Maldita.es and Facta selected by the “Stars4Media” programme to improve their community models

The project “Boosting Community Participation Models for European Fact-Checkers”, submitted by Maldita.es and Facta, aims to bring both organisations together to design and test a transnational community model that supports fact-checking and increases the impact and reach of their work.

The “Stars4Media” programme is run by a consortium of organisations: VUB,Europe’s MediaLab (Fondation EURACTIV), the World Association of News Publishers WAN-IFRA, the European Journalism Centre (EJC) and the European Federation of Journalists.

The project was selected from among 48 projects submitted by 90 media outlets by a jury made up of 12 professionals from European media organisations and academic institutions.

Over a four-month period, Maldita.es and Facta will take part in an exploration phase to lay the foundations of the project. They will then be evaluated by a jury, which will decide whether the project is one of the nine that move on to the implementation phase.

Other selected projects include:

• A data management system for newsrooms by El Confidencial and Voxeurope.

• Distilled Membership: a mobile app for independent media by Are We Europe and Jnomics Media.

• Providing access to verified images and videos for professionals and citizens by France Télévisions and Faktisk.io.

• Real-time coverage planning by Suomen Tietotoimisto and Sourcefabric z.u.

• A journalism accelerator for European cities by Tagesspiegel and Arena for Journalism in Europe.

• Drone Media: building an explanatory journalism network in the Russian language by The Fix Media Foundation and Ukrayinska Pravda.

• Smart Switch Media: language and format conversion for bilingual and accessible media by Latvijas Mediji JSC and Radio Prawda dlja Rossii.

• RePod by Bulle Media and Acast.

• APOLLOS by Mediahuis and BotTalk.

• Infopoint Agency: supporting independent media in Eastern Europe by InfoPoint Agency and The Kyiv Independent.

• Regional Business Practices: sharing best practices from the Western Balkans by Business Info Group and MINA.

• Increasing the sustainability of investigative journalism in Eastern Europe by boosting crowdfunding skills, by the Belarusian Investigative Center and Crime and Corruption Reporting Network.

• Community-based subscriptions for cost-conscious readers by POLITYKA and Delfi UAB