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The Commission aims to support projects that promote a free, diverse and pluralistic media environment, address structural challenges of the media sectors and/or improve citizens' access to quality information. Examples include supporting collaborative journalism, monitoring risks to media pluralism, mapping violations of media freedom, defending journalists under threat, supporting media literacy and strengthening the European public sphere.
In short, the European Union supports the news media sector primarily through several instruments:
- The ‘Multimedia Actions’ line to fund independent news media coverage of EU affairs.
- Actions under its Creative Europe programme to support media pluralism and freedom, media collaborations and media literacy.
- Actions part of innovation programmes (Digital Europe, Horizon Europe).
- And Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions proposed by the European Parliament on an annual basis.
The available budget amounts to approximately €50 million per year.