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Promoting journalism means ensuring diversity

Christopher Buschow and Christian Mathias Wellbrock analyse the innovation landscape in journalism in Germany.

Democracy needs journalism. Journalism is under economic pressure. Innovation is missing. There is widespread agreement in the journalism branch on these findings. In an expert report for the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LfM), WiSo Professor Christian-Mathias Wellbrock and Junior Professor Christopher Buschow examine the question of how exactly journalism can be strengthened by promoting innovation.

Christopher Buschow and Christian Wellbrock see innovation as an essential prerequisite for meeting existing challenges in journalism. In their report, they analyse the innovation landscape in journalism in Germany. They pay particular attention to innovation policy, i.e. public funding. They describe the conditions and key players in the innovation system, point out barriers to innovation and present promising instruments for promoting innovation. In the end, they provide evidence-based recommendations for action and proposals for future-oriented innovation policy in German journalism.

"The fact that the Bundestag recently made 220 million euros available to support the press underlines the urgency of systematic journalism promotion in Germany. However, there is still a lack of a funding concept. With this report, we want to contribute to shaping German media innovation policy in a future-oriented way," comments Christopher Buschow on the current relevance of the study.

Dr Tobias Schmid also assigns great importance to the report: "We have a great responsibility to use the funding available for journalism in an appropriate and targeted manner," said the Director of Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia. Above all, this means that the LfM must give a boost to further develop journalism economically and sustainably with its funding. Only in this way can we guarantee diverse and independent journalism for NRW as a media location in the long term. We are pleased that the report provides a sound basis for this," said Schmid.

The complete report and an accompanying factsheet are available (in German) for download on the website of the LfM.