Networks of Influence: Journalism Innovation and the Politics of Public Support

In recent years innovation gained traction as a prominent policy rationale informing the design of publicly funded initiatives for journalism support. While this shift reflects the urgency of supporting structural transformation in the field, the processes through which such programmes are designed remain underexplored, particularly the role and configuration of influential stakeholders’ networks and the innovation rationales they help institutionalize. Through a case-study approach, this article investigates the design of a digital transformation programme for the Flemish media sector, a publicly funded initiative launched in 2022 and concluded in 2024. Grounded in Policy Network Theory and following Stakeholder and Advocacy Coalition Framework analysis, the study analyses through expert interviews (N = 23), how key stakeholders access and influence both the formulation of the programme and its prevailing innovation rationales. The findings reveal a stratified policy network, in which intermediary actors bridge a central policy core with an inner circle of influential stakeholders, while more peripheral actors remain loosely connected. These intermediaries facilitate both formal and informal agenda-setting, before and during the policy consultation phase. Finally, this study indicates that techno-centric imaginaries, shaped by platform logics, inform the policy framing, raising normative questions about inclusivity and long-term orientation in journalism innovation policy.