MIF is continuing the conversation around international media funding, a topic that is of growing interest to our members and supporters.
Because the topic sparked such vibrant conversations at our recent annual gathering of journalism funders, we devoted our January journalism funders webinar to discussing challenges and opportunities abroad.
Watch the webinar:
We heard from:
- Alex Jakana, Program Officer of Global Media Partnerships at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who gave us the highlights from our small group discussions on international journalism at our annual Journalism Funders Gathering back in October.
- Nishant Lalwani, Director of Investments of Independent Media at Luminate, who provided an overview of the International Fund for Public Interest Journalism.
- Elisa Lees Muñoz, Executive Director of the International Women’s Media Foundation, who shared an overview of the issues of gender and diversity in the international journalism space.
- Liz Baker, Manager of Independent Journalism & Media at Humanity United, moderated the discussion.
Background: MIF & international media funding
Last year, we hosted a webinar focusing on the safety and security of journalists working internationally. As anti-democratic, anti-media rhetoric increases globally, funders supporting journalism work must understand and incorporate security issues into their grantmaking in order to advance essential reporting and protect journalists and journalism. This emerged as a major theme in our 2019 report Global Media Philanthropy: What Funders Need to Know About Data, Trends and Pressing Issues Facing the Field. Produced with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the report draws on media funding data from across the globe, as well as surveys, interviews and contributions from experts working in the field.
After the release of the report, we hosted another internationally focused webinar, which looked at the themes and highlights of a few big gatherings for the international journalism community, including the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy; the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, England; and the International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ) in Austin, Texas.
