Modern media has hit a crisis of credibility, which besides affects another areas – the economy, climate and politics. Experts agree – "Without reliable information, we cannot solve the most urgent economic, social and environmental challenges of our time." That's what the participants said. panel organised by the Information and Democracy Forum – leading economists from all over the world. Among them were Nobel laureates in economics, prof. Joseph E. Stiglitz (received the award in 2001) and prof. Daron Acemoğlu (received the award in 2024).
Reliable information is the foundation of the modern economy, social trust and freedom of speech. Although these phenomena seem unrelated, in reality there is simply a strong relation between them. This was seen by Nobel laureates gathered at the Information and Democracy Forum* in September 2025. It is an global initiative founded by Reporters without Borders, working together to make pluralistic media. The consequence of their work is published statement, which is simply a 21-page study presenting a hazard assessment to date and a recovery plan.
Circle of the Information Era
The authors specify public media as those whose intent is to supply reliable information, while maintaining editorial and financial independence, as well as transparency of decision-making processes. They clearly separate them from the media financed by the state budget, with which we should not confuse them.
It can be concluded that public media are besides an antithesis of a popular media model based on financial dependence on large entities.
Big-techs, having their own social media, focus the audience's attention on content of an entertaining nature that generates financial gains. In this case, they usage a simple profit and failure account that does not meet the needs of a democratic society. This produces very negative consequences, invisible at first glance. The letter's authors are informing that specified actions lead to a distortion of the decision-making process in the citizens, which translates into a general level of public debate in the country.
A change in the sources of public media backing is besides worrying.
The improvement of digital platforms has made large corporations a player to be reckoned with.
Without strong opponents on the market, big-tech charges for distributing information on their platforms. It strikes the public interest media with double power. Firstly, they lose coverage, and secondly, they drop gross from advertising, which means 1 of the sources of their backing is eliminated. Public media can now be presented as a backbone for the full information organism, which is oriented towards the recipient. Unfortunately, this spine is bent on all side.
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Informational armagedone
This phrase by Maria Ressa (the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2021) was included in the Nobel Prize list for a reason. The author compares the situation in the media to informational armagedon – the process of access to reliable information. It increases, destroying the current order, and with it the foundations of the strategy in which we function.
Two main processes are liable – propaganda and disinformation. The Russian Federation is the “master” of their usage and dissemination. The letter’s authors mention disturbing data. According to the OECD study (Organisation for economical Cooperation and Development) Russia spends over $1.5 billion a year manipulating facts, distorting them and matching them for its goals. Only in 2024 was the goal of abroad manipulation as many as 90 countries. Experts emphasize that divisions produced by misinformation encourage the formation of information bubbles – deepening the divisions of society by building an isolated reality, frequently far from the real one. And here are the effects – already around 50% of voters in the US have problems distinguishing fake news from real information.
That's not the end of the problem.
The general state and freedom of independent media and journalists are besides deteriorating in the world.
In many countries, occupation losses occur. Legal and political attacks on the media are besides on the agenda, which argue the submission of authoritative communicative and thus exposure them to marginalisation and closure. The frequent method of dealing with uncomfortable journalists in this case are defamation claims, i.e. the alleged SLAPP. The process is to intimidate journalists in criminal and civilian processes in order to silence and disable their transmission. Only in Europe since 2010, there have been 1049 specified cases.
Information on the foundation of the economy
Signatories of the letter of the Information and Democracy Forum give a very detailed overview of the problems of the modern information environment. They besides see a way out of this hard and complicated situation. Experts participating in the panel formulated a fresh imagination of public media perception. Linking reliable information to money, or capital.
According to them, public interest media should be seen as a central bank in the modern information economy.
The thought of this explanation is to supply information “trust” to the strategy so that another entities can make the right decisions, based on this “trust”. In the absence of a central bank issuing "information trust", undesirable processes are generated in the strategy – this is an economical inefficiency, as well as a general slowdown in growth-enhancing mechanisms.
How does that work? Public media make large profits. Their control function reduces the negative phenomenon of corruption. In this case, public media act as an additional ‘controller’. They conduct their separate investigations, which simultaneously support the operation of the state's anti-corruption structures. They frequently end in success. It is calculated that due to this activity in 2025 alone, a full of $1.86 billion was recovered to the state budget. And the good news is more!
Access to information increases productivity.
This was illustrated by India. It was there, during the alleged Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, that the regional radio broadcasts contributed 15% more to the harvest. Farmers, receiving radio information on crop technology and projections, were able to correct their decisions, thereby expanding their productivity.
Priority actions
Strong action is needed to guarantee the future of public media. The authors of the letter give them very detailed details. Firstly, there is simply a large request to invest in free and independent journalism before it is besides late. The authors stress that state authorities must enter into cooperation with the media.
In line with the recommendations, a fresh model of media backing should be developed.
There are many ideas. These may be direct grants or taxation reliefs. Taxation of large digital platforms is besides 1 of the solutions. The aim would be for big-techs to contribute to "protection" against degradation of the information environment. due to the low level of fake news and misinformation control, large social platforms would gotta pay for this "pollution". gross from this would be directed to public media.
Secondly, active media strategy development. A fresh state policy could lead to greater protection of public media. The improvement of common legal standards on manipulation phenomena (disinformation and propaganda) is an indicated action. These are besides regulations on the developing AI market. It is besides crucial to defend against media monopolisation and to disclose digital data. The first phenomenon would be to introduce a law preventing 1 entity from having the majority of the media. The second regulation would advance greater transparency in the context of the detection of mechanisms and entities liable for spreading misinformation – for example, advertising data or algorithms. Sounds good. And it works well. In this respect, the leaders in the planet are Australia, Canada and Indonesia. These countries have already introduced the regulations referred to in the statement. And many others are at the phase of their implementation, or contribute to the financial support of public media.
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The letter of Nobel laureates of the Information and Democracy Forum is addressed to the ruling. Heads of countries that have the top impact on the reality around us – starting with food prices and ending with the information environment. Technically, yes. In practice, it is different, and the letter concerns us. It concerns our security, our capital, our awareness. It concerns the qualities and skills that we are losing increasingly to trust in AI, fake news and misinformation.
When we are aware of the processes we cannot look at them indifferently.
The information armagedon will not vanish without public awareness and acceptance of the changes to be made. In a planet of interdependence, reliable information must become the common good of the full system. For the sake of society and the economy, defending value and free speech.
*The Information and Democracy Forum was founded by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and a group of leading institutions dealing with digital rights, media and human rights. It facilitates the implementation of the global Partnership for Information and Democracy, launched by France in 2019 and supported by 56 Signatory States worldwide. The advanced Level Panel is supported by the global Fund for Public Interest Media – a multilateral fund supporting media worldwide.
