Europe: New support for research journalism in Europe and for Wobbing.eu

BRUSSELS – 7 / 9 / 09 – Journalismfund.eu and Wobbing.eu have received €114.000 from the Open Society Institute's Media Programme. This will allow two new rounds of grants for journalistic research and it also includes support to streamline Wobbing.eu, so it becomes an even better tool for wobbing practicioners.

The money from the Media Programme by the Open Society Institute is granted as a 2^nd level seed funding for the Journalismfund.eu project. A large part of the sum is reserved to build Journalismfund.eu into a strong and lasting organisation. Further fundraising and building up the organisational structure thus will be among the most important tasks. When granting the support 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 philanthropies. 

As to the next steps for Journalismfund.eu it is the aim of the parent organisation, the Belgian Pascal Decroos Fund, to let this Europe orientated support structure develop into an independent organisation with a focus on European journalism and democratic scrutiny as soon as it is on economically sound ground.

Wobbing in Europe – another project by the Pascal Decroos Fund - has been included in the funding by OSI. A part of the OSI grant will be used to further Wobbing.eu in being the meeting place for practicioners, who wish to use freedom of information legislation in Europe. The task now is to get even better at filling its particular niche and to build a good cooperation with other wob-actors in Europe.

If you want to be informed about the upcoming rounds of application for journalistic research grants, do sign up for the newsletter on the Journalismfund.eu website.