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What is the impact of the pandemic on the financial health of the media?
The impact of the economic crisis resulting from the coronavirus pandemic is still challenging to quantify. The media industry has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. This impact builds on years of gradual revenue losses due to a financial model that is difficult to turn around considering the new digital habits in consuming information.
UNESCO prepared a report that attempts to reflect the changes and transformations in the production models, sources of income, and outputs of the Latin American media, upended by the COVID-19 crisis.
鈥淒uring the last year of the pandemic, the world has witnessed how disinformation can jeopardize democratic processes and even our lives. Thus, it is crucial to protect journalism and find feasible models for the financial sustainability of independent journalism. We need to urge governments, companies, and civil society to take part in this search,鈥 said Rosa Gonz谩lez, UNESCO鈥檚 Regional Information and Communication Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The report explores the impact of the pandemic on the media business models and sustainability strategies in Latin America. It also presents an analysis of the sources of income, the crisis in the advertising sector, and the decisions taken by the private media sector regarding income models and new ways of engaging their audiences in a context of significant shifts in social behaviors and habits.
In addition, the study sheds light on the actions carried out by state and community media, which played an essential role in the access to information of public interest. The document delves into the political decisions taken by Latin American states to meet, deliberately or not, the needs of journalism.
Friday, June 4th. 09:00 Colombia, Peru. 11:00 Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil
