In the previous two episodes of our field study on the conditions and wages of journalists in Egypt, we revealed an aspect of the human and professional cost of the wage crisis in the Egyptian press; the first episode witnessed a bitter reality that brought more than 30% of journalists below the poverty line, while the second episode put us in front of a harsh mirror, when the figures showed that what the American journalist receives in one month is equivalent to what the Egyptian journalist receives in four full years.
In today's episode, we move from dissecting the wound to looking at the experiences of others; from asking «How much do we lose?» A more fundamental question: «How do developed countries think about the media ... and do they consider it a burden on the budget or an investment in the awareness of society?»- Yeah.
To answer this question, we inevitably had to review many official budgets, international funds and reports, and published official statistics to map global support for journalism and media.
The great conclusion revealed by these figures and statistics is that most developed countries support the media regularly and institutionally. «A passing grant.» Nor «White bribe.» To polish the image of power, but a conscious political and economic decision stems from several main convictions:
First, the media is a pillar of national security.«Knowledge Security» The existence of independent platforms capable of producing diverse and reliable information is not a democratic luxury, but a constitutional right of the citizen, and that every support for serious media, and every pound spent on the journalist, is in essence an investment in building the awareness of citizens, and fortifying the immunity of the state against rumors and corruption and exploitation of ignorance and illiteracy, and investment in the stability of the democratic system and the national economy alike.
On the other hand, bitter experiences show that leaving the press unsupported, leaving the journalist below the poverty line, threatens the quality of content, weakens its independence, opens the door wide to the dominance of utilitarian capital and black propaganda wrapped in the news, and turns newsrooms from a space to sort the facts into an arena for«News Dealers» From a first line of defense for society to a loophole in the country’s national security wall, it erodes public trust, fuels noise, polarizes, and drops professional standards.
The study identified three types of support, which vary from country to country, but converge on the same goal: protecting pluralism and ensuring a free and viable press.
First: Direct financial support for press and media institutions, France is at the forefront of this model, where in one year only (2023) about 204.7 million euros «Direct Aid to the Press» More than 800 titles have been used, in addition to around يورو26.5 million a year to support the transfer and distribution of newspapers through the mail.
In Scandinavia, support is shifting to an established policy rather than an emergency exception: Norway allocated 444 million Norwegian kroner (قرابة46 million) in 2021 to support newspapers, while direct subsidies to the Swedish press amounted to يورو61 million in 2019, along with special packages to support digital transformation.
Support does not stop at the borders of major newspapers; policies there extend to specialized funds to support the local press and«The Second Newspaper» In cities and regions, the space is not monopolized for one vote and the media map is not monopolised, so some of these countries have allocated between 0.1 and 0.2 percent of GDP to support the media; as in the Danish model, which spends about 500 million Danish crowns annually (about 80 million dollars) in direct support of private media, in addition to what is close to them in the form of tax exemptions and generous funding.
The second type of support provided by Western countries to press and media institutions is as effective as direct monetary support: exemptions, tax and customs facilitations, licensing and permit fees. In many European countries, including Germany, France and the Nordic countries, VAT on newspapers and books is reduced or eliminated, postage and distribution fees are reduced, and tax incentives are granted to institutions that invest in news content or hire new journalists.
The Canadian model provides a clear picture; the federal government plans to spend about C$325 million in 2024-2025 to support news media, distributed between a Canadian media fund, a periodical fund, and a tax credit for journalists' wages approaching C$65 million. «Local Journalism Initiative» Who are funding new journalistic jobs in media-marginalized areas so that entire communities will no longer be without a voice and a platform.
The third model does not appear in the tables of numbers, but is present strongly in the work environment. «Non-material support» Creating an environment for the media industry, including laws, licenses, investment incentives and infrastructure that support the environment of journalists.
In the UAE, an integrated model has been built for media free zones in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where the media investor receives full tax exemptions, 100% foreign ownership, and extensive licensing and residency facilities, with incentive programs for audio-visual productions amounting to a cash refund of 30%35% of eligible spending on films, series and advertisements. «Dubai Media Council» A clear goal is to double the sector’s contribution to Dubai’s GDP from about 1.4% to 3% by 2033, in a clear message that the media here is treated as a promising economic sector rather than an entertainment or decoration tool.
Saudi Arabia is investing in the human structure of the sector through the establishment of specialized academies for the training of journalists and media professionals, within a vision that considers the media as an essential part of the creative industries nominated to contribute to economic diversification, especially in light of Vision 2030, which opens the door to qualitative content and new regional and global networks.
In public service media, major bodies in democratic countries are treated as an indispensable infrastructure for democracy. In the United Kingdom, BBC funding is mainly based on a television licence fee, which currently stands at around جنيه169.5 per family per year, providing an important part of the agency’s overall budget, which runs an extensive network of channels and radios, buying content from hundreds of independent production companies.
In the United States, despite the dominance of market logic, «Public Information Fund» CPB receives federal funding of approximately $525 million in 2024, rising to about $535 million in 2025, to sustain PBS and NPR networks and dozens of local stations, especially in rural and poor areas not seen by commercials.
Support did not stop at the borders of buildings and companies, but extends to the journalist himself; through programs in which the state bears part of the cost of wages, or finances new jobs in the local press, or grants journalists fellowships and grants for long investigations, in addition to integrating them into social safety nets for the culture and media sector, as happened in a number of European countries during the Coronavirus pandemic when journalists were considered part of «Vital employment» They cannot be left unprotected.
In the publishing industry, many countries in Northern Europe offer grants for printing newspapers and books. «Public interest» Or cultural content related to minorities and small languages, along with a vast network of public and university libraries that periodically buy books, newspapers, and magazines, thus creating a stable market for a significant part of the production of publishing houses and specialized magazines, and protecting the diversity of voices from the logic of pure supply and demand.
The conclusion of the study is that these countries do not leave the media alone in the face of the market, but consider it an investment in the collective mind, a condition for the stability of the modern state, and an inherent right of society before it is an interest of the journalism profession itself.
In the next episode, we discuss in numbers and statistics the second part of the confusing question: Does the Egyptian government support the press and media sector in Egypt?
Wait for me...
Dr. Hamad Al Ramahi
Member of the Board of Directors of the Takaful Fund at the Journalists Syndicate
2 December 2025
