Stars4Media NEWS

ended

Stars4Media NEWS positions itself as a flagship Programme for media professionals under the EU’s NEWS initiative/Creative Europe. It relies on a consortium, formed by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Europe’s MediaLab (Fondation EURACTIV), the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the European Journalism Centre (EJC). Stars4Media NEWS will promote the transformation of the media sector through: • Cross-border cooperation between news media on collaborative projects • In-depth transformation coaching of news media professionals • Cascade funding for selected projects The focus is on creating new business models and leading newsroom transformation in Europe’s news media ecosystem, while facilitating agile adaptation and implementing real and sustainable change management. Stars4Media NEWS proposes a two-phase coaching programme, for which applicants respond to an open call and an independent jury shortlists 14 projects to be funded and enter the EXPLORE phase. Subsequently, 9 of these projects will be selected to scale up to the BOOST (transformation of the newsroom and/or business) phase. Each collaborative project will include at least two media organisations from two countries, involve multi-competence teams, and will focus either on: • Business transformation – new business models (products, services, financial, and/or organisational design transformations) – Track 1 • or Newsroom transformation – innovative processes (production, distribution, or consumption methods, technological solutions for newsrooms) – Track 2 Participants in these two parallel tracks will receive specialised coaching to help them steer processes and strategies. Stars4Media NEWS aims to maximise lessons learned and enhance knowledge transfer in view of strengthening, consolidating, and building resilience in the EU news media sector.