European Federation of Journalists

Skills & innovation for media: discover the Stars4Media Pilot Project


The Stars4Media Pilot Project is supporting innovation in the media sector, through training and cross border cooperation. For its first edition, Stars4Media will support 22 innovative partnerships, bridging 100 media professionals from 17 countries.

Out of all beneficiaries, 47% are women, 30% work as journalists, while the rest come from other professional backgrounds such as content marketing, social media management, editing, engineering,  and business. 18% of the total participants are freelancers. 

The last call for initiatives, with deadline 20/05/20, was a success! Overall, 41 proposals have been evaluated and 22, the best and most promising, have been selected. 

More information on the 22 selected initiatives can be found here. 

The number and quality of proposals demonstrate the need for a flexible and efficient approach to helping the media sector. The selected participants are currently implementing their initiatives virtually, or with a mix of digital and physical mobility when possible, through a simplified administrative procedure. 

Stars4Media aims to accelerate media innovation and cross-border coverage in Europe by supporting media professionals with 2-10 years of media experience and coming from different backgrounds (journalists, graphic designers, tech developers, marketing, and social media managers). The programme encourages skill-building activities to test ideas, produce content, and develop sustainable and impactful initiatives around 3 main themes:  TRUST in media, DATA for media, and the media response to the Coronavirus CRISIS.

The partners in Stars4Media are VUB-SMIT, Fondation EURACTIV, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). Stars4Media is co-funded by the EU, in implementation of year 1 of the pilot project ‘Rising stars’ voted by the European Parliament. Year 2 has also been voted.   

To brainstorm ideas for the future, promote their initiatives, interact with successful initiatives, and access relevant training, media professionals can take part in the online Stars4Media LinkedIn Community. Initiatives that have not been selected at this stage, and other media professionals, are also invited to join this community.

Questions:  info@stars4media.eu