The Press Club Brussels Europe (PCBE), in collaboration with Link Campus University, launches a innovative networked training initiative for digital journalism and communication in Europe.

The initiative, called Participative European Newsmaking (PEN), aims to foster digital collaborative journalism and encourage news professionals to develop joint projects on EU-related topics, through engaging their user communities, and reach a pan-European audience.

The main goal is to equip news professionals with both the tecnical skills and the sense of entrepreneurship they need to approach journalism in a world that is increasingly dominated by social media and content marketing. Participants are immersed in a stimulating environment and connect together to create professional networks of participative journalism.

The initiative is organised in cooperation with partner organizations, such as journalism educational institutes, press clubs/associations and professional organisations across Europe, in order to maximize both promotion and participation. The initiative is implemented through organizing training activities throughout the year, both at the PCBE and the Link Campus University as well as at partners’ locations.

Why the initiative is important

People increasingly receive information from social media even if journalists are reluctant to admit it. Also, more and more data are available. Journalists must therefore sharpen up their skills to interact with the public through keeping pace with the digital revolution. Last but not least, old business models are declining and need to be replaced by new business models which are more suitable for digital production and distribution.

The PCBE intends to help colleagues to adjust to these new trends and be more competitive. Training activites cover ethical rules, good practices, digital tools, platforms and business models and, offering participants the chance to experiment innovative ways to reach their audience, produce content and monetize their work.

The initiative pays special attention to new forms of project finance based on public participation that represent, more and more, valuable alternatives to traditional sources of income of the media (advertisements, sales, subscriptions).

What you can learn

Participants acquire the following skills:

• developing participative projects
• collecting and organizing data
• creating interactive maps
• targeting and engaging users
• producing content in collaboration with other journalists and citizens
• using cross-platform strategies (web and mobile),
• running social media campaigns and establishing media partnerships to boost audience and crowd-funding

The European dimension

The initiative is also intended to teach journalists to specialize in the coverage of under-reported topics that are close to citizens’ interests, not just from a national point of view, but also from a broader European and international perspective, through inter-linking the global and the local dimensions.

A special focus is given to the coverage of the following topics in connection with relevant EU policies: health, environment, energy, consumer protection, food security, development, migration, etc.

http://pressclub.unilink.it/?page_id=44&lang=en

The Press Club Brussels Europe

The PCBE is an international association of journalists based in Brussels. It was born in February 2011, in collaboration with Brussels-Capital Region , with the aim of providing a forum for lectures and discussions with and between members of the media on issues of European and global interest.