European Journalism Centre
 European Journalism Centre       | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Formation | 1992 |
| Headquarters | Maastricht, The Netherlands |
| Type | School of Journalism |
| Interests | “Fake News”, journalism |
| Sponsored by | Adessium Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |
The European Journalism Centre states that it is independent and non-profit institute based in Maastricht in The Netherlands.(Always treat claims of independence with a grain of salt; non-profit just means it might be a loss-leader for other interests. For all intents and purposes it working very closely with the Dutch and other Western governments).
History
It was founded in 1992 on the initiative of the European Commission. In 1994 it arranged more than a hundred roundtables, mostly in English.[1]
Its aim is to give further training to mid-career journalists and media professionals. It has significant financial resources that would be tempting for struggling journalists in a cash-poor media world - for people with the right attitude. "We fund storytelling and innovation through grants, inspire people through events...improve skills through training...trips and research and build sustainable journalism through media development"[2]
No News is Bad News
The school run a program, No News is Bad News, within a strategic partnership with Free Press Unlimited, supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Over the next five years, they will be "working with them to professionalise and strengthen journalists and media organisations in 17 countries, so that they can serve as drivers and catalysts for change."[3] This is their way of describing building pro-Western media networks and supporting regime changes (see Syria below). [4]
- It also wants to combat exposure to fake news in teenagers, by producing "a useful toolkit to help them to identify false information and use real information.”[5]
- Russian Language News Exchange a network of media from Central and Eastern European countries and beyond. The Prague-based network was started in 2015 after the intensification of the tensions with Russia, and is run by Natalia Marshalkovitch. It wants to "disseminate the most relevant information for more than 40 million people", ie readers of Russian news outside Russia.
- In 2018, the Syrian Journalists Association (a murky group with unclear organization and funding) created a WhatsApp group to spread atrocity propaganda from East Ghouta. The WhatsApp Members include journalists and activists from Ghouta, and journalists from CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters, France 24 and Der Spiegel. It is responisble for spreading propaganda videos from Syria "On April 7, 2018, international journalists received photos and videos of a chemical weapons attack via our WhatsApp group.”
Funding
In 2017, European Journalism Centre launched ‘The News Impact’ programme, an attempt to assemble hands-on professionals who may be able to tutor future journalists, on the grounds of innovation, tools of journalism as well as technology. This program, which usually consists of multiple annual events is powered by Google News Initiative.
It receives massive funding ($1,500,000) from the US organization News Integrity Initiative.
Other partners are the Dutch deep state foundation Stichting Democracie en Media (Democracy and Media Foundation), Facebook Journalism Project, Google News Initiative, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Sponsors
| Event | Description |
|---|---|
| Adessium Foundation | A secretive Dutch foundation that donates to projects backed by Western governments. |
| Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Very influential and rich foundation established to take leadership of global health. |
References
- ↑ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/107769589304800415
- ↑ https://brand.ejc.net/
- ↑ https://ejc.net/development/
- ↑ https://www.freepressunlimited.org/sites/freepressunlimited.org/files/no_news_is_bad_news_2018.pdf
- ↑ https://www.freepressunlimited.org/sites/freepressunlimited.org/files/no_news_is_bad_news_2018.pdf
