2019-01-22

BRUSSELS - The Flemish Journalism Fund was created in the Summer of 2018 by the Flemish government to support diversity and innovation in journalism in Flanders. In September, the Fund launched a subsidy call for innovative journalism projects. 37 journalists, organisations and start-ups applied.

The Flemish Journalism Fund was created in the Summer of 2018 by the Flemish government to support diversity and innovation in journalism in Flanders. The Fund is a project of Journalismfund.eu, in partnership with the Flemish Association of Journalism and the Flemish government.

In September, the Fund launched a subsidy call for innovative journalism projects. 37 journalists, organisations and start-ups applied. In December, the Fund awarded innovation grants to 11 journalism projects, for a total amount of € 500,000. Below a short description of the projects that were supported:

-    ‘Sonderland’, a production studio for nonfiction, run by a collective of journalists, scientists, video- and radio producers, illustrators and photographers. Every year Sonderland will produce journalistic content about one central topic (in 2019: housing) and sell its productions to different news media.

  • ‘www.kloptditwel.be’ (Is This Correct?), an online platform that uses artificial intelligence to track disinformation and polarisation.
  • ‘Apache Lokaal’ (Apache Local), a project by news website Apache that uses crowdsourcing for local journalism.
  • ‘Chase Social Stories’, a coaching project for adolescents who make stories about social change in urban communities.
  • ‘The Polar Project’, a platform for investigative journalism about climate change.
  • ‘FactRank Pro’, a software tool for journalists that distils claims that are worth factchecking.
  • ‘Podlab’, a coaching project for podcast creators.
  • ‘Wablieft gaat digitaal’ (Wablieft Goes Digital), an online newspaper for low-literate adults.
  • ‘Journalism in the newest webformats’, a project that brings news to adolescent video consumers by a team of young actors and performers.
  • ‘Op de rooster’, (On the Hot Seat), a journalism competition for adolescents, run by a regional television channel.
  • ‘Heavn: the Expat Repertory Flanders & the Netherlands’, a platform that employs the potential of expats for foreign journalism.