Navigating Central European Journalism: Unraveling the Current Landscape and Financial Dynamics

Participants:

• Gábor Kardos – Chief Executive Officer, 444.hu - Magyar Jeti Zrt.
• Veronika Munk – Director of Innovation and New Markets, Denník N
• Jan Vitásek – Publisher, EU-Media, EurActiv.cz
• Bartosz Wieliński – Deputy Editor-in-chief, Gazeta Wyborcza
• Moderator: Attila Kert – Head of Office, Euronews

Main takeaways:

• Independence requires financial sustainability. Media outlets are in trouble because of the lack of funding. While it used to be a thriving business, it is hard to survive on it now. There is a need for innovative and new ideas on how to finance mediums. There are different schemes, the best is to combine them all.
• There are two main ways to generate income: society needs to contribute and there are institutional partnerships, which can help mediums to survive.
  • Readers need to understand that they should contribute if they want to read quality material. Producing digital content is not cheap.
• Mediums are not the only ones in trouble: journalists – who speak up against the government – are also being threatened and their work is hardened.
• The way information is disseminated from key sources (such as politicians) has changed: PMs and others are communicating directly to their audience and they do not need an intermediary. It is not easy to produce content in the post-truth world.
• Is it necessary to be balanced? It is important to be critical, truthful and relevant when conveying messages.
• International cooperation is important and crucial, but it will not solve the financial issue. It is good at making the publishing houses stronger by using better tools, learning from each other’s best practices etc.