The Circle: a European network of media hubs

2026-07-22

The Circle project is a new approach to journalism collaboration of 4 European media partners. Built on a successful methodology named “design sprints”, the project will set up 10 media knowledge & production hubs in second-tier European cities. After a careful creation and coaching process, the ten hubs will gather creatives, journalists, and other entrepreneurial media professionals who want to set up projects. As digital skills are a must-have for any news organisation to be competitive and sustainable, the project will build bridges between larger established legacy media and millennial-led media organisations and explore digital formats and means of production. Participants will be brought together to create a story about the media landscape in their city during one sprint week, and then - together with other participants - run through a business case design sprint to set up a tailored hub according to the local media production needs. All in all, the ten local hubs will become part of a sustainable broader European network of enthusiastic and dedicated local teams who will share knowledge and information with each other and will be able to sustainably collaborate in the future. Thanks to a financial grant, each hub will reflect on ways to build their own local financial independent capacity and a way to sustain themselves in the long term. This process will be facilitated by a community platform and the designation of a community manager for each hub. Thus, the hubs will be able to follow interesting subjects with a European angle, raise their awareness on issues and developments in other cities and countries, and will enable them to consider collaboration opportunities with each other. Last but not least, the impact of the project will be widened by the organisation of visibility events and through media partnerships which will showcase the projects and productions by the hubs.

Netherlands

2025-12-15