Reference - the European Independent Media Circle

Podcast alert! https://shorturl.at/qDev9 This week, The Loop talks to Jan-Willem Sanders, the publisher of Follow the Money, an investigative news outlet based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. FTM is mainly funded by its readers, and focuses on long-term, deep-dive investigations with impact that make change. It publishes stories about the political and financial decision makers and also investigates hidden forces such as lobby groups.

Podcast alert! https:/linkcuts.org/ui6nzchh This week, The Loop talks to French Disclose’s journalist Pierre Leibovici about building resilience in the face of state persecution after reporting on the arms trade and intelligence cooperation with authoritarian regimes. Most Disclose journalists have been interviewed by the French intelligence services. Most recently, a journalist had her communications surveilled and was detained and interrogated by a counter-terrorism judge. Listen to the episode to hear how the newsroom protect themselves and how the audience supports and funds them.

Podcast alert! https://lnkd.in/d4FgPc9y This week, The Loop talks to Mick ter Reehorst from Are We Europe, an Amsterdam/Berlin based media operation, that both produce media products themselves and help other journalists realize their projects. Mick talks about how AWE uses design thinking to zoom in on users’ needs and to improve methods constantly. Listen to the episode to learn how AWE has built up a network of several hundred journalists across Europe.

??? Don’t miss it—happening in 2 hours! Join the Journalism Value Project for this webinar exploring the intersection of whistleblowing and public interest journalism. Learn how whistleblowers and journalists work together to expose corruption, demand accountability and ensure transparency. ?? Speakers: Anna Myers, executive director Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) Simona Levi, founder of Xnet Dr. Vigjilenca Abazi, co-dounder and executive director, European Whistleblowing Institute (EWI) Vladimir Radomirovi?, editor-in-chief, Pi?taljka ?? Moderated by Peter Matja?i?, executive director of Investigate Europe.

Podcast alert! https://lnkd.in/dhJuhsTR This week, The Loop talks to Brigitte Alfter, founding director of Arena for Journalism in Europe. Brigitte Alfter has been part of cross-border collaboration among journalists in Europe from the very early stages, beginning with Brussels-based journalists meeting every year to acquire the data on EU agricultural subsidies. This work led to the important realisation of how journalists can work together across borders without any competition.

Value of public interest journalism: exploring the relationship with whistleblowing Whistleblowers play a crucial role in exposing corruption and wrongdoing, but their stories often need the power of journalism to achieve real accountability. Join the Journalism Value Project for an insightful webinar in which experts and practitioners discuss how these two forces work together to protect transparency and serve the public interest. ??Speakers: Anna Myers, executive director Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) Simona Levi, founder of Xnet Dr. Vigjilenca Abazi, do-Founder and executive director, European Whistleblowing Institute (EWI) Vladimir Radomirovi?, editor-in-chief, Pi?taljka ?? Moderated by Peter Matja?i?, executive director of Investigate Europe. Register here: https://lnkd.in/dGh8A43e #Whistleblowing #Journalism #Transparency #InvestigativeJournalism #FreePress #HumanRights

Value of public interest journalism: exploring the relationship with whistleblowing Join the Journalism Value Project for a dynamic conversation with leading experts and practitioners as we explore the vital connection between whistleblowing and public interest journalism. ??? Speakers: Anna Myers, executive director of @Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) (WIN) Simona Levi, founder of Xnet Dr. Vigjilenca Abazi, co-Founder and executive director, European Whistleblowing Institute (EWI) Vladimir Radomirovi?, editor-in-chief of Pi?taljka Moderated by Peter Matja?i?, executive director of @InvestigateEurope. ? Time: 27 January at 16:00 CET ?? Register now! https://lnkd.in/dGh8A43e #Whistleblowing #Journalism #Transparency #InvestigativeJournalism #FreePress #HumanRights #journalismvalueproject

Podcast alert! https://lnkd.in/d3naTKR4 The Loop talks to Thodoris Chondrogiannos from Reporters United in Greece on how to handle and survive SLAPPs.

Podcast alert! https://lnkd.in/dPdeKxuC The Loop visits Anu?ka Deli?, founder and editor-in-chief of O?tro, a Slovenia-based investigative journalism project that covers the Adriatic region. O?tro is based on 4 pillars: Investigative and data journalism, defending the right to information and developing future generations of journalists. The latter is first and foremost done by involving young journalists in fact-checking. When founding O?tro, Anu?ka Deli? knew that she wanted to include a fact-checking unit: “In my former job, I realized so many times that we published things that could have been so much better, if someone spent an hour [on fact-checking]. But it didn’t exist in Slovenian media, we don’t even have a word in Slovenian for fact-checking.” “So, we established the unit, and I quickly realized that it was excellent training. Through fact-checking, journalists learn a lot that they will not learn in school or in other Slovenian media. They learn to think critically, view and assess information, documents and sources. They learn how to navigate various databases, a lot of things. Eventually we start giving them small research tasks and they slowly progress towards investigating.” Two dozen young journalists have been trained at O?tro this way, but unfortunately, many talented journalists leave the profession again, Deli? says. The attitude towards journalism and media is toxic in Slovenia, and there are very bad verbal attacks and even threats towards journalists. Listen to the episode to hear more about the fight against disinformation and hateful content, the education and re-education of journalists and the situation for media and non-profits in Slovenia and Croatia.

Podcast alert! https://lnkd.in/dfpszhM2 This week, The Loop visits Inside Story in Athens, Greece. Inside Story was established after the Greek financial crisis and in an atmosphere that was deeply distrustful of journalists and journalism. “Everybody was distrustful of journalism and even of journalists,” says Dimitris Xenakis, founder and publisher. “People understood the value of journalism, but at the same time they didn’t trust the journalists. So we realized that it was a bad time to start anything, but that we had to do it.” Inside Story is one of the new media that have managed to base itself financially mainly on subscriptions, both from individuals and from organisations and companies. This indirectly showed people that they were essentially the owners. The biggest challenge at the moment is to get more subscribers. The newsroom feels that there are many more who would be willing to pay to subscribe, but whom thay are presently not in touch with. That would increase sustainability and also create possibility to do more in-depth work. Inside Story today has 10-15 journalists, all working on a freelance basis. One is the engagement manager, who answers questions and interact with readers. But all journalists are – or should be – in touch with readers, says Xenakis: “We have done quite a few things to get closer to the people, who read us. We have had something called Your Story, where readers come to a big plenary to suggest stories and then vote on the different proposals. It is one of the few opportunities that journalists have to interact with their readers and to understand their needs.”