Million-euro grant programme launched to tackle news deserts

At least €1.2 million will be available through the Local Media for Democracy grant programme, which was announced by Journalismfund Europe on 23 March.

Announced in February, the programme hopes to revive the local media landscape in news deserts with measures to build resilience, independence and sustainability by improving their capacity in innovation, business strategies and audience engagement. 

Local, regional and community media that are struggling to serve the public interest in Europe’s news deserts are now invited to apply for funding.

Successful applicants will receive strategic technical support from IMS’ experts in areas such as organisational capacity, business sustainability, and innovation in journalism with a cross-cutting emphasis on gender equality and inclusivity.

Further details about the application process can be found here.

News deserts are a growing concern across the globe.

As Emilie Helene Holm, Programme Coordinator at the Department for Eastern Europe and Global Response at IMS, has written: “This phenomenon generally refers to communities with limited access to independent news and information, which essentially poses a threat to democratic processes.”

“As local news media disappears, democracy takes a hit while disinformation and partisanship prevail,” says Gulnara Akhundova, Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Global Response Department at IMS. “It is high time to preserve local journalism – journalism and reliable news and information on the ground that is so important for citizens to sustain democracy and human rights and hold the power to account.”

The Local Media for Democracy project is an 18-month project co-funded by the European Union and launched in February 2023 by a consortium of partners: the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), International Media Support (IMS), and Journalismfund Europe.