Our strategy
Together with partners we strengthen journalism for a more democratic and sustainable world
The world is facing an era of immense environmental, social, and economic challenges, both at a local and global level. These challenges demand a new understanding of the role of journalism in society.
On this basis, we formulate our vision:
The public has access to the journalism it needs to make informed and sustainable decisions so that people have power over their lives and can, together with others, form sustainable, democratic, and inclusive societies.
Just as independent journalism is an inalienable part of democracy, Fojo sees it as an essential element of an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable society. We call this new way of looking at the role of journalism sustainable journalism. Our points of departure are two concurrent sustainability crises:
- The sustainability crisis facing society, related to climate change, poverty, inequality, and crumbling democracies
- The sustainability crisis facing journalism, which stems from an erosion of revenue streams, fierce competition from the global social media companies, restrictions of freedom of expression, media capture, disinformation and deteriorating public trust in the media.
We view these two crises as intrinsically intertwined. A sustainable society – environmentally, socially, and economically – demands journalism that explicitly addresses the sustainability challenges faced by society. Journalism must in turn have the ability to meet this demand to stay relevant and financially viable.
Based on this logic, we see a clear need to expand the traditional role of journalism to entail what we call sustainable journalism: an independent journalism that not only safeguards and promotes democracy, but which is an enabler of a sustainable society.
Our work is guided by five international governance documents:
- The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- The Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future
- The Beijing Platform for Action
- The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- The Paris Agreement
From this viewpoint, we formulate our strategic objective for the years 2022-2025:
Working with partners, we strengthen journalism that contributes to the sustainability of the media and society, safeguards media’s independence and holds power to account.
Would you like to find out more?
For more details on our strategy work, download the entire strategy document below.
