IGF 2020 #Netgov and news media sustainability in the times of crisis

This session will constitute our annual meeting to update the DC-Sustainability members on important developments since we launched at IGF 2019. It will also provide space to present the outcome of our 2020 action plan, which we devised in December 2019 and January 2020. Over the course of 2020, we are working to publish an edited volume that gathers case studies (“chapters”) highlighting the different ways digital policies (and the lack of journalistic/media input) impact media sustainability. All dynamic coalition members (individuals and/or organizations) have been encouraged to contribute to addressing some of the key issues that were identified at our meeting at IGF 2019 in Berlin that range from issues related to content and digital platforms, to governance, policy, and regulation. The goal is to have a diverse compilation of concrete examples and case studies that are easily understandable to other Internet governance stakeholders, and that can then advise our 2021 action plan. The session itself will highlight some of these stories, offering a platform for the authors to share and expand on their experiences, while also addressing media sustainability in the digital age at a time of crisis. Already, the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout, journalism and news media have never been more vulnerable (see, for instance: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/risj-review/what-will-coronavirus-pandemic-mean-business-news). Furthermore, journalists and the news media industry as a whole face unprecedented threats in the changing information environment — economic and market challenges, increasing distrust and denigration of their work, and new forms of digital repression — that are often overlooked in today’s regulatory conversations. Especially now with the perfect storm of disinformation, market destabilization, digital repression of critical voices, and the disruption of our daily lives caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the situation facing journalism and news media is dire (see: https://medium.com/global-network-initiative-collection/threats-to-media-sustainability-and-freedom-of-expression-in-the-digital-era-by-michael-j-41fab4d8664a). Thus, our session will explore what stakeholders within the Internet governance ecosystem can do to support journalism and news media sustainability in these unprecedented times.