European Newsroom officially launched in Brussels, 16 news agencies including MIA to report on Europe
Brussels, 6 September 2022 (MIA) – High journalism standards, timely and fact-checked news coverage, fight against fake news, as well as closer cooperation among news agencies on all issues related to the EU and in the interest of Europe is the idea of the European Newsroom (ENR) which released its first news items in July.
The ENR offices are located within the Belga News Agency in Brussels, where the project was officially launched on Tuesday. ENR brings together 16 participating news agencies from across Europe, including North Macedonia’s Media Information Agency – MIA.
“Reporting on European issues is very challenging, particularly if you are far from the European headquarters of Brussels,” CEO at Belga News Agency, Patrick Lacroix, told Tuesday’s launch event. He pointed out that the project offers a shared infrastructure where journalists from 16 news agencies, i.e. their correspondents, will have access to workspace and equipment, also enabling more intensive mutual contacts and exchange of information.
He noted that the aim of the project is to report on Europe in a way that news agencies know how to do best – impartial, objective and fact-based news reporting in the interest of the entire public.
dpa's CEO Peter Kropsch stressed that the national news agencies involved in the project show the diversity of the countries in Europe, both EU member countries and candidate countries, and contribute to promoting mutual cooperation in reporting on important issues related to the EU.
He noted that in large number of cases, national news agencies are the only ones that have their own correspondent, and thus choice of information on what is happening in Brussels, in the European institutions.
"It is essential for us news agencies to secure fact-based, balanced, and independent news reporting from Brussels and at the same time fight disinformation," Kropsch said. This applies not only to EU member countries but also to the candidate countries, he noted, adding that one of the ideas of ENR is to enable smaller news agencies that don’t have big budgets to have equal access to European news, as the larger and better-funded news agencies.
Kropsch said the two-year project enables four types of partnership among the participating news agencies, one of which is the solidarity partnership under which the Ukrainian agency Ukrinform can use the facilities of ENR free of charge, as agreed by all participating news agencies in order to provide support to journalists in a country facing a major crisis due to the Russian aggression.
European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova also addressed the launch event of the European Newsroom. “More than ever, we need European news, we need to bring different perspectives together, because the challenges that we face go far beyond one single country.”
“Let’s mention the current war launched by Russia against Ukraine, spiking energy prices or climate change. These issues know no borders, and to better grasp the full picture, your readers need a cross-border dimension,” said Jourova.
She stressed that the EC will continue to support such projects because, unfortunately, deterioration of the situation with the media has been observed in many European countries. Jourova announced a presentation of an EU Media Freedom Act next week in Strasbourg in an attempt to strengthen the role of media, and thus protect democracy in European countries.
“When we see such a negative trend - political pressure, economic pressure, increasing threats and violence against journalists - we have to start acting,” Jourova said.
The new legislation aims to increase the protection of journalists' sources, increase transparency, and protect public media from political influence, she added.
Jourova noted that she cannot give details about the legislation at the moment, but said it will be based on the principles that no journalists should be guilty because of their job, nor prevented from doing it.
German agency dpa and France’s AFP are the project carriers, whereas news agencies from North Macedonia, i.e. MIA, Romania, Austria, Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine are also taking part.
The project is funded through a European Commission grant worth EUR 1,76 million.
The news items are published by each agency in the respective mother tongue every Monday and Thursday. Once a week, ENR picks a European topic in which national agencies provide their input and the story is published in English.
