Following the fifth open call for proposals for youth media in 2024, four media projects involving 37 media organisations from across Europe were selected to receive a total of 9M euros, aiming to provide European youngsters with innovative, thought-provoking online news content.
By Eirini PolydorouSPHERA Movement, ENTR, Perspectives 3 and GenEU are the selected projects aiming to offer young Europeans online spaces enabling them to discover shared interests with youngsters in other countries, through providing curated content, compared perspectives, and relevant EU initiatives.
The four projects involve 37 different media outlets and other organisations across Europe and provide online news for 16-34 year olds in 18 languages. They will have a duration of 14 months approximately and operate with full editorial independence.
The proposals for the projects selected had been submitted to the Commission’s fifth call for proposals to support youth media independent journalism: “A European public sphere: a new online media offer for young Europeans (2024)”.
Meanwhile, currently open media calls include 2,5M euros per project for media pluralism and democracy, 2M euros per project for cross-border collaborations to enhance media sustainability and resilience, and a call of up to 500.000 euros per project to strenghten media literacy.
SPHERA Movement
SPHERA Movement produces videos, podcasts and events towards creating a new Europe, with a vision to drive social change for a better world, reflecting the concerns of the young generation.
The project will receive up to €1.66 million, to build on previous SPHERA, co-funded in former editions of this call for proposals. SPHERA Movement includes ten media organisations (Médianes, Europod, Dinamo, Arty Farty, Street Press, El Salto Diario, Krytyka Polityczna, VDNews.tv, 444.hu and Popaganda.gr). The project will produce content and events for age group 16-30 in at least 7 languages (English, French, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Hungarian and Greek).
ENTR is a European content creator network, producing journalistic content with a European dimension for social media. Valuing differences, celebrating commonalities, and connecting people with diverse backgrounds across Europe, ENTR provides a space for open discussions about our present and common future in many European languages, showcasing the richness of diverse perspectives in Europe.
The project will receive up to €3.17 million. It also builds on the experience gained in previous grants and includes ten partners: Deutsche Welle, France Médias Monde, RFI Romania, G4media (RO), RTP Portugal, Ringier Axel Springer Polska, Are We Europe NL, Dir.BG, Central Médiacsoport and the Bonn Institute. ENTR will produce content for youth of 18-34 years old in 10 languages (English, French, German, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Bulgarian, Dutch, Slovak and Hungarian).
Perspectives 3 also builds on former Perspectives editions. Focusing on "One Europe, many stories", Perspectives is a media platform for young Europeans seeking news beyond social media infotainment. With seven newsrooms, mainly from Eastern Europe, Perspectives offer multiple, fact-checked news voices on today’s complex realities.
The project will receive up to €1.44 million. The project brings together Goethe Institut and 6 media partners, Jádu Magazine, Kultura Liberalna, Revue Prostor, Kapitál Noviny, Nara.LT and Narvamus and other media outlets in Eastern Europe.
It will produce daily cross-border stories for age group 18-30 in 10 languages (English, German, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Ukrainian and Russian).
GenEU will receive up to €2.71 million. The consotrium consists of Telex (HU), OKO.Press (PL), Gen, știri and GenZette (RO), AFP (FR), Dossier (AT), El Orden Mundial (ES), CSM (HU) and DCN Global Greece.
It will produce content and events for age group 16-26 in 7 languages (Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, French, German, Spanish, and English (more information about the project soon to be published on the partners' websites).
