This study completed by the High Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism in 2013 on behalf of the EU shows just how seriously a free and independent media is taken across the European community. Their ultimate recommendation is;
The HLG believes that the EU can, and should, have a bigger role in supporting media freedom and pluralism in the EU and beyond. The recommendations in this report should be understood as an encouragement to develop the overall EU framework, ensuring that high quality media can continue to contribute to European democracy across the EU. (pg8)
They certainly believe that high class, independent media can make a difference to the societies in which they operate. The championing of quality journalism as of benefit to the public is consistent throughout.
Democracy requires a well‐informed, inclusive and pluralistic public sphere; the media are, to a large extent, the creators as well as the “editors” of this public sphere. In this they become the holders of considerable power and may come to assume the status of a “fourth estate” within society. At the same time, the public service aspect and democratic function of media can come under threat either through political interference, undue commercial influence, or increasing social disinterest and indifference on the part of the general public. (pg10)
Much of this report is hugely positive about the impact of a diverse and wide ranging press and its difficult to highlight any one part of this largely unanimous document. However it does raise some concerns around the abuses of the media pluralism model:
While media freedom and pluralism have been universally accepted as fundamental to the common values prevailing within the European community, in practice a whole range of potential challenges to them have been documented in recent reports and systematic studies (pg15)
(pg16)
They also make excellent observations about the changing landscape of new media and the dangers this could pose for pluralism. They touch on the idea of systems such as crowdfunded self publication of internet news articles when they say:
The internet also means that there are far lower barriers of entry for new media organisations or indeed individuals (though it cannot be excluded that new barriers may emerge in the online market). This can lead to different concentration trends in different media, with traditional media consolidating and new media expanding. But the sheer increase in new media does not guarantee pluralism: “despite the technological change, the question about whether the increase in the number of sources and the overcoming of scarcity is really enlarging the market and countering concentration is far from being resolved.”20 A tendency seems to be emerging whereby two opposing trends can be noted: higher concentration on mass media of broad appeal and a multiplication of small media targeted at niche markets (pg27)
The report even goes onto to mention crowdfunded news directly when it analyses the changes in current funding models and the problem of lack of investigative journalism specifically:
The changing funding model constitutes a significant challenge for quality journalism (news, investigative). In many, but not all, EU countries this type of journalism is increasingly suppressed or replaced by less expensive free‐lancing, with journalists working under deteriorating or even degrading working conditions and having insufficient resources to pursue stories in depth. More and more news is provided by agencies. Investigative journalism and news media need to be supported by a wider range of funding sources. Globally, there are some examples of philanthropy financing critical journalism. The possibility to exploit new technologies to access funding, such as, for example, to obtain crowdfunding, should not be underestimated. (pg 28)
This is clearly an interesting observation for my project and one that one that supports the idea that I had at the start of this project that crowdfunding could contribute to the changing role of journalism in contemporary practice. The report does still add a hint of caution when it adds an insight into the question of media power and the dwindling role of a ubiquitous and consistent media in the every day lives of the people. Will all this information result in a more enlightened, less deceived public, or just one that is dis-affected by too much media and too many messages?
Information isolation and fragmentation, together with an inability to check and evaluate sources, can have a damaging impact on democracy. At present, research is still unclear on the extent to which these new formats will promote greater decentralisation or, actually, more centralisation on how news are gathered and edited. What is abundantly clear, however, is that a well‐educated public will be more resilient to withstand whatever negative influences they may encounter. Media literacy and the ability to perform a choice and critical evaluation of information sources is therefore something that the citizen of tomorrow will need as much as basic and digital literacy.
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Whilst researching this I came across this excellent blog written by Martin Moore, Director of the Media Standards Trust, asking the question as to whether it is at all possible to measure the impact of news sources on individuals:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mediapolicyproject/2015/10/01/how-not-to-measure-the-news-plurality-problem/
One thing i personally think OFCOM could do is to measure the different levels of engagement that now exist with a range of social groups and investigate the range of different ownership and organisational, and perhaps, funding models that are available to the general public. A lot of news that people have access to is 'churnalism' rehashed and repeated in different formats but essentially the same broad range of news offered out and repackaged to people as a plurality of views when in fact it offers nothing new at all. I would like to see OFCOM recognising the different structures and formats that can exist and perhaps even promoting structures such as crowdfunded models as they encourage participation in and around independent news, something that OFCOM apparently strives for.
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