The YoCoJoin project aims to intensify efforts towards more inclusive and engaging journalism by introducing youth community reporters within local news media outlets. By doing so, this project hopes to boost both the supply of quality journalism and the demand for such services among younger generations ultimately creating a more economically sustainable business model for local news media outlets. Over the 24 months, the seven project partners – experienced local media organisations from The Netherlands, Malta, Serbia, Hungary, Ireland, Slovenia, and Belgium will collaboratively experiment with introducing an innovative youth community journalism initiative by adapting the experiences of the coordinator, Omroep Tilburg, and introducing 20-30 local young people in each country to the journalism profession through training and mentorship.
The project will also directly contribute to the professional skills development of the participating partner organizations through its planned workshops and knowledge-sharing. Finally, YoCoJoin will seek to strengthen the overall sustainability of the wider European local news media sector by providing hands-on experiences to at least 20 non-partner local media services and distributing this inclusive and engaging journalism format through an online tutorial and active networking. As a result, the sector’s potential across countries and regions with different and diverse media capabilities will be increased.
Key activities:
Outreach and training for youth
“Learning-by-doing” training for 20-30 young people.
Youth community journalism in action
The selected 3-5 young people per country will be engaged in a 3-month news production process under the mentorship of the trainer/mentor and the project team. During this period, they will become Community Reporters to create reports – minimum 1-2 per person – in local languages.
Timeframe: 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2025
Region/ countries: The Netherlands, Malta, Serbia, Hungary, Ireland, Slovenia, Belgium
Lead partner: Omroep Tilburg (The Netherlands)
Partners:
Zavod Casoris (Slovenia)
SideStreetMalta (Malta)
Media Diversity Institute Global (Belgium)
Dublin Inquirer (Ireland)
Media Diversity Institute Western Balkans (Serbia)
Nyugat Media (Hungary).
LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yocojoin/about/
Funder: This project is co-funded by the European Union.
