The main objective of NEWSREEL project is to improve such skills of a new generation of European journalists that are required in the present media fields to be a credible and stable factor of the European democratic public debate who can benefit from the digital information ecosystem in order to make complex public issues understandable. To achieve this objective, NEWSREEL will make innovative learning materials and teaching programs Europe-wide available. Furthermore the project aims to facilitate the efficient international cooperation between university-based journalists ecosystems to: a) develop critical understanding of the breadth, depth and scope of credible journalism; b) help journalists reporting more credible stories, based on the more precise information with the help of computer-assisted reporting or data journalism . Putting data in a visual form may reveal patterns and insights that weren’t identifiable otherwise. In this way, the audience can understand better complex issues; c) develop new business strategies and models of journalism.The technical and economic development brought significant risks for journalism as well. By the weakening of the traditional forms of the exploitation of media products and services, the stable financial fundamentals of high-quality journalism have more or less disappeared; the weaker the media market of a country is, the higher the risk for financial problems of quality journalism.; d) establish collaborative journalism. Transnational team-working is a key element in the field of collaborative journalism. European cross-border investigations can improve the transparency of the European political and economic decision making and the expenses of the European public money. Moreover, the increasing complexity of journalism projects makes necessary the cooperation between experts of several fields, such as journalists, data journalists, IT experts and designers; e) be able to handle ethical challenges of the digital public sphere. Journalists still should provide credible information on the public issues, but they have to compete with a mass of non-professional, often inaccurate information, and fight against aggressive communication against particular social groups or their own performance. To handle these challenges, journalists should embed robust ethical norms into their work. The methodology used in the project's implementation phase is based on the following 7 steps process: 1. Mapping the journalism education and the needs of the stakeholders, 2. Developing syllabuses in order to embed the skills and tools concerned into the programs of journalism studies, 3. Developing electronic learning materials and teaching methods to increase the necessary new journalism skills, 4. Having courses at the participating universities as a pilot teaching activity, 5. Publishing a teacher’s guide that summarizes the professional and methodological content of the project, 6. Developing student career profiles, 7. Organizing an international student competition that aims implementing cross-border investigative journalism projects with visualized. NEWSREEL will be implemented by - the Department for Communication and Media Studies of the University of Pécs which has a strong focus on the social impact of the journalism in the research and education activity; - the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication University of Bucharest which has an academic offer, does research and develops activities in all the areas of the project; - ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon which has several post-graduation offers in the communication/journalism areas, and a specific one in Executive Media Management; - the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism, an affiliated institute of TU Dortmund which has participated in several transnational research projects. In the long run, NEWSREEL will contribute to - the extending the journalism education to the new fields of the digital public discussion, - the improving of high-quality journalism, - the strengthening of the common European democratic public sphere by improving the collaborative and cross-border journalism that is able to elaborate and make tangible the big amount of available data, and that is based on a predictable business strategy and a firm ethical foundation.

The project is the extension of the Erasmus+ KA2 project NEWSREEL - New Skills for the Next Generation of Journalists. The primary goal of NEWSREEL2 - New Teaching Fields for the Next Generation of Journalists is to improve such skills of a new generation of European journalists that are connected to the use of digital communication opportunities in a creative and responsible way for enhancing social benefits of the digital era. Creative and responsible use of digital tools is an indispensable ability of journalists. They should remain reliable and trustworthy sources of news in the digital noise to counterpoint the unverified information that affects the raw emotions and temper of the audience. To achieve these objectives, in the framework of NEWSREEL2, we will develop innovative teaching methods and materials for media and journalism students on the fields of:Storytelling in social media in order to students learn how to present journalistic contents on social media networks;Graphic journalism to get to know the basic tools and subgenres of comics journalism;Improving democratic sensibility to be aware their social role and responsibility in a democratic society of the digital age;Covering migration to improve their research and reporting skills, and understanding migration in a global context;Foreign coverage to be able to contribute to a more balanced coverage of international topics;Journalism for voice-activated assistants and devices to learn how to use them and see the potential that they can bring to newsrooms;AI and journalism, robot journalism and algorithms to know how it can be used, and see clearly its potential and threats;Verifying and analysing fake news to be able to identify information and opinion going viral and to verify information with the help of suitable tools and softwares;Debunking disinformation to get solid knowledge regarding the mechanisms used for debunking fake news and disinformation.Regarding these fields, the methodology used in the project's implementation phase is based on the following 7 steps process:1. Conducting a research to introduce the current status of the new type of skills and tools of journalism and the needs of the stakeholders;2. Developing curricula in order to establish the structure of the e-learning materials and embed these skills and tools into the programmes of journalism studies;3. Developing electronic learning materials and teaching methods primarily for blended learning university courses;4. Organizing a summer school with interactive workshops on the project fields, with the aim students work together on journalistic projects in multinational teams;5. Having courses at the participating universities as a pilot teaching activity;6. Publishing a teaching guide with dedicated chapters to the specific courses, that summarizes the professional and methodological content of the project;7. Publishing an online glossary that helps to build a common knowledge base and cover all of our professional fields.Furthermore, the project aims to facilitate an efficient international cooperation primarily between university-based journalistic ecosystems. Therefore NEWSREEL2 will be implemented by - the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Pécs (as project leader);- the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism, an affiliated institute of TU Dortmund;- the CIES-IUL - Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology at the ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon;- the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Bucharest;- the Department of Media Studies and Journalism at the Masaryk University;- Hostwriter, an NGO that helps journalists to collaborate. In the long run, NEWSREEL2 will contribute to - broadening best practices for journalism and media education;- giving best practices for online distance learning methodologies;- increasing trustworthy, reasonable information and debates at national and European level- strengthening press freedom and democracy;- fostering fact-based policy making about the future of journalism;- improving critical thinking of European citizens.

MEDIADELCOM endeavours to contribute to the enhancement of European integration, social cohesion and consequently – Europeanization. The popularity of ultra-right and populist political forces in European societies demonstrate that the unity of European nations and their common goals are not self-evident. Informed decision making in contemporary democratic societies is being challenged. MEDIADELCOM consortium argues that European political and cultural spaces evolve best if specific policies enhance the conditions for deliberative communication. The Consortium will work out a methodology enabling the assessment and forecast of the risks and opportunities for deliberative communication emerging in the process of media transformation in 2000-2020. There is no holistic approach to media related Risks and Opportunities (ROs); media studies and data are dispersed, restricting the evaluation of ROs for deliberative communication in European countries; there are no evidence-based holistic scenarios for prognosing media development in European societies. The overall objective of MEDIADELCOM is to develop a diagnostic tool for policy makers, educators, media critical bodies and institutions, as well as for media experts and journalists, which enables the provision of holistic assessment of risks and opportunities concerning deliberative communication and consequently social cohesion in Europe. We will: 1) develop a model for holistic analysis of the ROs emerging within the process of media transformation in Europe; 2) assess the sufficiency of existing research and data necessary for making knowledge based forecasts about European media landscape development trends; 3) generate a novel method, based on motivational modelling and agent-based simulation for outlining scenarios to predict media related ROs. By assembling and synthesizing existing dispersed research, and modelling multiple scenarios will create an instrument for media risk prediction and management.