A total of 15 reporting teams received grants to support investigations into topics including the supply chains of goods entering and leaving Europe, human rights violations, the behaviour of economic actors in various sectors, and responses to aspects of the environmental crisis.
The jury, composed of four individuals from across the European continent, awarded a total of €278,257 with the highest amount per project being €26,850 and the lowest at €8,800.
The teams of reporters are composed of freelance journalists or journalists working for media organisations or a mix of both. The pool of grantees is made up of 46 freelancers (34 women and 12 men) and 18 companies. Each of the project has received the preliminary backing of editors working in at least two different news outlets expressing an interest in publishing the work produced with Journalismfund grants.
Of the 64 grantees, 83% are domiciled within the EU with Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Romania as the leading countries represented. The grantees from outside of the EU are almost all based in countries on the European continent.
The countries within the EU with the highest success rate of applicants (with at least two in contention) becoming grantees are Malta, Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia and Sweden. While the countries with most grantees have a lesser rate of success: Netherlands (32%), Romania (31%), Italy (29%) and Spain (18%).
With regards to media pluralism in EU member states, based on data from the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom’s Monitor, the number of grants were distributed to countries facing varying levels of risk as follows: Low (20%), Medium-Low (13%), Medium-High (65%), High (2%).
In addition to the grants, the European Cross-border Grants programme now offers structured expert support to help teams strengthen their investigations and improve overall project quality. This new support comes in the form of Project Advisors and Experts, which additional funding will pay for to ensure their support for grantees throughout their project. In this first cohort of grantees, a total 13 reporting teams requested support from this scheme.
Journalismfund does not disclose any information about the subjects of the projects awarded or of the individuals involved in order not to jeopardise the investigation. Information about the projects and links to the stories will be made public once they are published.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
