Journalismfund.eu will soon announce the dates for the next rounds of research grants for journalists.
The Open Society Institute's Media Programme provides second-level seed funding. A large portion of the funding is earmarked for developing Journalismfund.eu into a robust, sustainable organisation. Further fundraising and devloping the organisational structure will therefore be among the most important tasks. When approving the grant, the OSI board "applauded the design" of Journalismfund.eu and “believes it will have impact". The Open Society Institute is a part of the Soros Foundations' philanthropic network.
As for the next steps for Journalismfund.eu, the Belgian Pascal Decroos Fund, the parent organisation, aims to develop this Europe-oriented support structure into an independent organisation focusing on European journalism and democratic scrutiny, as soon as it is on economically viable.
The project Wobbing in Europe – another project by the Pascal Decroos Fund - has been included in the OSI funding. Part of the grant will be used to further develop Wobbing.eu as a meeting place for practitioners who wish to use freedom of information legislation in Europe. The task now is to improve its offering and building good cooperation with other WOB actors in Europe.
To stay informed about upcoming application rounds for journalistic research grants, sign up for the newsletter on the Journalismfund.eu website.
Support from the Open Society Institute follows on from the initial funding provided by Fritt Ord, the Norwegian freedom of expression fund. The €50,000 grant from Fritt Ord was awarded on 1 October 2008 via the Network of European Foundations.
The Fritt Ord seed funding is used for the first round of pilot projects, in which five teams of journalists are researching their stories, to establish the practical functioning of Journalismfund.eu. The project has the backing of a jury and an advisory board firmly rooted in the investigative journalism community. The remainder of the grant is used for further fundraising.
