Media Commission to give financial aid to 41 media

Maldives Media and Broadcasting Commission stated today that with the regulation reform last week regarding state financial aid to be given to media registered for more than a year, 41 media's are eligible for state financial aid.

The Youth Ministry formed the regulation to provide state financial aid as per President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's pledge.

As per the regulation that was formed, one of the conditions to be eligible for financial aid was to have the media be registered and operational for three years. The regulation did not take into account the number of employees when deciding the amount for financial aid, with only 18 media being eligible at the time.

And so, the regulation was annulled as complaints grew, with the government handing that work over to the Media Commission.

The Media Commission stated that 57 media had created a profile via their portal when the opportunity to apply for financial aid was presented after the regulation had been reformed, with 41 media being eligible.

The opportunity was presented to private companies that had been registered and operating uninterrupted since 1st January 2024.

As per the Media Commission, the media's that applied can see how many points they accumulated from the the portal.

The commission also stated that with the application stage reached its deadline, the complaint stage had been opened, with the commission receiving a complaint. With the relevant review committee having reviewed and researched into the matter, three complaints had been acknowledged.

Media Commission said they looked into the timeframe the media had been operating, number of employees, media/media house business profiles, type of content, education quality of employees, experience and administrative arrangements when allocating marks.

The Media Commission went on to say that financial aid will be given to media under the agreement between the commission and the Youth Ministry, where the information regarding media is to be shared to the Youth Ministry and sent to the Finance Ministry. The commission also said that the media that are eligible for the aid will receive a lump sump.

This year's state budget allocated MVR 27 million for media, which is approximately 0.1 percent of the budget's revenue.