Media and Journalism Research Center

19/06/2026

A new issue of the Journalism Funders Forum newsletter has been published, featuring insights and discussions on the evolving landscape of support for independent journalism.

One article that particularly caught our attention is an interview conducted by our colleague Robert Nemeth with Harlan Mandel, CEO of the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF). In the conversation, Mandel reflects on MDIF’s three decades of experience taking a different approach to supporting independent media focusing on patient capital rather than traditional grant-making.

The interview explores what it takes to build sustainable media organisations, why grants alone may not always be sufficient, and how investment-based approaches can help strengthen journalism in increasingly challenging and volatile environments.
In Mandel's words on what does meaningful impact looks like:
"the real impact that we are interested in is the societal impact: accountability, civic debate, political participation, access to information."

The Journalism Funders Forum newsletter is produced by our centre for Philea - Philanthropy Europe Association.

For three decades, the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) has taken a different path in supporting independent journalism through patient capital

13/06/2026

📊 Financial Signals #11 is out. This week we read five sets of 2025 company accounts across four countries, and they share one lesson: journalism's economic fate is increasingly decided outside the newsroom, by elections, ownership, state advertising, and platforms.
🇸🇦 MBC Group (Saudi Arabia) — the Arab world's largest broadcaster (MBC TV channels, the Shahid streaming platform, Al Arabiya news). Revenue up 28.5% to SAR 5.39bn, but the real story is Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund taking majority control.
🇭🇺 Mediaworks (Hungary) — the country's dominant press publisher (Magyar Nemzet and nearly all of Hungary's regional dailies). A 14-billion-forint loss, announced just weeks after the government that sustained it lost power.
🇭🇺 Magyar Narancs (Hungary) — the independent liberal weekly and news site. A small loss on flat revenue shows the cost of staying independent with no state advertising and no subsidy.
🇷🇴 Cuget Liber (Romania) — a Black Sea regional daily founded in 1944. Revenue down 10%, a doubled loss, and shrinking cash: the bare economics of local journalism.
🇰🇷 Kakao (South Korea) — the platform behind KakaoTalk (49.5m users) and the Daum portal. Back to profit on advertising and fintech, a reminder that the most powerful media company in a country may not be a publisher at all.

🔗 Read our regular Financial Signals https://globalmediaownership.com/media-influence-matrix-financial-signals-11/

11/06/2026

Call for Applications: Fellowship on Media Reform and AI Governance

The Maharat Foundation, in collaboration with the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC), has launched a fellowship programme focused on media reform and AI governance. The initiative aims to support journalists in Lebanon in covering and critically engaging with the regulatory, institutional, and technological changes reshaping the media sector.

This fellowship is part of the project “Media Reform to Enhance Freedom of Expression in Lebanon”, supported by the European Union.
Up to five fellows will be selected to produce and publish high-quality, evidence-based investigative journalism on issues related to media reform and AI governance.

Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must:
- Be journalists, reporters, or producers (freelance or affiliated with media organizations)
- Demonstrate interest in:
* AI and journalism
* Digital transformation
* Public-interest reporting
- Submit a strong story or policy proposal demonstrating quality, relevance, and feasibility.
- Be able to commit to the full duration of the six-month fellowship.
- Adhere to professional and ethical journalism standards

Application deadline: 21 June 2026
How to apply: See details below:
https://maharatfoundation.org/en/FellowshiponMediaReformandAIGovernance?fbclid=IwY2xjawSTX8NleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFFMjBEUjZmVGh4S2hjbjM0c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHhOMwOxAQowiovHIRxv6WQPUWCJIX5PFSlOVg90a2wRmKSlhMHrR7jDFyULP_aem_qpy44ZGsVsEyrIq8Yf3RuQ

Call for Applications: Fellowship on Media Reform and AI Governance

08/06/2026

Today, we published a new study exploring how political memes were used during the 2024 European Parliament elections, highlighting their growing importance as tools for political attacks, identity-building, and digital mobilisation.

The study was written by Sara Marseglia, a Media Studies student and journalist with a background in Political Science, as part of MJRC’s Young Researchers Program. It is also part of MJRC’s Media Content Analysis Series, a research portfolio that examines media output, political framing, bias, visibility trends, and communication patterns across different platforms and countries.

The findings show that memes were used primarily for negative campaigning, ridicule, and the delegitimisation of political opponents, with irony appearing far more frequently than straightforward humour. Despite being created and shared during a European election campaign, most of the memes analysed did not focus directly on European Union issues. This suggests that even in the context of European elections, political memes often remain rooted in national political debates and identities.

Read the study below!

The Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC) has published a new study examining how political memes were used during the 2024 European Parliament elections, highlighting their growing role as tools of attack, identity-building and digital mobilisation. The study, From Jokes to Votes: Memes as a....

08/06/2026

A new article published in the International Journal of Communication (University of Southern California Annenberg) explores resilience in newsrooms during periods of authoritarian resurgence. Written by our fellow Fatima El Issawi (University of Essex) and Joshua E. Rigg, the study examines how journalists in Egypt and Algeria navigate restrictive political environments and sustain their work under conditions of unequal power.

Focusing on journalists’ everyday experiences, the article draws on semi-structured interviews and life-history narratives with dissenting journalists in both countries. It investigates the strategies they use to cope with intense pressures, adapt to changing circumstances, and continue practicing journalism despite structural constraints.

The authors argue that resilience is not a fixed trait but an evolving set of practices that allows journalists to circumvent limitations while preserving professional gains achieved during earlier periods of relative openness.
We are pleased to share this important contribution and encourage everyone to read it.

The article is available as open access.

Resilience in Newsrooms in Times of Authoritarian Resurgence: We Went From the Sky to Under the Ground Authors Fatima El Issawi University of Essex Joshua E. Rigg Independent Researcher DOI: https://doi.org/10.65476/dxz0xh45 Keywords: resilience, journalistic practices, authoritarian resurgence, rew...

08/06/2026

We've been asking the wrong question about quantum. Not "when will a computer break encryption?", but "who is building the network meant to replace it, and will you be allowed on?"

Because in May, while the headlines chased qubits, the plumbing got laid. The network is being built before the computer. And the early map of who gets connected (governments, banks, hospitals) will gradually decide who can communicate securely for the next decades.

Newsrooms are mostly not on that map yet.

Our June Secure Internet Signal breaks down what this means for people, companies and the future of communication, in plain language, with the story angles reporters can act on now.

The Signal is available for Media and Journalism Exchange members.

Login to Media and Journalism Exchange community via email or SSO today.

08/06/2026

Applications open for our fellowship program run jointly with Maharat Foundation aimed at strengthening journalists' knowldge and use of AI in their work. Deadline on 21 June 2026.

29/05/2026

Our State Media Monitor project is currently being updated for 2026, with new indicators, refreshed country profiles, and a redesigned database that makes it easier to compare how state media are owned, governed, funded, and controlled across different countries.

As part of this update, we have published a new analytical overview of state media in Middle Africa, covering seven countries and 20 media outlets that together serve an estimated population of 215 million people.

The findings reveal that none of the seven countries reviewed by the State Media Monitor has statutory safeguards for editorial independence or an autonomous governing-board mechanism in place. Angola is the only country in the region where more than one state-media typology was identified combining state-controlled and captured-public models and it ranks in the lower third of the global press freedom index.

According to the 2026 RSF Index, Chad recorded the region’s biggest improvement, climbing 15 places, while Angola and the Central African Republic saw the sharpest declines, each falling nine places. Gabon and Cameroon also dropped by two places each.

Watch this space for regular insights that will be published up to the release of the 2026 Global State Media Monitor overview scheduled for late September.
https://statemediamonitor.com/2026/05/state-media-in-middle-africa-a-uniform-architecture-diverging-fortunes/

29/05/2026

A new episode in our audio brief series on Spotify continues the exploration of Marius Dragomir’s study, The Architecture of Media Capture: Typologies, Global Patterns, and the Tech Threat, this time examining how the Hungarian model of media capture spread across Europe. While each country’s version operates through its own political logic and mechanisms, they all lead to the same result: journalism turned into a tool of power, and citizens deprived of the independent information essential to democratic life.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4DP36zZ7sbdxJKfewZEQoY?si=1809bcb2b5d84b6f&nd=1&dlsi=e5b98ae3884f48f3

MJRC Audio Briefs · Episode

26/05/2026

https://youtube.com/shorts/GyTyQ3zpbHM?feature=share

A new study, Who Owns the Answer tries to tackle this difficult question.