At the invitation of Ambassador Mark Gitenstein from the US Mission to the European Union and the Media Development Investment Fund, brokered by Investing for Good, Fran Sanderson presented to a Financing Media Freedom conference in Brussels in February 2024 on blended finance models and their applications for sectors with mixed model economies.
The United States and the EU jointly convened a workshop involving private sector investors, media executives, and media freedom activists from the United States, the EU, and EU aspirant states. While the media sector itself will lead its digital transformation, public authorities have a duty to help, given the central role of the media for democracy and the power of public authorities in creating a fair environment for media to operate.
Fran’s role was to highlight the opportunity for independent models utilising a structured combination of public, private and philanthropic capital, and the potential for these sources of funding to work together powerfully when aligned around a common priority.
