Media Finance Monitor - Center for Sustainable Media

The problem at the heart of Europe's journalism funding debate

The EU is about to make its biggest investment in journalism. The Commission's own data suggests it may not be enough.

Mar 5 • Peter Erdelyi and David Kardos

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February 2026

Journalism is the OG distillation attack

Terminological gymnastics from Anthropic and OpenAI, $3.4 billion in ChatGPT revenue, two Pew studies that say the same thing, and quarterly results…

Feb 26 • Peter Erdelyi and María Paula Ángel Benavides

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Denník N invests hundreds of thousands euros and takes over EUobserver

The first European media acquisition facilitated, in part, by this newsletter. No, really.

Feb 17 • Peter Erdelyi

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All the money in the world, and it's still not enough to save you

On the collapse of the Washington Post and three entirely realistic strategies for the survival of journalism.

Feb 12 • Peter Erdelyi

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When big tech is saving democracy and the fourth estate

Accountability journalism in Minnesota, prediction markets funding newsrooms and fueling disinformation, Chat GPT replacing local news and 21 active…

Feb 5 • Peter Erdelyi and María Paula Ángel Benavides

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January 2026

Here is how the Council would change the EU's most important journalism funding program

The first leaks from MFF negotiations are in. Four amendments that worry us, one that doesn't, and what comes next.

Jan 29 • Peter Erdelyi and David Kardos

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The information ecosystem cosplaying 1989 in Davos

Honesty and copium at the World Economic Forum, Google being straight about publisher compensation, outside money helping creators, a community outlet…

Jan 22 • Peter Erdelyi and María Paula Ángel Benavides

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The same day the US banned anti-disinformation activists, Meta quietly extended contracts for fact-checkers

Meta's Third-Party Fact-Checking program was supposed to end. Instead, it got one more year, everywhere except the United States.

Jan 15 • Peter Erdelyi

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Journalism Partnerships is brutally competitive. We analyzed every winner since 2021, here’s what the data says

The “magic number” for consortiums, the Netherlands’ dominance, and why applying alone is statistically a waste of time. Plus 26 active calls

Jan 8 • Peter Erdelyi and María Paula Ángel Benavides

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December 2025

The TV show that destroyed journalism

A Very Serious post for New Year's.

Dec 30, 2025 • Peter Erdelyi

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The US travel bans are not about free speech. They're about sovereignty in the age of platform power

Most of Europe's information infrastructure is American-controlled. The risks are becoming harder to ignore.

Dec 26, 2025 • Peter Erdelyi

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I want your money

End-of-year appeals often come wrapped in sentiment about the importance of independent journalism and the state of democracy. I’ll skip that part.

Dec 18, 2025 • Peter Erdelyi

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