Mixed Funding Models: Sustaining Quality Journalism Beyond Taxation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v13i4.8077Keywords:
Public Good, Taxation, Government Influence, Media Independence, Democratic Integrity, Mixed Funding Model, Economic Implications, Quality Reporting, Propaganda, Government Funding, Public Funding Models, Fiscal Policy, Economic Stability, Government Subsidies, Public-Private Partnerships, Media Funding Mechanisms, Journalism as a Public Good, Economic Impact of MediaAbstract
This paper examines whether news agencies should be funded through taxation to ensure accurate news reporting as a public good. Drawing from social contract theory, it argues that reliable journalism is essential for informed citizenship and democratic stability. However, the decline in traditional news outlets due to financial pressures and the rise of digital media has reduced quality journalism. While public funding through taxation could address these issues by providing stable support, it also poses risks such as potential government influence, reduced journalistic independence, and economic downsides like decreased disposable income. The paper critiques the viability of taxation as the sole funding mechanism, considering cases like Russia, where government agendas compromise state-funded media, and Norway, where a high democracy level and mixed funding support journalistic freedom. The study advocates for a mixed funding model that combines government support, private donations, and endowments to sustain independent journalism. By examining successful models such as National Public Radio in the United States, the paper illustrates how diverse funding sources can mitigate the risks associated with government control and market failures. The proposed model leverages public taxation, private contributions, and endowment funds to ensure financial stability and maintain editorial independence, promoting a more equitable and trustworthy news landscape. This approach balances the need for accurate news as a public good with the challenges of maintaining economic sustainability and protecting journalistic freedom. The paper concludes that mixed funding is the most viable solution to preserving the integrity of journalism in a democratic society.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
Angelucci, Charles, and Julia Cagé. “Newspapers in Times of Low Advertising Revenues.” American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, August 2019: 1-4. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257%2Fmic.20170306#:~:text=Newspapers%20choose%20the%20size%20of,to%20produce%20journalistic%2Dintensive%20content.
Bauder, David. “Think the News Industry Was Struggling Already? The Dawn of 2024 Is Offering Few Good Tidings.” AP News Business, February 2, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/journalism-layoffs-business-messenger-83afe18984c2a1fc78e78184dddee17d.
Besheer, Margaret. “US Journalist Held in Russian Prison for 400 Days.” Voice of America Press Freedom, May 2, 2024. www.voanews.com/a/us-journalist-held-in-russian-prison-for-400-days-/7596124.html.
Bjørgan, Janne, and Hallvard Moe. “Norway.” Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, June 23, 2021. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2021/norway.
Childs, Mary. “Planet Money: My Favorite Tax Loophole.” NPR, December 2, 2022. www.npr.org/transcripts/1140465961.
Cozma, Raluca. “FROM MURROW TO MEDIOCRITY? Radio Foreign News from World War II to the Iraq War.” Research Gate, October 2010. www.researchgate.net/publication/232888760_FROM_MURROW_TO_MEDIOCRITY.
Darcy, Oliver, and Jon Passantino. “News Industry off to Brutal 2024 Start as Mass Layoffs Devastate Publishers, Raising Questions about the Future of Journalism.” CNN Business, January 25, 2024. www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/media/news-industry-future/index.html.
“Democracy Index 2023.” Economist Intelligence Unit, February 29, 2024. www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2023/?utm_source=economist&utm_medium=daily_chart&utm_campaign=democracy-index-2023.
Dizikes, Peter. “Study: Democracy Fosters Economic Growth.” MIT News, March 7, 2019. https://news.mit.edu/2019/study-democracy-fosters-economic-growth-acemoglu-0307.
Farhi, Paul. “Is American Journalism Headed Toward an ‘Extinction-Level Event’?” The Atlantic, January 30, 2024. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/01/media-layoffs-la-times/677285/.
“Federal Budget Boosts Funding for CBC/Radio-Canada, Executives Say Significant Job Cuts No Longer Needed.” CBC News, April 16, 2024. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/federal-budget-cbc-funding-1.7175927#:~:text=Government%20funding%20accounts%20for%20approximately,and%20%241.39%20billion%20in%202021.
Gidron, Noam, James Adams, and Will Horne. “Toward a Comparative Research Agenda on Affective Polarization in Mass Publics.” Harvard University, June 14, 2019. https://scholar.harvard.edu/gidron/publications/toward-comparative-research-agenda-affective-polarization-mass-publics.
“Gleeson Library: News Deserts.” University of San Francisco Gleeson Library Geschke Center, May 1, 2024. https://library.usfca.edu/newsdeserts.
“The Government and the News Media.” USC Public Policy and Funding the News. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://fundingthenews.usc.edu/report/media/#:~:text=State%20and%20local%20governments%20have,the%20benefits%20have%20been%20indirect.
Harris, Lauren. “The Journalism Crisis Across the World.” Columbia Journalism Review Business of News, March 31, 2021. www.cjr.org/business_of_news/the-journalism-crisis-across-the-world.php.
Hawk, Ryan. “Endowments: A Powerful Solution for Both Donors and Charitable Organizations.” HBK, January 12, 2022. https://hbkcpa.com/insights/endowments-a-powerful-solution-for-both-donors-and-charitable-organizations/.
Howcroft, Chloe. “The Challenges Facing Nordic Public Media.” Public Media Alliance, June 18, 2021. www.publicmediaalliance.org/the-challenges-facing-nordic-public-media/.
“Independence.” NPR, February 11, 2019. www.npr.org/about-npr/688405012/independence.
Ivanescu, Isabel. “Media Manipulation, Suppression and The Rwandan Genocide (March).” The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, April 7, 2020. https://kenan.ethics.duke.edu/media-manipulation-suppression-and-the-rwandan-genocide/.
Kolosnitsyna, Marina. “Researchers Confirm Correlation Between Education Expenditure and GDP Growth.” HSE University, September 3, 2021. www.hse.ru/en/news/research/501884253.html.
Kraut, Richard. “Aristotle’s Ethics.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, July 2, 2022. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/.
Malig, Kaela. “How Russia’s Press Freedom Has Deteriorated Over the Decades Since Putin Came to Power.” PBS Frontline, September 26, 2023. www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/russia-putin-press-freedom-independent-news/.
Mitchell, Amy. “Which News Organization Is the Most Trusted? The Answer Is Complicated.” Pew Research Center, October 30, 2014. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/10/30/which-news-organization-is-the-most-trusted-the-answer-is-complicated/.
Naseer, Sarah, and Christopher St. Aubin. “Newspapers Fact Sheet.” Pew Research Center, November 10, 2023. www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/newspapers/.
Naseer, Sarah. “Cable News Fact Sheet.” Pew Research Center, September 14, 2023. www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/cable-news/.
National Public Radio, Inc.: Consolidated Financial Statements, Supplemental Schedules, and Independent Auditor’s Report, BDO USA, September 30, 2022. https://media.npr.org/documents/about/statements/fy2022/National%20Public%20Radio%20-%20Consolidated%20Financial%20Statements%20-%20S2221.pdf.
“Norway.” Reporters Without Borders, March 8, 2023. https://rsf.org/en/country/norway.
“NPR Stations and Public Media.” NPR, April 21, 2024. www.npr.org/about-npr/178640915/npr-stations-and-public-media.
Oishi, Shigehiro, Ulrich Schimmack, and Ed Diener. “Progressive Taxation and the Subjective Well-Being of Nations.” Research Gate, December 2011. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51867771_Progressive_Taxation_and_the_Subjective_Well-Being_of_Nations.
Peterson, Ted, and Zachary Bair. “United States Tax Rates and Economic Growth.” Research Gate, July 2022. www.researchgate.net/publication/362224115_United_States_Tax_Rates_and_Economic_Growth.
Prideaux, John, Charlotte Howard, and Idrees Kahloon. “The Media Are Partly to Blame for Political Polarisation in America.” The Economist, December 15, 2023. https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2023/12/15/the-media-are-partly-to-blame-for-political-polarisation-in-america.
“Public Good.” Oxford Reference, 2018. www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199670840.001.0001/acref-9780199670840-e-1111?rskey=pbqdbQ&result=2.
“Public Radio Finances.” NPR, May 1, 2024. www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances.
Sullivan, Marguerite. “Government of Norway.” Center for International Media Assistance, March 2017. www.cima.ned.org/donor-profiles/government-of-norway/.
Tuckness, Alex. “Locke’s Political Philosophy.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, October 6, 2020. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/.
Wake, Alexandra, Abbas Valadkhani, Alan Nguyen, and Jeremy Nguyen. “The Economic Costs of Curbing Press Freedom.” Global Investigative Journalism Network, April 15, 2021. https://gijn.org/stories/the-economic-costs-of-curbing-press-freedom/.
Walters, Patrick. “Journalism Is a Public Good and Should Be Publicly Funded.” Scientific American, August 4, 2023. www.scientificamerican.com/article/journalism-is-a-public-good-and-should-be-publicly-funded/.
“Where Democracy Is Most at Risk.” The Economist, February 14, 2024. www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2024/02/14/four-lessons-from-the-2023-democracy-index.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2024 Aditi Kumarappan; Bradley Sherman
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.
