Third generation of EU-supported Journalism Partnerships ready to help the news sector

The Commission continues to support the resilience of the news media sector with eight new Journalism Partnerships granted almost €12 million in total.

Following a call for proposals under the Creative Europe programme in 2023, 8 Journalism Partnerships have been selected, which will roll out their activities for two years. This call for proposals aimed to support two sets of projects: collaborations between media to stimulate innovation in business and editorial models; and projects that offer funding schemes to support media that are of particular relevance to democracy and civic participation, to enhance pluralism.

The yearly calls for proposals for Journalism Partnerships have been attracting increasing interest among the news media community. The 2021 call resulted in 7 projects selected among 32 proposals. The 2022 call resulted in 12 projects selected among 64 proposals. The third call attracted 74 proposals, out of which 8 projects have been selected. The fourth call is currently under evaluation, applicants will be contacted in autumn 2024 and results published early 2025.

Keep reading for an overview of the selected projects. More details for each of them can be found at the bottom of this page for ‘Collaboration’ grants and this page for ‘Pluralism’ grants.

Selected projects under ‘Collaboration’

This topic focused on the same priorities as the two previous editions: to foster cross-border collaboration among news media organisations in Europe to work on business model transformation and/or journalistic projects. Almost €5 million have been allocated to 4 projects altogether. Projects are co-funded at a rate of 80%.

‘MIE’ - Media Innovation Europe: Independence Through Sustainability

This project aims to build up support infrastructure for media innovation through an accelerator for media, an incubator for promising start-ups, advice to media on their transition, dissemination of best practices, grants for audience-engaging journalism, a mentorship programme and several events (media business and editorial hackathons, networking events etc).

Partners: International Press Institute (Austria), Thomson Foundation (Germany), the Media Development Foundation (Ukraine) and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
EU support: €1.756.298.
More information here.

‘EthProMedE’ - Ethical and Professional Media Environment for Central and Eastern Europe

This project aims to enhance the capacity and viability of independent professional journalism in Eastern and Central Europe. It will strengthen the skills and tools of journalists, editors and other media professionals. It will also stimulate regional collaboration and the co-creation of media content that reflects, analyses and investigates issues of common interest.

Partners: Latvijas Mediji (Latvia), Fortuna (Georgia), Ustav nezavisle zurnalistiky (Czechia), Fundacja Osrodek Kontroli Obywatelskiej Oko (Poland), Upgrade Media Agnieszka Dolezych (Poland), Association of Hungarian Journalists (Hungary).
EU support: €800.423.
More information expected soon.

‘Do-Jo’ - Integrated Collaborative Donation Solution for Journalism

Do-Jo aims to create a new revenue-sharing stream for European public-interest news media and independent journalists through innovative mechanisms (e.g. gamification features) to generate payments on a per-article basis. The project will be complemented by a European market study about the current state of the labour market for journalists and the state of reader donations.

Partners: WorldCrunch (France), Pod Tepeto (Bulgary), Athens Technology Center Anonymi Viomichaniki Emporiki Kai Techniki Etaireia Efarmogon Ypsilis Technologias (Greece), MásPúblico, S.Coop. (Spain), Publishing house LB Ltd (Ukraine), Mensagem da Brasileira (Portugal), Ransitions Sdruzeni (Czechia), WAN-IFRA (France).
EU support: €1.100.832.
More information expected soon.

‘SoJo Europe’ - Constructive News: Fostering Solutions Journalism across Europe

This project aims to stimulate the production of cross-border, solutions-oriented reporting across Europe. It will train and mentor 18 European newsrooms to combine investigative and solutions journalism in climate reporting. The project will disseminate the supported stories across Europe and will share its takeaways among the journalistic community.

Partners: Transitions Sdruzeni (Czechia), JournalismFund.Eu (Belgium), Rrjeti Te Evropes Juglindore Per Pro Fesionalizimin Medias (Albania), Constructive Journalism Institute (Denmark).
EU support: €1.300.367.
More information here.

Selected projects under ‘Pluralism’

This year, almost €7 million has been allocated to organisations offering support and grants to media of particular relevance to democracy and civic participation, such as local and regional media, independent and investigative journalism, and organisations delivering public interest news/public service journalism, which in turn enhances media pluralism. Projects are co-funded at a rate of 90%.

‘IJ4EU’ – Investigative Journalism 4 EU

IJ4EU supports cross-border investigative projects. Along with grants, the project offers training, mentoring, digital tools for remote collaboration and legal support, and presentations at various fora.

Partners: International Press Institute (Austria), Stichting European Journalism Centre (Netherlands), Europaisches Zentrum Fur Presse- Und Medienfreiheit Sce Mbh (Germany), Arena For Journalism In Europe (Netherlands).
EU support: €2.996.542.
More information here.

‘PluPro’ -Pluralism Prodemos

Pluralism Prodemos provides grants to cross-border investigative projects (both local and international), promotes the supported stories, and organises training and knowledge-sharing activities for professionals.

Partners: JournalismFund.Eu (Belgium), Transitions Sdruzeni (Czechia).
EU support: €2.998.031.
More information here.

‘S-INFO’ - Sustainable Information

S-INFO will support civil society organisations active in the media sector and help associations defending journalists. The project will run a funding scheme to upskill professionals in the digital environment. The project will also enable journalists and media professionals to enhance their skills through a range of training courses, for example around investigations.

Partners: Tele Radio City scs onlus (Italy), Asociatia Jurnalistilor De Investigatii Context (Romania), Repubblika (MT), Sustainable Communication AISBL (Belgium).
EU support: €492.989.
More information here.

‘Balkan Watchers’ - Balkan Watchers Media Program for Journalists

Through this project, the Balkan Watchers Media Development Fund will financially support the completion of 3 journalistic films and 3 podcast projects and will offer trainings for journalists to expand their ways of storytelling. The projects will be selected following an open call and after the shortlisted have been trained.

Partners: The Balkan Documentary Center (Bulgaria).
EU support: €501.058.
More information here.