Deadline: 27 March 2020
Media organisations can now apply for the latest round of the European Development Journalism Grants programme.
Over the past five years, this funding programme has supported 11 media organisations across France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK to report on global challenges that affect all of us. The awarded projects have demonstrated distinctive storytelling around critical issues, informed and engaged audiences, and resonated both with readers and the communities they reported on.
Funding Information
The grant is up to €120,000 per media organisation, The Journalism Grants Publishers expects to award up to eight grants in this round.
Eligibility Criteria
Media from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK can apply.
- The project involves at least one media organisation with audiences in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, or the UK.
- The applicant – or, in the case of consortia, the lead applicant – is an opinion-forming news or broader journalism organisation with a track record of accurate, fair, and responsible quality reporting. In other words: major international, national or metropolitan news outlets or magazines in print, broadcast, and/or online. Investigative newsrooms and widely-read sector-specific outlets focusing on development, foreign policy, foreign trade and investment, health, and political communication are also eligible – ideally, however, in cooperation with a major general-interest news organisation
- The project focuses on one or more Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as defined by the United Nations and/or their development relations with key European donor countries; other countries may be used for further illustration or comparison.
- The project addresses one or several of the first six Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
- Goal 1: No Poverty;
- Goal 2: Zero Hunger;
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being;
- Goal 4: Quality Education;
- Goal 5: Gender Equality;
- Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
- The project delivers regular new instalments, that are thematically connected, over a period of 12 months (after up to three months of ramping up) in any format or mix of formats. This means that the Grants Publishers is for instance, looking for in-depth, multi-angle reporting of a single topic or topical cluster, or for consistent coverage of a cross-cutting issue.
- New instalments of the coverage must be published in such a way that the audience easily recognises that they belong to a series, i.e., generally in short intervals and with a specific tagline, hashtag, logo, layout, or design.
- They also expect applicants to demonstrate that the projects benefit from their organisation’s full ownership. This is to make sure that the coverage has full editorial support during its entire run and is considered a flagship project – complete with the requisite “above the fold” placement and accompanying promotion.
- They do not accept applications from organisations that already receive direct development reporting grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. State-owned or directly government-controlled entities are also not eligible for funding.
Selection Criteria
- They welcome applications by coalitions of outlets, for instance between media in different countries, or between a major general-interest news organisation and a smaller outlet with a specific expertise and audience. They also encourage partnerships with news organisations or freelancers in LDCs.
- Moreover, they understands the benefit to audiences of solutions-oriented, constructive approaches to journalism. This is a type of coverage that not merely investigates and calls out what is wrong, but that analyses what is – and could be – done right, and critically examines remedial actions.
- Other aspects (once again: neither mandatory nor exhaustive) they are looking for include:
- Editorial quality: Does the project emphasise under-reported topics? Does it go beyond the surface of the story and cover all the nuances of reality rather than replicate stereotypes? Does it assume a fresh perspective or come in a particularly compelling format? Is it sensitive to positions of privilege and global north-south power dynamics?
- Audience engagement: Does the project have a particularly convincing concept to connect with the audience and involve it in the reporting? Is it perhaps based on relations with a specific community to begin with (Engaged Journalism)? Or does it have a clever promotion strategy to draw in otherwise under-served members of the public?
- Diversity and professional development: Quality reporting benefits from a varied team composition that reflects different perspectives on the topic, incorporates a broad scope of competences and knowledge, and allows peer learning. Diversity helps avoid patronising “parachute journalism” and supports a more realistic and inclusive coverage.
How to Apply
Entries need to be submitted online via given website.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2SnhhWk