The Media for Democracy Monitor 2021: How Leading News Media Survive Digital Transformation

"The media have been regarded as fundamental agents in democracies. Monitoring must be a regular exercise in order to hold the media accountable to the people and to facilitate the public debate on their performance."

This two-volume publication shares the 2021 results of the Media for Democracy Monitor (MDM), which monitors to what extent the structures and conduct of news media across Europe and beyond correspond with the requirements of contemporary democracies. Based on a root concept of democracy and several empirical indicators, the MDM looks in particular at news media's performance regarding freedom, equality, and control across 18 countries, with a focus on the influence of digitalisation. The Media for Democracy Monitor is a research project conducted by the Euromedia Research Group (EMRG), a network of researchers concerned with media structure and media policy in Europe and beyond.

As explained on the MDM website, the MDM seeks to monitor media performance not through its content but by looking at the structural features within which the content is produced and how they allow for (or not) democratic practices. The methodology sees the core values of democracy as freedom, equality, and control. These values are then translated into communication functions: "The media's communication function which derives from freedom is the information function; from equality follows what might be called public opinion-making or simply the forum function; and from control follows the function to act as a watchdog against the abuse of all types of power."

From this root concept, the project has developed the following media mandates and indicators for each of three dimensions, which are used to monitor whether media are contributing towards democracy:

Freedom/Information: The media must serve as a guardian of the flow of information. Indicators include:

• Geographic distribution of news media availability
• Patterns of news media use (news consumption)
• Diversity of news sources
• Internal rules for practice of newsroom democracy
• Company rules against internal/external influence on the newsroom
• Procedures on news selection and news processing

Equality/Interest Mediation: The media must provide a forum for public discussion of diverse, often conflicting ideas. Indicators include:

• Media ownership concentration national/regional/local
• Diversity of formats
• Minority/alternative media
• Affordable public and private media
• Content monitoring instruments
• Code of ethics at the national level
• Level of self-regulation
• Participation
• Rules and practices on internal pluralism

Control/Watchdog: The media must act as a public watchdog against the abuse. Indicators include:

• Supervising the watchdog ("control of the controllers")
• Independence of the news media from power holders
• Transparency of data on media system
• Journalism professionalism
• Journalism job security
• Watch-dog and media mission statements
• Professional training
• Watch-dog and financial resources

Monitoring is conducted through desk research and interviews. Data are gathered from international sources like Digital News Report, V-Dem, Freedom House, and Reporters without Borders, as well as from national data sets on the economics of media companies, journalism surveys, and academic research on the media landscape. Interviews are conducted with local media executives, journalists, bloggers, and other persons active in the publication of news and current affairs.

The results of the 2021 study are shared in two volumes: Volume 1 includes countries that were featured in the first MDM study conducted in 2011, which allows for a longitudinal comparative analysis. Countries involved include: Australia, Austria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Volume 2 includes all countries analysed for the first time in 2021: Belgium (Flanders), Canada, Chile, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, and South Korea. Each volume features an analysis of the results, as outlined by researchers from each country.

Contents of Volume 1:

1. "Democratic performance of news media: Dimensions and indicators for comparative studies", by Josef Trappel & Tales Tomaz
2. "Australia: Media concentration and deteriorating conditions for investigative journalism", by Tim Dwyer, Derek Wilding & Tim Koskie
3. "Austria: Confirmed democratic performance while slowly digitalising", by Manuela Grünangerl, Josef Trappel & Tales Tomaz
4. "Finland: Sustaining professional norms with fewer journalists and declining resources", by Marko Ala-Fossi, John Grönvall, Kari Karppinen & Hannu Nieminen
5. "Germany: Solid journalistic professionalism and strong public service media", by Christine Horz-Ishak & Barbara Thomass
6. The Netherlands: On media concentration and resilient freelance journalists", by Hanne Vandenberghe & Leen d'Haenens
7. Portugal: Impoverished media struggling for survival", by Joaquim Fidalgo
8. "Sweden: Continuity and change in a more fragmented media landscape" by Lars Nord & Torbjörn von Krogh
9. "Switzerland: Highly concentrated leading news media in austerity and downsizing mode", by Heinz Bonfadelli & Werner A. Meier, in collaboration with Michael Schanne
10. "United Kingdom: Economic challenges, market consolidation and increasing professional insecurity", by Martin Moore & Gordon Ramsay

Contents of Volume 2:

1. "Belgium (Flanders): News diversity put under pressure", by Jonathan Hendrickx, Pauljan Truyens, Karen Donders & Ike Picone
2. "Canada: A strong foundation with an uncertain future", by Gregory Taylor & Brooks DeCillia
3. "Chile: Crisis of trust and a precarious industry", by Enrique Núñez-Mussa
4. "Denmark: High media independence and informal democratic traditions in the newsroom", by Mark Blach-Ørsten, Rasmus Burkal, Eva Mayerhöffer & Ida Willig
5. "Greece: Media concentration and independent journalism between austerity and digital disruption", by Stylianos Papathanassopoulos, Achilleas Karadimitriou, Christos Kostopoulos & Ioanna Archontaki
6. "Hong Kong: Free press under existential threat", by Lo Wai Han & Wong Tin Chi
7. "Iceland: A small media system facing increasing challenges", by Valgerður Jóhannsdóttir, Jón Gunnar Ólafsson & Friðrik Þór Guðmundsson
8. "Italy: A highly regulated system in search of equality", by Claudia Padovani, Giuliano Bobba, Alice Baroni, Marinella Belluati, Cecilia Biancalana, Mauro Bomba, Alice Fubini, Francesco Marrazzo, Rossella Rega, Christian Ruggiero, Simone Sallusti, Sergio Splendore & Michele Valente
9. "South Korea: Relatively healthy, still trying hard to adapt to digitalisation", by Eun-mee Kim & Jae-woo Lee
10. "Solid performance, but democratic deficits remain. Conclusions", by Josef Trappel & Tales Tomaz

Click here for more information on the research project.

The webinar below presents the methodology of the MDM 2021 and briefly provides some of the core findings on how leading news media and journalistic infrastructure are performing.