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Media Diversity Institute Global

MDIG

Media Diversity Institute (MDI) works internationally to encourage accurate and nuanced reporting on race, religion, ethnicity, class, disability, gender and sexual identity issues in media landscapes around the world.

Lobbying Activity

Response to EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for external action

28 Nov 2025

Media Diversity Institute Global submits the following joint recommendation, as member of the EU Media Advocacy Group. This document reflects a consolidated contribution from organisations working inside and outside the EU, committed to strengthening media freedom, information integrity and democratic resilience in partner countries. While we welcome the ambition of the Global Europe instrument to reinforce the EUs geopolitical and development objectives, the current proposal does not adequately recognise or resource independent journalism, media freedom, and information integrity as essential pillars of EU external action. Our submission calls for the explicit recognition of journalism as democratic and critical infrastructure; dedicated and long-term funding for public-interest media and resilient information ecosystems; strengthened crisis-response mechanisms; robust transparency, oversight, and anti-capture safeguards; and the integration of public-interest digital infrastructure, blended finance, and journalist-safety mechanisms into the instrument. These recommendations aim to ensure that Global Europe delivers the level of ambition required to counter foreign information manipulation and interference, address the structural decline of independent media, and reinforce democratic governance, accountability, and sustainable development in partner countries. The recommendations provided therefore set out the amendments needed to ensure that Global Europe fully aligns with EU and international commitments, including the UN Pact for the Future, the OECD Principles for Relevant and Effective Support to Media, and the Paris Declaration on Multilateral Action for Information Integrity and Independent Media. The full submission is attached in text format for your consideration.
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Response to EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for cross-border education, training and solidarity, youth, media, culture, and creative sectors, values, and civil society

25 Nov 2025

Please find attached the full text of our submission on the AgoraEU programme, prepared jointly by the EU Media Advocacy Group. The document sets out our collective recommendations to ensure that AgoraEU delivers long-term, scalable, and systemic support for journalism and the wider public-interest information ecosystem. In line with the OECD Principles for Effective Support to Media, we call for dedicated multi-annual and core funding for independent, investigative, local, community, and cross-border media; robust editorial-independence safeguards; investment in public-interest digital infrastructure; and financial instruments that catalyse private capital without undermining editorial autonomy. The submission also emphasises the need to strengthen media literacy as a cross-cutting resilience pillar, with targeted support for underserved communities, innovative audience-engagement tools, and AI-supported verification. We highlight the importance of dedicated funding for journalistic safety, including legal and digital protection, emergency relocation, psychosocial support, and anti-SLAPP enforcement, and call for sustained support for fact-checking organisations. The full submission with detailed recommendations is attached in pdf format for your consideration. Regardsm Luc Steinberg
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