NEWS-Journalism partnerships

The European news media sectors are facing multiple challenges. The digital transition is having a massive impact on how news is consumed and monetised, changing the value propositions that prevailed in the analogue era. Digitisation has facilitated the publication of news, but it has also intensified competition of content across borders on a global scale.

As readers have shifted to online sources and traditional news outlets have lost advertising revenues, the economic sustainability of professional journalism has come under pressure. Media pluralism has been weakened over the years as newspapers, in particular at the local level, have had to close down.

To address challenges and opportunities of trans-national nature, Creative Europe will support cross-cutting actions that address the structural and technological changes faced by the media sector, and support high-quality media production standards by fostering cooperation, digital skills, cross-border and/or collaborative journalism, and quality content.

Journalism Partnerships aim to help the wider European news media sector become more sustainable and resilient, thus contributing to trustworthy reporting on current affairs, to an informed and inclusive democratic debate, to skills development and employment for news media professionals and journalists, and to a free, diverse and pluralistic media environment.

Themes and priorities (scope)

Journalism Partnerships shall encourage systemic cooperation between professional news media organisations to improve the viability and competitiveness of professionally produced journalism, by focusing on collaborative business transformation and/or collaborative journalistic projects.

Expected results:

• Sector-wide networks for the exchange of best practices among news media professionals;
• Knowledge-hubs for sub-sectors around technical formats (written/online press, radio/podcasts, TV, etc.) and/or journalistic genres (local/regional journalism, public-interest journalism, data journalism, investigative journalism, etc.);
• Acquisition and improvement of professional skills by journalists as well as media business professionals;
• Increased innovation and creativity in journalistic production processes and distribution processes;
• Increased interest in journalism, among various social groups, language groups and age groups;
• Increased viability of journalistically produced content.

Description of the activities to be funded

Support is foreseen for collaborative projects in and between any news media (sub)sector and/or genre that aim to enhance cooperation and instil systemic change across the wider news media ecosystem. The proposed activities should be clearly justified and based on the needs of the chosen (sub)sector(s). The proposed partnerships are encouraged to involve organisations from countries/regions with different and diverse media capabilities.

The activities should aim to serve the wider ecosystem across Europe, including small media. Sharing of best practices between operators in media markets with different and diverse characteristics (in terms of languages, production volumes, sizes, digitalisation levels etc.) is encouraged, to promote mutual learning.

Activities should include concrete deliverables and set clear, objectively verifiable and quantifiable performance indicators for the mid-term and the end of the project. The estimated reach must be more precise than the sum of available distribution channels, and should be substantiated by a detailed outreach plan as well as proof of interest from the target groups.

All Partnerships will operate with full editorial independence. They will need to respect professional, widely accepted editorial standards. The chosen standards should be indicated in the proposal and confirmed with a signed Declaration on Standards & Independence (Annexed to the Call).

All Partnerships should consider the ecological footprint of the activities they propose, and where relevant, describe the strategies to ensure a more sustainable and environmentally-respectful media sectors.