Eric Karstens

Tag: journalism

  • Let journalists be journalists: A case for grants to individuals

    Most journalists chose the profession for a reason: to satisfy their own spirit of discovery, to inform the public, to take sides with underdogs, to hold power to account. They did not become journalists because they wanted to develop business plans and manage a company. Therefore, journalism grants should provide more funding to individual journalists…

  • Innovation and social purpose: Public and philanthropic support for European journalism

    The three general-purpose news outlets with the greatest agenda-setting power over European politics – the Financial Times, The Economist, and the BBC – will very soon be based outside the European Union. What could the EU and European philanthropies do to nurture a supranational journalism landscape that might replace them?

  • Open, but not for free: Perspectives for non-profit newsrooms

    A great part of the current debate about future business models for journalism implies that news organisations need a strategy to remain commercially successful – or to become profitable in the first place. But what if news went non-profit from the get-go?

  • Philanthropy-funded journalism and public value

    Philanthropic donors big and small tend to invest with their eye on values rather than products: democracy, an informed society, better public health, the thriving of art, improved education, and so on – the idea of public value. Private individuals or foundations step up to provide the public with a good they deem necessary on…

  • How donors can enable quality journalism

    Most journalists chose their profession because they wanted to make an impact on society, but the news business, as it were, conspired against their good intentions. Yet with constructive approaches, a renewed focus on communities and audiences, and foundation support, journalism could break free from legacy structures.

  • Bridging the journalism-philanthropy gap

    It is an illusion to think that charity can bring systematic and lasting change to society without extending support to media. Considering the benefits to be gained by all involved – charities, journalism, and society – the key obstacles, as identified at Journalism Funders Forum London, are not insurmountable.

  • Uneasy bedfellows: Journalism and impact metrics

    If you follow current debates, it appears that measurable, real-world impact is the be-all and end-all of journalism, especially when it comes to political and development themes. How did that happen?

  • How the EU can help journalism

    Why is the European Union so ineffective when it comes to supporting press freedom and media pluralism? And what could it do within the limits of its current competences to foster journalism? It all boils down to one word: CONNECT.

  • The EU, its neighbours, and journalism revolution

    The transition to a free and democratic media system in formerly authoritarian countries may be almost as difficult for the revolutionaries themselves as it typically is for the former mouthpieces of defunct regimes. Can the European Union help?