About

Building a media system that works in the public interest.

The Independent Media Trust is a charitable institution dedicated to building a healthier media and information ecosystem.

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Great media should be visible, viable and accountable.

Without visibility, good journalism cannot reach the public.

Without accountability, it cannot earn and maintain trust.

The Independent Media Trust exists to help build the institutions, infrastructure and funding that allow all three to happen.

What we do

We fund, incubate and develop public-interest media infrastructure.

Sometimes that means helping an existing programme grow, bringing organisations together around a shared problem, or identifying something that does not yet exist and helping build it.

Our work can include:

Organisational Incubation

Technology and Infrastructure

Research

Governance

Funding

Professional Standards

Convening and Collaboration

Institutional Development

We are interested not simply in identifying problems, but building practical responses to them.

Our Initiatives

Bulletin

A news aggregator app designed to give people trustworthy information from hundreds of independent publishers, in whatever way they enjoy, thereby reducing reliance on US Big Tech.

See BTN

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Coalition For a Fair Media

A coalition of high-quality media associations taking on Google and other digital monopolies through the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act.

See IMA

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Content Creator Association

A standards-based association to strengthen the emerging sector of content creators who now form a vital part of the UK's information ecosystem as one of the most influential forms of modern media.

See CCA

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Ethical Journalism Training

An accredited professional training programme developed by Impress, the UK's independent press regulator, to equip journalists, editors, students and content creators with practical knowledge.

See Impress

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New Estate

A public-interest strategy and implementation lab. Through research, policy design and practical "Field Guides", it transforms complex social challenges into step-by-step blueprints for action.

See TBBT

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Why this matters

Many of the biggest challenges facing society start with information problems.
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Public understanding of politics, climate, economics, health, technology and social change depends on the quality of the information people receive, which makes the health of the media ecosystem important far beyond journalism itself.

Yet organisations that want to improve that ecosystem often face a difficult question.

What should we actually fund?

The Independent Media Trust exists partly to answer it.

We combine specialist knowledge of independent media with experience of regulation, technology, institutional design and funding.

That allows us to help turn philanthropic ambition into practical action.

These three principles guide our work:

Visibility

A diverse range of high-quality media should be able to reach the public without being entirely dependent on powerful commercial platforms.

Viability

Independent media needs sustainable economics, strong institutions and access to the resources required to produce high-quality work.

Accountability

Media that asks for public trust should operate transparently, uphold professional standards and be subject to meaningful independent accountability.

A healthy information ecosystem needs all three.

Working with us

We work with foundations, philanthropists, social investors and others who want to strengthen the information environment.

That can mean funding existing work, helping scale an emerging institution, or it can begin with a simple question: What is missing, and what should we build?

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What is missing, and what should we build?

If you want to make great media more visible, viable and accountable, we would like to hear from you.

Get in Touch