Building a Local Network

Creating a network of local journalists who do in-depth and fearless investigations will empower citizens in small communities to become more involved at all levels of society. Local communities living in media deserts are the main beneficiaries. Local areas are haunted these days by fake news and misinformation, so it is of prime necessity to have a credible source to get the attention of those seeking valid information.

We will form joint teams of local journalists and students and will produce investigations for local and national audiences at our standards. We will train the students and the chosen journalists and we will offer them our knowledge, our tools, database access, lawyers, fact checking them our knowledge, our tools, database access, lawyers, fact checking experts and will edit the stories. We will organise sustained consultations with civil society to understand what the most pressing issues are in their communities.

Target group

Local communities living in media deserts are the main beneficiaries. We will empower local journalists and civil society to work with us and support our investigation. We will promote a sense of inclusion and involvement in uncovering wrongdoing. Local, honest journalists will gather more readers and communities will gain trust in them. Media desert areas are haunted these days by fake news and misinformation, so it is of prime necessity to have a credible source to get the attention of those seeking valid information. Because it is not easy to set up a team that would endanger the status quo in media deserts, our main concern will be to provide security training and safety equipment for all those involved in the project. In each location we will organize sustained consultations with civil society to understand what are the most pressing issues in their communities. Therefore, our project also aims at reviving civic engagement through citizens' participation, students and local journalists.

Goals of the project

We hope that through this project citizens will be better informed about what is happening in their area and understand that corruption and organized crime affect their quality of life. Local journalists and the teams created in their region will gather more readers and people will gain more trust in them. Together we will publish investigations that we will promote both nationally and internationally. Our intention is to help journalists in the region get funding and publish their own independent investigations.