2015-07-31

BRUSSELS – A new report on the EU’s fiscal policy calls for the EU to work towards better accessibility and transparency, among others by supporting the development of data and investigative journalism related to EU funds, much like Journalismfund.eu has been doing since 2008.

The EU has committed to spending €959,988 billion between 2014 and 2020. This money is disbursed through over 80 funds and programmes that are managed by over 100 different authorities. Where does this money come from? How is it allocated? And how is it spent?

Data-savvy

A new report published by the Open Knowledge Foundation is aimed at helping civil society groups, journalists and others to navigate the vast landscape of documents and datasets in order to “follow the money” in the EU. The report states that journalists are getting more and more adept at dealing with big data project.

“There is a growing network of investigative journalists in Europe, supported by initiatives such as Journalismfund.eu, who are acquiring skills to work on complex data projects. In parallel, a number of data-savvy analysts, activists and developers, are supporting investigations efforts by extracting (scraping), gathering and releasing EU budget data in a more useful way and developing dedicated tools and platforms […]”

Pioneer

Still, better data, documentation, advocacy and journalism around EU public money remains vital to addressing the “democratic deficit” in EU fiscal policy. The responsibility for this lies in part with the EU itself, something it can help achieve by improving its budget transparency and accountability. Journalismfund.eu is mentioned as a pioneer and possible example for the EU on how to support data journalism in practice. The report recommends that the EU

“[s]upport and strengthen civil society and journalists’ capacities on EU funds, together with the development of common data and investigation tools. […] In the wake of Journalismfund.eu, there is a need to support funding for data skills and relevant tools to develop data journalism and investigation projects related to EU funds. This should include not only literacy with datasets, but also literacy with data infrastructures, institutions and policies […]”

Conferences are one of the best ways for journalists to share their knowledge and improve their skills in certain areas. The report mentions the Dataharvest European Investigative Journalism Conference as “the main annual conference for journalists to share best practices and story ideas related to EU data”.

Read more information here. Download the full report here.

Pre-application sessions for potential applicants - grants journalists

Questions? In-house assistance to better prepare your application

2024-03-07

BRUSSELS - Let us walk you through your application to increase your chances of getting funded.