The Yaqeen Media Viability Fund is delighted to announce that its second annual media viability grant is awarded to Pakistani news organisation Tribal News Network (TNN).
TNN, founded in 2012, serves communities in the tribal districts of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province while also offering leadership and coaching to the growing community f digital-only news organisations in the country.
TNN will use the $3,000 grant to redesign and optimise its content management system, bringing both its Urdu and English news websites within the same technical infrastructure, workflow and monetisation system. The changes are expected to deliver up to Rs 1.1 million in additional annual revenue for the news organisation.
The Yaqeen Media Viability Fund, an initiative of IMS and Mediastan, supports independent public interest media in Pakistan through mentorship, business viability grants and networking.
Its annual grants are awarded to news organisations that pitch projects related to strengthening their viability through revenue stream experimentation, products and community engagement. The call for project proposals for the 2025 grants was issued in June and received around 90 entries.
The inaugural Yaqeen Media Viability Fund grants were issued in 2024 to five digital news organisations. The recipients included The Centrum Media, Maati TV and Ibex Media Network. The inaugural cohort worked on setting up alternative revenue streams and audience development projects. Case studies based on the cohort’s successes and lessons will be published on the Mediastan website soon.