How to persuade the EU to spend hundreds of millions on journalism no one seems to care about?

Negotiations for the next 7 year EU budget are in full swing in Brussels.

About a month ago, I promised you (and myself) that I’d spend some time exploring how the EU’s budget works - not because I expect it to make for particularly entertaining reading (it almost certainly won’t), but because I believe the EU could become the most important funder of certain types of media projects in the coming years. And I'm not alone.

I’m writing this newsletter from the middle of Heathrow Terminal 3 (if you ever want organize your thoughts among wailing toddlers, £3 macarons and the faint smell of vomit, I highly recommend it) after a day and a half in London at a meeting convened by the Media Viability Manifesto (MVM) group. This is a loose network of large international organizations working in and around media development. Much of the discussion focused on what the EU might or might not do in the coming years, and on how best to convince policymakers that a healthy, resilient information ecosystem is worth investing in.