Giving Compass' Take:

• Christoph Plate argues that philanthropy is not an appropriate support for journalism as it is not sustainable and may sway the contents of the journalism. 

• Is there a way for philanthropy to support journalism without these drawbacks? Is it better to have no journalism than philanthropy-supported journalism? 

• Learn about dwindling local news sources. 

Media philanthropy, no matter with what good intentions, can in the long-run undermine journalistic ethics. Giving things for free creates the typical donor-recipient dependency, with African media outlets reliant on American donors who mean well but know very little. It also contradicts the role of a self-sufficient media, serving as the Fourth Estate, no matter how disputed the term might be.

KAS Media Africa is sometimes mentioned at conferences as a donor or a philanthropic institution. We are neither. What we do is to encourage exchanges between media owners and media regulators on the African continent, between the private sector and the state. We don’t do training, but we do comparative studies on media laws in many African countries as well as bring together political bloggers from the continent, who have in many instances taken over the critical role of political commentators.

We are able to do all this with German taxpayers’ money. We believe that the separation of powers is essential for democracy. Strong and independent media is essential for democratic societies.

Newspapers that are funded by wealthy philanthropists in far-away places do indeed find it increasingly difficult to maintain their editorial independence. It is somehow understood that a media outlet funded by the Open Society Foundations is unlikely to publish a critical story on George Soros, and the Washington Post is unlikely to report extensively about working conditions at Amazon, as they are both owned by Jeff Bezos.

Read the full article about philanthropy's role in journalism by Christoph Plate at Media Impact Funders.