The title of the latest report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) is hardly catchy: Public support for the media: a six-country overview of direct and indirect subsidies.
But a quick scan of the contents illustrates the growing importance of the topic in the face of serious economic challenges to traditional news outlets and the rise of alternative start-ups.
The report by Dr Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (with assistance from Geert Linnebank) reviews different forms of public sector support for the media in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States.
It considers how much governments — and thus taxpayers — underwrite industry incumbents in broadcasting and print publishing as audiences increasingly supplement their use of legacy platforms with online and mobile media.
Nielsen writes: "The main forms of public support in place today remain the same as they have been for 30 years or more, and are heavily weighted in favour of long-established legacy players."
The most common form of intervention in five of the six countries is funding for public service media, but indirect subsidies for the privately owned press, through tax relief, amounts to hundreds of millions of euro per year in all of the countries.
VAT exemptions in Europe for newsprint newspapers, the most important form of indirect support for publishers, have historically helped keep prices low, circulation high, and the industry profitable.
The authors conclude: "It is time to review and renew media policy arrangements and bring them in line with the principles purportedly behind them and with the times that we live in."
Source: Reuters Institute
