Cross-border investigations in Europe : how to secure information sharing and communications

Investigative journalists and Journalismfund.eu grantees Chloé EMMANOUILIDIS (Cyprus), Stella LEVANTESI (Italy) and Urszula IDZIKOWSKA (Poland) participated in our panel titled "CROSS-BORDER INVESTIGATIONS IN EUROPE : how to secure information sharing and communications." Chloé explores the problem of the Mediterranean Sea as a flashpoint of the climate crisis, Stella specializes in global warming disinformation and climate change history, while Ula investigates social issues and migration.

Seasoned journalists, young reporters, journalism students and media professionals squeezed into the BV2 auditorium of the Brussels School of Journalism and Communication to listen how the stories Lucifer’s spell, How the gas lobby aims to lock in Europe’s fossil fuel addiction, and Being LGBTIQ+ in wartime came to life. Audience members included Lorenz Matzat from AlgorithmWatch, and the recently elected President of the European Federation of Journalists, Maja Sever. 
 
Our panel explained the motivation behind their stories, their investigative methodology and the problems they had to face, throwing light on what drives them to continue the arduous and draining work of investigative reporters. A question from the audience on how investigative reporters cope with mental health issues created a lot of discussion among our panellists, who were happy to share their insights and best practices on a problem that is often overlooked.

The discussion was moderated by our own Klaudia Bronckaerts, who took the opportunity to present the grants our organisation offers and the application procedure.