By Cecilia Anesi (Co-Director, IRPI) and Claire M. Roney (Fundraiser, IRPI)
Journalism does not exist in Italian donors’ minds, as it does not exist in the philanthropic landscape of the Bel Paese. Journalism is not perceived as the Fourth Estate or as the watchdog of democracy. It is not perceived as at risk, even though increasingly more reporters are threatened physically and legally, and the space for free speech is shrinking each day. Journalism is not perceived as an opportunity to keep political power under check in Italy. Actually, the opposite, Italian funders are scared to death of getting close to journalism or that being seen as supporters of journalism will make them look “politicised”. Historically, that might have to do with the management of journalism in Italy: newspapers were funded by parties, and many are partially today supported by State funds.
In fact, many of the large media organisations in Italy’s mediascape share direct connections to specific political parties. In the last decade, the situation worsened with traditional media continuing to see declining trust and decreasing readership. There is a void of in-depth analysis and investigative journalism, which is also among the most expensive to produce. In its absence, the Italian audience has begun to favour “alternative” media – websites that feign being “independent” while spreading shades of conspiracy theories and far-right rhetoric. Far-right political parties also make great use of the “alternative” press to spread fear and create panic around the issues of security, migration, and economic uncertainty. Unfortunately, this is not unique to Italy, but applies also to other newsrooms across Europe like Malta, Hungary and Romania.
The production of quality information and government accountability is decreasing in such places, and the philanthropic environment for journalism remains unfriendly at best. There are few, if any, opportunities to receive funding in journalism in Italy, and little-to-no possibility for core funding. The only option is for nonprofit newsrooms to participate in calls for projects that tackle social issues and use journalism as a side thing, as a means to address those issues. For example, some years ago IRPI was supported by two Italian foundations in a project encompassing the production and distribution of a documentary, “Se Potessi Tornare” that would tell the story of a woman leaving a life of organized crime. The foundations were primarily interested in its distribution to young students from disadvantaged areas, work that we were also keen to do because it brought new information and a chance for change to young generations in the peripheries (e.g. Reggio Calabria and Milan). However, this social change could not have taken place without the investigative journalism aspect. Investigative journalism is costly, ranging from 300 euros to 50.000 euros according to needs, as opposed to mainstream media payments to freelance reporters (5 euros to 500 euros). Additionally, if we count the costs of an independent investigative newsroom, then we have to add the rough production costs to the editorial “machine” beyond reporters (e.g. editors, fact-checkers, visual production, legal check). There is also the safety of the reporters, both legally and physically, adding another couple thousand euros in the best case, or in the worst cases (i.e. relocation) much more.
As a Funder expressed once in the Ariadne Forecast, «Safety and security for investigative journalists is expected to become more important. For example, one organisation is currently investigating war crimes by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, and this evidence will be used in trials, bringing that organisation under threat from Russia. Journalists and the media are being criminalised in some jurisdictions, but distrust in the media is prevalent in many parts of the world. Journalism is simply becoming more difficult. In addition, many of the investigative journalism organisations are not-for-profit, and with many media funders leaving Europe to focus on the Global South, they face funding challenges. How they choose to fill those funding gaps could influence their independence».
Another Donor, from the Netherlands, said: «I hope that the added value of investigative journalism will be more acknowledged and that other supporters will jump on the bandwagon so that important stories can still be told and shared with as many people as possible».
Sadly, investigative journalism in Italy is only possible thanks to foreign donors in Europe, who support our work through project and core funding. Italian donors seem to either not care or not recognise journalism’s democratic role in strengthening civil society, and so the field goes unnoticed as a viable investment opportunity despite its necessity for a functioning democracy. The problem is not unique to Italy either, it also characterises the broader Mediterranean where small newsrooms and non-profit publishers are struggling to keep the lights on.
We do, strongly, believe the Italian philanthropic world is missing an opportunity here to improve the collective care of society and the accountability of governments which is integral to a functioning democracy. We believe supporting journalism is important, especially if we want social change. While we expect mainstream media to survive from its own marketing (and wrongly so), we cannot but notice real change is increasingly fostered by small-to-medium independent media that have risen out of deserts. Yet this is precisely where there seems to be zero resources available. Young, passionate reporters are in economic precarity, counting only on the famous Italian family welfare, but independent newsrooms such as IrpiMedia and the FADA Collective have spurred collective answers to the crisis by uniting ideas and visions, sharing workplaces and costs, and supporting each other’s freelancing work to slowly change the old model set by the relinquished mainstream journalism of the large organisations like “Mamma Rai” (“mother Rai”, a way of calling the public TV, RAI), Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica. Today, impact journalism is out of the hands of the mainstream media in Italy and is led by freelancers working with grassroots communities who are able to advocate for change at institutional levels – less corruption, more transparency, better legislation, more social measures, more equal access to resources.
While mainstream media are struggling with the market challenges and have mostly shifted to a paywall model, a few important independent online media have risen in the last decade. Some are for registered users only, such as members, while some have a mixed model (e.g. paywall and some free information, like Il Post). And then there is the first and only online investigative media outlet, IrpiMedia, fully readable for free and published by the unique investigative reporting centre of Italy, the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI), for which we both work.
IRPI so far publishes its journalism on irpimedia.eu to be read for free, but as noted above cannot survive on core funding forever, a challenge other non-profit European newsrooms face. To diversify revenue, we are working to develop a subscribers-only section of the website that will offer additional products such as podcasts, newsletters and more. Apart from this extra content, IrpiMedia will continue to be a free press. We strongly believe the main information that we provide to the public via our investigations and features needs to be accessible to everyone, without a paywall, because we believe social change cannot be gained unless people can, first of all, regain trust in the media, and second of such media can reach everyone, including and most importantly people from disadvantaged social categories such as disadvantaged areas in Southern Italy, the peripheries of cities, or young generations and migrants that are cut off by paywalls. While it’s clear a sustainable model cannot only rely on philanthropic support, it is also clear that the Italian media landscape and market is not an easy one for independent media to survive on their own.
Therefore, while IRPI works to diversify its income streams in many creative ways, the shifting strategies of European donors to finance fewer national entities, mixed with the non-existent national funding panoramas, poses a big question mark on the future of independent journalism in Italy and elsewhere. Our hope at IRPI is to spark change in society through independent, investigative and impact reporting. Our greatest aim is to change the philanthropic landscape with societal change, not only amongst Italian donors, but also funders in the broader landscape.