Brussels supports journalism with 20.5 million euros

The European Commission made this Thursday €20.5 million available to support journalism and media outlets, with funds allocated to encourage cross-border collaborations or strengthen a mechanism that assesses violations of freedom of the press. In a statement, the Commission refers that these funds will be distributed through three programs: the first, endowed with 14 million euros, aims to finance "partnerships in the field of journalism, promoting collaboration between the media and the work of local and public interest media". "This call includes two aspects: the first, dedicated to pluralism, is intended for organizations capable of creating and distributing funds to entities in the media sector, in areas of particular relevance to democracy," the executive stated. The second aspect of this project aims to "support proposals for cross-border collaboration between media organizations, focusing on innovative business models and journalistic projects throughout Europe". Another program that will be financed with 3.5 million euros from the package announced this Thursday aims to strengthen citizens' skills in media literacy, "allowing them to navigate the information space safely and confidently and contributing to society's resilience against disinformation and manipulation". Finally, the European Commission will also make available three million euros to "strengthen an independent rapid response mechanism at the European level to monitor violations of press freedom and of the media in the European Union (EU), as well as in candidate countries". "This monitoring will contribute to the production of more solid data and analyses on the threats to the pluralism of the media and the safety of journalists, as well as to the development of the annual rule of law report," the European Commission indicates. The European Commission states that these three programs will be open to applications until October 22nd.