Property scam Eastern European style revealed

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Money to stories all over Europe

BRUSSELS - 5 / 7 / 2010 – Almost € 21.000 have been distributed to five teams of journalists. This is the 3rd round of research grants for cross-border and European research stories. Interest keeps growing.

By Brigitte Alfter

The third round of applications has by far had the largest interest since Journalismfund.eu got off the ground in the autumn of 2008. This time 49 journalists working on their own or in a team sent 27 applications. They estimated, that they would need almost a quarter of a million Euro to do their work, almost € 21.000 were granted to five teams.  

year

round

applications

grants

applied for

granted

average grant

largest grant

2009

March

18

5

146.019

19.930

3.986

5.000

2009

November

20

3

150.845

9.500

3.167

4.000

2010

June

27

5

243.761

20.944

4.189

5.500

 

The subjects of the planned stories range from climate via crime to culture. The five applications, that were granted research stipendia, dealt with fraud, immigration, policy scrutiny and business scrutiny.

Knowledge about Journalismfund.eu seems to spread well. During previous rounds Northern, Western and Eastern European countries had the largest number of applicants, whereas this round also showed significant interest from Southern European colleagues.

The 49 applicants have 17 different European nationalities and are in touch with colleagues outside Europe too. 

Significantly quite a few of them do not live in their home country. Germany currently appears to be an interesting place with many journalists from other European countries living and working there. As is – of course, one may say – Belgium.See where applicants live.

The average age is 37 years, the youngest colleagues eager to describe the world are in their early 20ies, the eldest applicants in the present round in their 50ies. This is similar to previous rounds of applications. 

Both men and women feel inclined to apply, 26 of the 49 applicants in this round were women, 23 men. Among the main applicants, who usually have a coordinating role in teams, 16 out of 27 were women. Among the 11 journalists, who want to work individually, there were seven women and four men.

Publication of the first research is expected in the early autumn.

 

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