Deadline: June 20, 2016
New Diplomacy’s Independent Journalism Fellowship for Eastern Partnership Countries is an initiative to raise standards of journalism covering the post-Soviet space, in particular the Eastern Partnership countries. Through mentoring and co-operation, the journalists will link up with each other to strengthen co-operation of newsrooms in different Eastern Partnership countries in terms of sharing content, and also in formulating and promoting high standards of news reporting, public service broadcasting standards, and regulation of propaganda in their home countries. The fellowships will take place from August 2016 – February 2017 (with placements for up to five weeks in an EU country during the period September-December 2016).
Fellowship Details
The fellowships will comprise:
- Mentoring of the fellows so that prior to their fellowship visit they conduct research and interviews in their own countries that can then be used for reports to be printed/broadcast during their placement in the respective EU countries;
- Linking of all the fellows whereby they would work together on a common series of articles/stories on common themes around democratisation and media reforms – based on the subject focus and complementary experience of the respective journalists;
- Participation in a multi-country effort to strengthen standards on public service broadcasting, on control and sanctions against propaganda, and on common quality standards for independent news reporting;
- A five-week stay at a host media outlet in the EU.
Fellowship
- For each fellow, New Diplomacy will cover international travel to the host country and back, and in addition up to a maximum of USD 3,000 in expenses, covering local travel, visa costs where necessary, and subsistence and accommodation for the five weeks spent at the host organisation;
- Each mentor (or host organisation if the mentor is provided by the host organisation) will receive USD 1,800 in mentoring fees. Each host organisation will receive USD 500 in overhead costs for hosting the fellow. The host organisation or mentor will also receive USD 300 for the venue/equipment costs of organising the roundtable event.
Eligibility
- Applicants should be journalists from Eastern Partnership countries, or journalists working for independent or public service media outlets in the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine).
- Freelance journalists are also welcome to apply.
Application Process
Applications must include ALL of the following materials. The letter of application and CV must be in English, while other documents can be in English, in Russian or in the language of communication in the planned host country.
- Letter of application (1-2 pages) and CV: These should summarise the fellows’ experience to date, in particular in the proposed area of reporting/research (set out in item 4 below);
- Letter of support by supervisor at applicant’s own institution (or of editor/publisher in the case of freelance journalist);
- Names and contact details of mentor and host media institution in the EU for the five-week fellowship. The application should either provide a support letter from a host institution or provide contact details of a potential mentor within the host organisation/host country. Priority will be given to those applicants who have already identified and/or can confirm the interest in the project of an EU media organisation (New Diplomacy is ready to help in contacting identified EU media organisations on behalf of the applicant if the applicant puts forward a strong proposal and is still unable to establish working relations with a host organisation);
- Proposal (maximum of four A4 pages), describing the choice of subjects of news stories/reports that would be prepared during the fellowship for (a) the host media organisation, and (b) media in the fellow’s own country, including a well-defined concept of the approach to news-gathering and research, and topic justification. The proposal should also include an assessment of entry-points for reforming standards for independent media and for introduction/regulation of public service media in the fellow’s respective home country.
Submit proposals to Jeff Lovitt, Chair, New Diplomacy, at: [email protected]
For more information, visit New Diplomacy’s Independent Journalism Fellowship 2016.
