Media Entrepreneurship in Precarious Times: A Framework for Studying Factors Contributing to Resilience and Growth

This monograph investigates factors associated with sustaining independent media entrepreneurs and subsequently, entrepreneurial media around the globe in contexts of precarity, such as areas with conflicts, disasters or humanitarian crises. Specifically, this study examines political, economic and societal precarity conditions that independent media entrepreneurs navigate and not only survive but show signs of resilience and growth in, as they continue to inform their communities of important issues. More importantly, their own and their media organizations’ survival contributes to the existence of pluralistic media in a country dominated by a largely biased and politically influenced information ecosystem. Through studying the precarious context in Yemen, this research explores the strategies that entrepreneurs employ to survive in precarious conditions, factors that help develop media entrepreneurial resilience, and the non-material and material growth experienced as a result of exposure to trauma and traumatic conditions on a daily basis.