Ars Boni Ars Boni 567 Medieninnovation und Medienförderung (Prof. Dr. Andy Kaltenbrunner)
Apr 10, 2025
Prof. Dr. Andy Kaltenbrunner, a media scholar and founder of Medienhaus Wien, dives into the complex landscape of Austrian media funding and innovation. He critiques existing funding categories, arguing they often favor outdated approaches over genuine innovation. Kaltenbrunner discusses the barriers for new journalistic startups and compares Austria's media support model to other European countries. He raises concerns about the future of local news and warns of the looming disruptions from AI, emphasizing the need for strategic changes in media policy.
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Low Title Diversity Masks Deep Structural Decline
- Austria's media market shows very low title diversity and legacy media face decades-long digital and global pressures.
- Current funding has largely failed to spur genuine innovation or preserve journalistic quality.
Transformation Funding Often Buys Relaunches
- Many funded ‘digital transformation’ projects are relaunches or newsletters rather than true innovations.
- Public money often subsidizes sustainable business tasks instead of creating genuinely new journalism models.
Public Money Creates A 'Pseudo-Market'
- Public advertising and subsidies prop up many Austrian newspapers, creating a pseudo-market that would shrink drastically without state support.
- This creates unfair advantages and locks in incumbents while blocking new entrants.
