Financial support to media and journalists during Covid-19

The health crisis showed that there is a vital need for trustworthy and reliable information. In fact, media outlets and journalists faced a double challenge.

On one hand, all media taken together experienced a sharp increase in consumption. Reporters and media workers were in the front line – they were our ears and eyes when most citizens were required to stay at home.

On the other hand, European media have faced huge fall in revenues which has aggravated an already downward trend, in particular for newspapers, periodicals and radio broadcasting. It meant falling wages for journalists, in particular freelancers. The reality on the field also revealed difficult access to information, physical attacks and even detention for many journalists. In total, Mapping Media Freedom registered 37 alerts related to the pandemic, in 13 European countries.

With the help of its affiliates in 44 European countries, the EFJ has mapped the different emergency packages, direct financial support and long-term measures, if any,  in the database on this page .