For the second year in a row, consortia of news media organisations will receive EU support to improve citizens’ access to trusted information across the EU by setting up and developing European media platform projects.
In July 2022, the Commission launched a Call for Proposals worth EUR 6 M, following the approval by the European Parliament of a Preparatory Action. Applicants were requested to expand the use of well-established online offers and enhance their news content and/or programming in multiple European languages. This action is a follow-up of a similar action launched in 2021.
Three projects have been selected and have started between April and July 2023, with a duration of 12 to 15 months. The projects follow professional journalistic standards and retain full editorial independence. This is guaranteed by an editorial charter of independence.
Selected projects
Display Europe: democracy runs on screens
Coordinated by the European Cultural Foundation, Display Europe gathers 17 organisations across Europe (mostly independent media) committed to set up an open-source content platform involving community media and not-for-profit media organisations across Europe.
The resulting platform, Displ.eu, would pool content from 50 independent media organisations across Europe, including audio, text and video formats, covering 15 languages, and producing original content. The platform would be interactive, allowing users not only to have free access to the content, but also to contribute with their views and interact with the journalists.
Consortium coordinated by European Cultural Foundation (NL), and including the Cultural Broadcasting Archive (AT), FairKom (AT), EuroZine (AT), VoxEurop (FR), Hostwriter (GE), Krytyka Poliyczna (PL), El Diario (ES), Good conversations (GE), PublicSpaces (NL), Community Media Forum Europe (BE), HUMAN (NL), and associating VPRO (NL), Dutch institute for Sound and vision (NL), YEPP Italia (IT), Fanzingo (SW) and Schuman Show (BE).
EU funding: EUR 2,3 million
Create and Exchange
Create and Exchange is a project aiming to further develop an existing professional video exchange platform to boost the publication and broadcast of quality news mainly across commercial TVs in the European Union. It would add AI-driven solutions and metadata to the platform, and feed it with new short-form video products, with an ambition to cover all EU languages using automated applications. 23 partners across 21 EU countries would gain direct benefit of this action.
The proposal is enhanced with knowledge-sharing initiatives among its members and a small content fund to engage with younger audiences.
Consortium coordinated by the European News Exchange (LU), and including Broadcasting Center Europe (LU), SIC (PO), CLT UFA (LU), RTL News (GE), Metropole Television (FR), RTL Hrvatska (HR), RTL Belgium (BE).
EU funding: EUR 1,6 million
An enlarged multilingual affairs offering for all Europeans.
For the second year in a row, the TV broadcaster ARTE joins forces with other broadcasters and seven news publishers from across Europe and several other broadcasters to develop a cooperative project on current affairs. The project relies on the partners’ media platforms and social media channels to facilitate access to accurate and independent information and programming. It contains two content strands:
- A multilingual weekly European news show, implemented together with European media outlets in 9 EU languages.
- ‘The European Collection’: a common video-on-demand offering medium length, in-depth documentaries and investigative reports on current European issues, implemented together with TV broadcasters in 7 EU languages.
Consortium coordinated by ARTE (FR-DE), El País (ES), Gazeta Wyborcza (PL), Internazionale (IT), Kathimerines (GR), Le Soir (BE), Telex (HU), LR.LV (LV) and associating ARD (DE), ZDF (DE), FTV (FR), RTBF (BE) and the Swiss SSR/SRG.
EU funding: EUR 2,1 million
Source: European Commission | Shaping Europe’s digital future (https://rb.gy/54c6m)