Sustainable paths to media viability

Expected Outcome: Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Reinforced digital transformation of the news media industry by facilitating the development of new business models, contributing to a more resilient and inclusive democracies. Citizens, particularly those facing systemic disadvantages, are empowered and better equipped to make informed decisions, and news media’s role as contributor to a healthy, reinvigorated and fair democracy is enhanced. Stronger engagement with emerging media creators (such as influencers and other online content producers) to promote transparency and accountability in their role in sharing information, and to foster reliance on trustworthy media sources. Scope: Democracies are at risk when reliable and independent journalism is at risk. Yet, in order to be truly independent, media need sustainable financing models. At present, journalistic newsrooms are under severe economic pressure. Social media forces them to compete for citizens’ attention with other forms of infotainment, which sometimes entail unverified opinions and low-quality or malicious sources. To promote a well-informed democratic debate, citizens must be able to distinguish quality journalism abiding by professional standards, from opinion pieces and other forms of content, as free speech can thrive in ecosystems that enhance access to verified information and empower citizens to recognise it. Such ecosystems need to help distinguish sources that apply journalistic principles, including methods to ensure accuracy, independence, objectivity, impartiality, inclusivity and plural viewpoints. To compete in the digital age, European media need to embrace innovation. The Commission’s 2023 European Media industry outlook [1] signalled that “an early adoption and usage of new technologies is key to adapt and open new markets”. Thus, applicants are invited to work together with news media organisations from the start to enhance innovation across the news media sectors, including by designing industrial and user-driven applications, on areas and aspects such as: a) development and take up of methods to recognise content produced with journalistic standards (e.g. through trust indicators, browser plugins, etc.), to categorise such content (e.g. through industry-led crawlers, common taxonomies, metadata standards, etc.) and to promote such content (e.g. through inclusive and transparent news-oriented algorithms, recommender systems that show multiple views and prioritise quality information); b) identification of AI models that can help media…