A Media Network for Social Change East of Western Europe
WHY is it needed?
Great social innovation initiatives are all around in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe – their visibility in the media, however, remains poor which prevents them from successfully scaling their activities. Social innovators blame media for not covering „good causes” although they, themselves, often lack the stories which would be appealing enough to report on. Editors either treat these issues as PR, so they do not report on them at all, or „hide” them into supplements or once-a-year special issues. Newspapers lack resources and sometimes professional capacities to report on these topics without slipping into PR, maintaining editorial integrity and doing high-quality, in-depth, independent, critical journalism. The Spread! Network brings a coherent, strategic, sustainable approach to supporting independent journalism covering social issues in the region.
HOW does it work?
Create a community: Through different social media platforms, Spread! Network is first of all a community of journalists, bloggers, media professionals and social innovators from Warsaw to Sofia. The community animated through different social media platforms and a webpage serves as a place where members can communicate, exchange information, best practices, innovative ideas on how to report on these issues, curate and translate content from their respective countries. The Spread! Network's webpage will become a major reference point and go-to site for stories on social innovation in the region.
Build capacities: The network aims at building capacities for both media professionals and social innovators.
Raise funds: The network will raise funds to provide funding for innovative storytelling on social innovation. Based on a carefully designed selection process, the network will offer stipends of 3, 6 or 12 months to allow storytellers to focus on both long-term projects and sustained reporting on undercovered issues.
HOW is it sustainable?
The network is actively working on to develop new revenue streams that respect the core values of the network but can provide additional benefits for funders, make the project sustainable, and allow journalists to turn their research into teaching tools. Examples of possible revenue streams include producing case studies for universities, think tank reports, conferences, training sessions in storytelling, due diligence reports, and consultancy.
Great social innovation initiatives are all around in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe – their visibility in the media, however, remains poor which prevents them from successfully scaling their activities. Social innovators blame media for not covering „good causes” although they, themselves, often lack the stories which would be appealing enough to report on. Editors either treat these issues as PR, so they do not report on them at all, or „hide” them into supplements or once-a-year special issues. Newspapers lack resources and sometimes professional capacities to report on these topics without slipping into PR, maintaining editorial integrity and doing high-quality, in-depth, independent, critical journalism. The Spread! Network brings a coherent, strategic, sustainable approach to supporting independent journalism covering social issues in the region.
HOW does it work?
Create a community: Through different social media platforms, Spread! Network is first of all a community of journalists, bloggers, media professionals and social innovators from Warsaw to Sofia. The community animated through different social media platforms and a webpage serves as a place where members can communicate, exchange information, best practices, innovative ideas on how to report on these issues, curate and translate content from their respective countries. The Spread! Network's webpage will become a major reference point and go-to site for stories on social innovation in the region.
Build capacities: The network aims at building capacities for both media professionals and social innovators.
- Solutions journalism workshops: for journalists, editors and bloggers workshops in solution journalism are offered where they can discuss the new responsibilities and new approaches to social problems. More on solution journalism, see here.
- Storytelling workshops: For social innovators the network organizes storytelling workshops so that changemakers can better understand how they can scale their initiatives through stories. More on the power of storytelling, see here.
- StoryHacks: The network organizes innovative "storyhacks" where - in the style of hackathons - storytellers with conscience collaborate with social entrepreneurs to develop stories, ideas which they can use in their media activities. More on this kind of workshops, see here.
Raise funds: The network will raise funds to provide funding for innovative storytelling on social innovation. Based on a carefully designed selection process, the network will offer stipends of 3, 6 or 12 months to allow storytellers to focus on both long-term projects and sustained reporting on undercovered issues.
HOW is it sustainable?
The network is actively working on to develop new revenue streams that respect the core values of the network but can provide additional benefits for funders, make the project sustainable, and allow journalists to turn their research into teaching tools. Examples of possible revenue streams include producing case studies for universities, think tank reports, conferences, training sessions in storytelling, due diligence reports, and consultancy.