The Eastern Frontier Initiative

ended

The Eastern Frontier Initiative will bring together independent publishers from Central and Eastern Europe to collaborate on content, product, and business development, to develop new skills in the newsrooms and to strengthen fact-based public discourse about European defense and security. The project will enhance knowledge-sharing in the European media sector, counter Russian and Chinese disinformation and ultimately contribute to a more resilient European democracy. Gazeta Wyborcza from Poland, SME from Slovakia, 444 from Hungary and PressOne from Romania represent the Eastern Frontier of the EU. Bellingcat from the Netherlands is a global leader in using innovative OSINT techniques in security focused public service journalism. Participants will collaborate on content production focusing national security, defense, energy and resource security, economic security and cybersecurity, individual resilience, and crisis preparedness in their national languages (PL, SLK, HU, RO - minimum 350 pieces of content over 24 months) and launch a joint English language website for an international audience (minimum 85 pieces of content over 24 months). The consortium (in cooperation with GLOBSEC) will establish the CEE Threat Report, a digital and print publication (minimum 20 thousand copies) to be unveiled and promoted at live events (6 events) and to be distributed freely in schools and universities. Bellingcat will develop OSINT capabilities in each newsroom (minimum 14 reporters to be trained) and we will establish a hub for such activity in the region. We will develop a curriculum on OSINT for journalism school students in the region. Participating publishers will develop joint digital and print products and explore their monetization to ensure the sustainability of the project beyond the funding period. We expect a combined audience of minimum 5 million European citizens for our content, mostly in the participating countries.