the
Youth News Pass
The EU Media Wallet includes the News Pass, a separate feature only available for younger audiences. It grants EU citizens aged 18 to 24 free access to a selection of quality content.
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The News Pass supports the EU Youth Strategy’s aim of engaging young people to be active in society and complements existing EU youth programmes such as DiscoverEU and Erasmus+.
By making high-quality journalism accessible at a formative stage in life, the EU can support the development of healthy long-term media habits, promote exposure to a broader range of perspectives, strengthen media literacy, and foster greater trust in the media and political institutions.
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The EU youth programmes such as DiscoverEU and Erasmus+ have strengthened European identity and participation by removing barriers to travel and education. The Youth News Pass follows the same principle: ensuring that young adults have a pathway to access high-quality news irrespective of their economic circumstances.
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Eligible outlets decide which and how much content to offer for free through the Youth News Pass. Young adults may buy additional content available only via the pay-per-article system.
Acknowledges
Creating habits
The age between 18 and 24 is crucial for habit formation and establishing brand loyalties and therefore the Youth News Pass represents a long-term investment. This gives smaller outlets a chance to learn about young audiences and promote content to attract future paying readers. As 18-24-year-olds now pay little or nothing for news, offering free access through the Youth News Pass would not cause significant revenue loss.
Boost the impact of existing projects
​Recent EU projects have sought to make quality news online available to youth readership. To boost the impact of these initiatives, this policy focuses on creating good habits for young users by bringing them together with independent media outlets on one pan-EU platform.
EU Funding Instruments for
News Support in 2025 (in € millions)
Data from EU Calls for Proposals for topic: “Support for the News Media Sector” (closing date: 2025)
