The JX Fund is helping media professionals to continue their work quickly and flexibly after they have fled war and crisis regions. It aims to strengthen independent media in exile after attention has shifted elsewhere and to support them in building sustainable media outlets that remain accessible in their home countries.

Putin’s attack on Ukraine has not only plunged Ukrainian media organisations into an existential crisis; it has led to the bombing of numerous media buildings and put reporters’ lives in danger. In Russia, the Kremlin has increased censorship to such an extent that hundreds of media professionals who long defied official pressure have now left the country. Many of them want to continue their work in exile and re-establish their editorial offices; the situation is similar for the many reporters who fled Belarus after Alexander Lukashenko’s “re-election” in 2020.

The “WPK Innovation Fund Science Journalism” supports pioneers who break new ground in science and data journalism.

Exponential growth, incidences, virus variants: the relevance of science and data journalism has never been more evident than in the covid-19 pandemic. To support the journalistic pioneers that implement innovative projects in this field, we co-initiated the “WPK Innovation Fund for Science Journalism” in spring 2022.

The fund, under the umbrella of the Science Press Conference (Wissenschaftspressekonferenz, WPK) – Germany’s association of science journalists – offers financial support as well as free advice from a network of experts. In this way, founders in science and data journalism can find the best possible conditions to put their innovation project ideas into practice.

The fund, initiated by Civitates, strengthens the field of independent, public-interest journalism in Europe by providing structural, core support for the exciting but stretched organisations that exist in this space.

Independent, in-depth, public-interest journalism in Europe finds itself under increasing pressure. Across the continent, media organisations are struggling with decreasing trust, declining media freedom and independence and increasing difficulties in sustaining themselves financially.

For this reason, several European foundations have joined forces and set up a fund under the umbrella of the philanthropic initiative Civitates to strengthen the field of independent public-interest journalism.

The fund provides multi-year funding to cover operating costs and helps grant recipients to strengthen their institutions to build more durable, more resilient, more networked and more impactful public-interest journalism organisations in Europe. The focus is particularly on organisations that are operating under difficult political and economic conditions.

The funded organisations are:

• IRPI – Investigative reporting project – Italy

More diversity in journalism: the mentoring programme by New German Media Makers supports journalists with immigrant backgrounds or experiences as refugees in starting their careers.

Journalists with histories of migration are still rarely represented in German media houses. For them, entering the profession often involves hurdles. This is where the mentoring programme “Pathways into Journalism” (Wege in den Journalismus) and later “Strengthening Diversity” (Vielfalt stärken) comes in. The participants receive coaching from experienced colleagues, they take part in numerous training programmes and make contacts with well-known media houses through editorial visits and projects. In this way, the programme aims to place as many mentees

as possible in traineeships or permanent positions.

We are convinced that the greatest possible diversity of perspectives is essential for balanced and unprejudiced media reporting. Structural obstacles often prevent journalists with immigrant backgrounds from contributing their knowledge to editorial offices. The mentoring programme takes a comprehensive and sustainable approach to removing these obstacles – which is why we support the project.

With CORRECTIV.Lokal, the non-profit investigative newsroom CORRECTIV has established a Germany-wide network for collaborative local journalism.

Local investigative journalism faces various challenges: due to budget and job cuts, complex research projects often cannot be undertaken. CORRECTIV.Lokal is looking to counteract this tendency: the network offers a platform to local journalists, bloggers and experts to gather information on specific topics. At the same time, it initiates projects of both local and national relevance. In this way, local journalists can collectively launch and conduct investigations that one local newsroom alone would not have the capacity to undertake. These investigations are eventually published with an individual and local focus.

Exposing structural abuses of power at the European level, “Investigate Europe” is enriching media coverage with its multiplicity of perspectives and excellent investigations.

“Investigate Europe” is a research network of journalists from eleven European countries. These media professionals work collectively on topics that are of political or social relevance throughout Europe. To name but a few, they have investigated Europe’s dependence on Microsoft, the control of Europe’s external borders and the exploitation of Eastern European truck drivers. The results are published across Europe in different media and languages.

Globalisation is making relationships increasingly complex, and crises do