Media sustainability in the pandemic conflicting world: Reflections from diverse perspectives

TY - JOUR

T1 - Media sustainability in the pandemic conflicting world

T2 - Reflections from diverse perspectives

AU - Jamil, Sadia

AU - Panagiotou, Nikos

AU - Fragkonikolopolous, Christos

AU - Gladkova, Anna

N1 - Funding Information: The notion of media sustainability is quite contestable. There is no universal definition. This is perhaps because of diverse political and socio-cultural contexts within which news media operate. One aspect of media sustainability can be assessing it through the quality of content it produces. However, media do require enough resources of time, money, technology, and experienced professionals who are expert in producing quality content as per the public needs and demands. This implies that resources lie at the heart of maintaining media sustainability (Kluempers & Schneider, 2015). Media sustainability is the news organization’s capability to function effectively under stable political, legal, and economic conditions (Frere, 2013). In a sustainable environment, ‘journalists and media organizations perform their roles without any intervention or fear of violence, and media organizations have stable legal and business conditions that make them enable to pay their staffs good salaries’, gain institutional legitimacy by discouraging corruption, 1 This research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project number 22-18-00225. 2 Corresponding author: Anna Gladkova, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Journalism, 9, Mokhovaya st, Moscow, Russia. Email: gladkova_a@list.ru and foster overall media industry’s integrity (Centre for International Media Assistance, 2014). Media sustainability also reflects itself in the ownership structure, which is pluralistic and that give ensure representation of all members of society regardless of any discrimination (Kluempers & Schneider, 2015). Moreover, media operates at an intersection of three resources: technology, economics, and law and policy (Jamil, 2020). Conceptually, media sustainability is underpinned by an operating framework that encompasses all three areas of resources. For production and distribution, media organizations require technology that is cost effective and efficient, and that can efficiently distribute the produced content to the public. This means it necessitates a business model and an economic system that drives enough revenue to produce quality media content, as well as it requires a legal and policy framework that supports independent and free media. But it is crucial to recognize that business models may vary in different economic systems and socio-cultural settings, and thus a universal concept of media sustainability is not possible.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135473843&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.30547/worldofmedia.2.2022.1

DO - 10.30547/worldofmedia.2.2022.1

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85135473843

SN - 2307-1605

VL - 2022

SP - 5

EP - 12

JO - World of Media

JF - World of Media

IS - 2

ER -