By Harlan Mandel, CEO, MDIF
This month marks 30 years since MDIF was launched. From our beginnings in countries emerging from authoritarian rule to our present-day work in places where media is under threat, we find the language for what we have been doing in the words of Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine:
When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.
In embracing Prigogine’s insight, for our context, we have reframed it as “Islands of Integrity”, independent media companies that strengthen society with an offering of truth and informed debate amid authoritarian noise.
Time and again over our thirty years working in countries where free media is under threat, we have seen how even small media companies reporting truth, each a small Island of Integrity, can take hold, grow, and become a stabilizing force: a beacon for citizens and a seedbed for democratic values. From Poland to South Africa, Guatemala to Malaysia, we’ve seen that trusted information sources do more than report the news. They drive accountability, uphold the public’s right to know, build community, and serve as forums for public debate.
In the three decades since our first loan to a Slovak newspaper to buy a printing press, MDIF has had the privilege of helping remarkable people in volatile contexts build, sustain, and strengthen 155 Islands of Integrity: independent media companies providing reliable news and information to hundreds of millions of people across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.
According to this year’s Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index, press freedom has fallen to “an unprecedented, critical low.” Similarly, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index found that democracy has hit a record low around the world. While the challenges we face cannot be understated, we are more certain than ever that supporting Islands of Integrity is essential to sustaining democratic values.
These are precisely the kinds of conditions MDIF was built for. Our model was designed to endure and respond to disruption, moments when integrity is most at risk, and most needed. As we mark our 30th anniversary, we can take some comfort in knowing that institutionally, MDIF is stronger than ever before.
As an investor, MDIF now ties together a diverse global network of more than 60 media companies, reaching communities in 35 countries. Through our Amplify media incubators and other programs, we are nurturing a similar number of media companies to build their financial sustainability. We have deep, long-term partnerships with a broad spectrum of investors and funders that include foundations, development agencies, media companies, banks, and impact investors. Our Board is a dynamic mix of expertise and vision, and our staff spans over 20 nationalities, unified by a shared purpose and equipped for the challenges ahead.
MDIF is stronger than ever, but that doesn’t mean we can stand still.
The world today is a vastly different place than it was in 1995, and more disruption is coming. As our Chair, Sheila Coronel, noted in our recent strategy review:
“We need to start with the assumption that we are on the threshold of dramatic change.”
At the same time that we face a shifting world order defined by increasing authoritarianism and disinformation, we now operate in a media landscape shaped by two additional profound disruptions: the declining relevance of traditional news institutions and the transformational rise of artificial intelligence. As we look to nurturing new Islands of Integrity, we cannot ignore these fundamental shifts in how people connect with and consume news and information.
In 2012, we removed the word “journalism” from our mission statement, not to diminish its importance, but to broaden our perspective. This expanded our investment mandate to include a full range of companies that connect people with information and enable public debate, businesses that “empower citizens and promote open democracy.”
Since then, while companies engaged in original journalism have remained at the core of our work, we have also invested in social networks serving marginalized populations, podcast producers, data visualization companies, citizen reporting hubs, media serving farming communities, an app for civic accountability, a legal publisher, and more.
Now, we must think even more broadly about new forms of Islands of Integrity that people are relying on for news, public debate, and socially relevant information:
- With news becoming ever more commodified, we see new relevance in businesses that successfully engage audiences around news and debate and serve as trusted sources for a given audience, even if not engaged in original reporting.
- With audiences fragmenting, we need to place greater emphasis on the unique information needs of a given audience and companies that aim to meet those needs.
- In a world flooded with misinformation, we want to strengthen accessible sources of verified information across a range of critical socially relevant information categories such as health, economics, legal rights, environmental data, social services, etc.
With AI poised to fundamentally change how people connect with and consume news and information, we will look to support development of mission-aligned AI-centered media businesses, embracing high-risk, high-reward investments in this space to ensure that ethical, independent players help shape the future. Not just big tech.
With this in mind, we are expanding the range of media businesses we support and updating our Mission Statement.
As we face an era of disruption, we remain firm in our rejection of the binary of philanthropy versus profit. Between reliance on donor or government support and the trade-offs demanded by profit-maximizing investment paradigms, we have pursued a “third way”: a model of patient capital that combines mission-driven purpose with financial discipline, blending the public interest focus of philanthropy with the sustainability of investment. Our investments in media have always been grounded in a steward ownership role, a model that fosters long-term impact by keeping control in the hands of those committed to the organization’s mission, while ensuring financial discipline and striving for a strong bottom line.
With the current environment dimming prospects for mission-aligned exits in more and more countries, we plan to take this model further. Later this year, we plan to launch a new investment vehicle — a holding company grounded in steward ownership, designed to hold long-term equity in Islands of Integrity where exits may not be feasible but impact is high.
Today, as we reflect on 30 years of work and look ahead, we renew our commitment to sustaining these Islands of Integrity and to adapting our approach to meet the demands of an increasingly complex and volatile world.
This article is a part of our special 30th anniversary coverage.