What we do
European Collaborative Journalism Programme
Offering the European Collaborative Journalism Programme (ECJP), Toepfer Foundation and Arena for Journalism in Europe joined forces to support collaborative journalism among journalists from all over Europe.
Digital transformation is putting the media system under pressure. This affects the quality and diversity of the media landscape but also hinders resource-demanding investigative journalism. At the same time, cross-border stories have become more prevalent such as in the fields of migration, organized crime, pollution or consumer protection. Collaborative journalism provides the means to maintain investigations despite declining resources. It allows to pool resources and expertise, to analyse facts and data jointly and to publish in several media at the same time.
4-days programme:
In the frame of ECJP, experts provide input and training on cross-border collaborative journalism, participants are encouraged to build up a network among each other, to explore and discuss a collaborative story, receive feedback from experts and peers and to reflect their own work practices.
Target group:
Junior and mid-career journalists from all over Europe, freelancers as well as staffers from all media who already have first experiences with collaborative journalism or firmly intend to work in this field.
Dates 2022:
March 30 – April 2 2022: Conference Centre Gut Siggen, Baltic Sea
May 19 – May 22 2022: Follow up-meeting at Dataharvest 2022, Mechelen, Belgium
- ECJP - What you can expect
You might wonder how the four days programme looks like in more detail. Please find some answers here:
The aim of ECJP is to explore the potential of collaboration and to encourage participants to collaborate. For this purpose, the programme is based on input provided by various experts as well as on work sessions during which you are asked to discuss in small groups topics you want to develop into an investigation. Whether they will end up in a finished story or remain in the state of elaboration is not decisive, the aim of the work sessions is to join hands on a topic of your interest and reflect on how you can adress it. The topics dont need to be ready made upon arrival, they usually are discussed and elaborated during the programme. Fireside lounge talks in the evening are meant to combine input by experts and informal debate with experts and peers in a sort of living room atmosphere.
The setting of ECJP can also be described as a sort of „mini conference“, but surely as a safe space where you can meet like-minded journalists to form lasting or more loose working relationships, discussing topics of mutual interest as well as exchanging on how to adress the challenges of your work. In turn, we assume that you are willing to fully engage with the programme, with your fellows and the experts and that you are committed to make this programme thrive. „Lets collaborate!“
The schedule, exemplarily, looks as follows:
Day 1: Welcome, intro to the programme, focus on getting to know each other, presenting your story ideas or topics of interests
Day 2: Input on terms, methods and tools of collaborative journalism, Work session 1, walk to the beach, Fireside lounge talk
Day 3: Work session 2, additional input on: „How to… research, coordinate, deal with encompassing data, pitch, protect your sources etc., Fireside lounge talk
Day 4: Pitching your story to experts/peers or developing a work plan how to continue, wrap up and preparing for Dataharvest 2022, feedback - Feedback ECJP 2020 & 2021
Participants of ECJP 2021 state:
„ECJP has been such a source of inspiration for me and I’m still coming back to the insights I got during the programme every once in a while. Thank you very much for the enormous effort you’ve put to pull it all together.“ (Felicia Cretu, Moldavia)
„Thank you again for organising the programme. It was really inspiring and I had so much fun!“ (Neus Vidal, Spain)
"It was a wonderful experience and one that I will remember. I found every single moment we spent together inspiring." (Gianluca Liva, Italy)
We also collected anonymous comments and take aways of the programmes:
“The programme is a “booster” for my professional work. I’ll “take with me” the ideas for several projects and 15 new friends.”
“A more inspired view of journalism and its importance – I am very impressed by the professionalism of the participants and am looking forward to following their work.”
“Very professional and straightforward organisation and communication, Siggen is a wonder – but please have warm dinners!” (:
Participants of ECJP 2020 state:„Everything was well communicated and clear, easy to follow, and throughout the program, it was easy to get all the information and help. All the experts and team members were super open and easy to communicate with.” (Anna Romandash, Ukraine)
“I also appreciated the fact that each trainer stayed for a certain time with us, allowing us to approach them for individual advice. The individual advice sessions with Brigitte helped me understand key issues regarding the management of a small media organisation such as Átlátszó Erdély.“ (Zoltán Sipos, Romania)
„We are already working on a collaborative project and what I appreciate the most are all those wonderful contacts from several countries!” (Piret Reiljan, Estonia)
- Recent publications from our fellows
- "How Vaccinations Became a Matter of Belief. Lithuania’s Case" by Daiva Repečkaitė
- The podcast "The Inoculation Podcast " with Daiva Repečkaitė as Co-Host
- "Carbon-neutrality is a fairy tale': how the race for renewables is burning Europe's forests" by Hazel Sheffield
- "Wälder, verheizt im Namen des Klimas" by Paul Toetzke
- The Making off Video of the Money to Burn investigation. Hazel Sheffield, Paul Toetzke, Piret Reiljan and Silvia Nortes were part of this collaborative crossborder team.
- Europäisches Journalistenprogramm - Informationen auf deutsch
Mit dem Europäischen Journalistenprogramm fördern Toepfer Stiftung und Arena for Journalism in Europe die Vernetzung und Zusammenarbeit von Journalist:innen aus ganz Europa.
Das Mediensystem steht unter dem Druck der digitalen Transformation. Dies beeinträchtigt die Qualität und Vielfalt der Medienlandschaft ebenso wie die Möglichkeiten für aufwändigeren und v.a. investigativen Journalismus. Zugleich steigt die Zahl grenzüberschreitend relevanter Themen an, so in den Bereichen Umwelt, Migration, organisierte Kriminalität oder Verbraucherschutz. Der kollaborative Journalismus bietet einen Weg, trotz schwindender Ressourcen vertiefte Recherchen zu ermöglichen und auch über Grenzen hinweg investigativ zu arbeiten.
Das Programm Im ECJP vermitteln Expertinnen und Experten Know-How, Methoden und Tools zum grenzüberschreitenden Journalismus. Die Teilnehmenden haben die Möglichkeit ein Recherchethema (weiter) zu entwickeln, sich zu vernetzen und intensiv über ihre jeweilige Arbeitspraxis auszutauschen und Feedback und Rat von Expert:innen und Peers zu erhalten.
Zielgruppe sind freie und feste Journalistinnen und Journalisten aller Mediengattungen aus ganz Europa mit ersten Erfahrungen oder großem Interesse am cross-border journalism.
Termine 2022:
30. März – 2. April 2022: Seminarzentrum Gut Siggen, Ostsee
19.-22. Mai 2022: Folgetreffen während der Dataharvest Konferenz in Mechelen, Belgien
