Empowering Media and Society Through Crowdfunded Journalism

“Enhancing Audience-Supported Collaborations for Empowered Media and Societies,” co-funded by the European Commission, aims to support independent journalism by facilitating collaboration between journalists from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Czechia, and Greece.

Working together with Free Press Unlimited, Free Press for Eastern Europe (FPEE), and the Prague Media School, Press Start will recruit journalists from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Czechia, and Greece to pitch their collaborative, cross-border stories. Successful teams of journalists will have crowdfunding campaigns for their stories launched on the Press Start website. Matching funds will be available for each campaign to help journalists reach their goal. The stories will be published in an outlet or outlets of the journalists’ choosing. We will also translate the articles into English and publish them on the Press Start blog as well as on the Prague Media School’s website.

In EU countries where media freedom is being suppressed or threatened, independent journalists often struggle to find funding for important, impactful stories. The project aims to foster independent journalism by connecting journalists with donors interested in funding their stories and raising journalists’ profiles by promoting their crowdfunding campaigns. Supporting cross-border projects could pave the way for future, mutually beneficial collaboration between individual journalists and media outlets. Working collaboratively is also a great opportunity for journalists from different backgrounds to network, share experiences, and learn new skills from each other.

Please, find more details here.