At its 24th Plenary meeting (29 November - 1 December 2023), the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) endorsed the report on ‘Good practices for sustainable news media financing’ elaborated by the Committee of experts on increasing resilience of media (MSI-RES). The report was drafted by co-rapporteurs Elda Brogi, Scientific Coordinator at the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom and Professor (part-time) at the European University Institute in Florence, and Helle Sjøvaag, Professor of Journalism at the University of Stavanger. 

Good practices for sustainable media financing consist of three main parts; first, they provide an analysis of the media markets and news media business models. The theoretical framework is followed by examples of good practices for different revenue sources ranging from advertising and direct user revenue to public support, grants by private actors and development assistance. The report provides concrete examples of news media outlets whose practices of deriving revenue from specific sources have proved sustainable in recent years.  

Finally, the report includes several recommendations to member states, the media industry, philanthropic donors and the Council of Europe. The recommendations are grounded in the guidelines on financing set out in Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on promoting a favourable environment for quality journalism in the digital age.