tomorrow's information markets for economic prosperity and social welfare.

Too much of the value of the media is appropriated by digital platforms and AI firms, whose profits rest on the information produced by other content providers.

Governments need to do more to safeguard free and independent media and to shape the market in ways that encourage the right kinds of investments and innovation by private actors. Guardrails must be embedded in any support mechanism to protect against government interference or capture.

Two actions are proposed to protect public interest media in the information age. One, invest in free and independent journalism by diversifying and increasing resources for the production of reliable information. Two, shape informational ecosystems in the public interest through active use of industrial policies and safeguards against media capture and interference

Action 1

More must be done to support public interest media when the business model they have relied upon has collapsed and to counter the investments made by authoritarian powers in misand disinformation. To deliver on this first action, a three-part policy response is proposed.

First, public support and investment in public interest media must be increased nationally and internationally. New funding models are needed to arrest the catastrophic decline in local and national independent media, along with new ways of paying for public service media provision.