Deadline: 3-Feb-22
Journalismfund.eu is inviting eligible applicants from Netherlands & Belgium for its Local Local Cross-Border Investigative Journalism Project.
This Local Cross-Border Investigative Journalism Project is a philanthropically supported initiative of Journalismfund.eu. Many philanthropic organisations are locally focused. That is why it is often difficult for them to get involved in European projects. But this new bottom-up initiative makes this more attractive. In this project foundations can step into a local story, but with European impact. The idea is that in every country where a foundation donates to this programme, local journalists can take the initiative to set up a local cross-border investigation.
Objectives
- The aim of the Grant Programmes of Journalismfund.eu is facilitating investigative, cross-border and independent journalism in order to promote democracy in Europe by connecting donors and journalists without endangering the journalists’ independence.
- The project will be one that, in principle, could not be realised within the remit of regular journalism – a project of great newsworthiness and depth that is simultaneously original, innovative and time-consuming.
The aim of this Project
With this pilot project, Journalismfund.eu aims at addressing the shortage of local independent journalism by awarding grants to local investigative journalistic projects in Belgium and the Netherlands and by stimulating the cross-border collaboration. In this way, cities in Belgium and the Netherlands could mutually strengthen each other (e.g. by forming each other’s benchmark) and as such increase the impact of the supported publications.
This pilot aims at strengthening local cross-border, independent and investigative journalism in order to increase the availability of qualitative local news, and at making citizens more aware of local – and often interrelated and global – issues and possible solutions. As such it aims to contribute to citizens’ critical thinking, well-informed debates/decisions and to foster civic engagement.
The execution, monitoring and evaluation of this pilot will enable to determine the pilot project’s effectiveness and whether further steps need to be taken towards the ultimate objectives:
- the setup of a Local Cross-Border Investigative Journalism grant programme across Europe, and
- establishing a European network of local (investigative) journalists.
Funding Information
- For this round, € 30,000 is available.
- The funds come from the Flemish Government (Department of Culture, Youth and Media)
Eligibility Criteria
- Dutch and Belgian journalists
- Teams of investigative journalists (starters and seniors) from at least The Netherlands AND Belgium who have good ideas for a local cross-border investigation in that region. When relevant for the story, team members from elsewhere can be accepted, too.
For more information, visit https://www.journalismfund.eu/journalismfundeu-local-pilot