Taking place on the beautiful seashores of Sibenik, nautical references naturally abounded at the Philea Forum 2023. There was talk about maelstroms, sailing winds, and the need for a compass in these tumultuous times. It is my strong belief that public interest journalism can be that compass for society. Although it may still be a fairly niche topic for European philanthropy, I do think the tide is high for us to work closer together. 

On a very basic level, words have a tremendous impact on whether we feel included or excluded, hopeful or pessimistic, or energized versus overwhelmed. How we talk about crises matters for the kinds of solutions that we hope to see. The widespread phenomenon of “news fatigue” shows that there is still a lot of room for improvement within the media sector. At the same time, journalism itself is in deep crisis. Studies have shown that democracy dies in darkness. When local journalism is lost – and it is clinging on for dear life in most places – civic engagement goes down, voter participation drops, and corruption rises. In short, news deserts are bad for democracy and for our collective ability to solve the complex challenges of our time.

So what role can philanthropy play? Firstly, it is important to include public interest journalism into impact models and strategic frameworks as an invaluable lever towards strengthening democracy. Any discussion around the state of democracy – or lack thereof – in Europe must take into account that unfortunately, we can no longer take the fourth pillar of democracy for granted. Foundations can support public interest journalism in many ways, for example by enabling experimentation with new formats such as stage productions, audience research, civic tech development, investigation grants, impact investment or core funding, just to name a few.

Secondly, there needs to be an understanding that when we say journalism, we mean journalistic practice rather than traditional news outlets or the media sector at large. There has been a shift in journalistic practice towards greater citizen engagement: audiences are no longer seen as passive consumers of information but rather as a community that is actively involved in content creation, public events, and crowd-sourced investigations. In this approach, the role of the journalist shifts towards deeper listening as well as moderating dialogue between citizens, civil society, artists, and scientists. Personally, I see a lot of overlap here with the role of foundations as conveners.

Thirdly, local journalism in particular still enjoys high levels of trust with citizens. Local journalists are also best situated to translate the most pressing and complex challenges of our time into stories that are tangible and related to people’s lived experiences. At CORRECTIV, for example, we organized a forest walk with a local public radio station, a forest ranger and citizens, to examine first hand the effects of sinking groundwater levels as part of our climate change reporting. We organized a discussion with experts and citizens in this environment to help them understand the personal impact as well as possible avenues for action. This kind of ground-level work is resource-intensive, but so important to informing and mobilizing citizens on issues that are relevant to them. This is one of the very few ways people can experience the importance and relevance of democracy for their personal life.

It is my hope that until the next Philea Forum, the natural alliance between the philanthropic sector and public interest journalism in Europe will further unfold. Let us be the wind in each other’s sails!

Florence Wild, Head of Institutional Partnerships at Correctiv