Our vision and mission

We believe that journalism is crucial to fostering living democracies throughout Europe. We are dedicated to advancing independent and investigative journalism that serves the public interest, furthers accountability as well as transparency, and contributes to critical thinking and well-informed debate. 

We aim to promote and develop professional journalism in response to the challenges and opportunities stemming from increased digitalisation, the internationalisation of political, business and criminal power structures, as well as changing revenue models. 

Journalismfund Europe vzw is a Brussels-based independent non‐profit intermediary incorporated by citizens in 1998. The organisation was established with the purpose of strengthening democracy in Europe, by facilitating independent cross-border investigative journalism, connecting donors and journalists or media without endangering the journalists’ independence.

This is how we work:

  • We facilitate donors so that they can play their role supporting investigative journalism to the maximum extent possible. We therefore report in a very transparent way about our projects.
  • We facilitate journalists to conduct investigative and cross-border journalism; moreover, we safeguard their independence from donors.
  • We help journalists disseminate their stories among citizens.

Our origin

Journalismfund Europe is a Belgian-registered independent non-profit intermediary originating from the Pascal Decroos Fund for investigative journalism. The Fund was set up in 1998 by family, close friends and colleagues of Pascal Decroos to commemorate and further the legacy of this Belgian journalist.

What we stand for, is what Pascal Decroos stood for in word and deed. He was dedicated to investigative journalism. He was committed to creating opportunities to develop young  journalistic talent and had an ability to bring people from very different facets of society to engage in dialogue and work together.

The journalism we stand for

The journalism we support is characterised by the two 'I's:  investigative and independent.

  • Investigative journalism is fact-based, well-researched, uses the best available methods and respects the relevant professional, ethical and legal rules.
  • Independent journalism is credible because it is editorially independent of political, economic or other types of influence. Journalismfund Europe strives to provide the necessary structures to safeguard such editorial independence.

Journalismfund Europe endorses the principles of the IFJ Global Charter of Ethics for Journalists as well as the national codes of ethics that are in force (see https://www.ifj.org/who/rules-and-policy/global-charter-of-ethics-for-journalists.html).

Journalismfund Europe facilitates journalists and media to strive to provide:

  • Truthful, verified news and information in a context that gives them meaning;
  • Forums for civil exchanges and greater understanding of various viewpoints, with fairness in mind;
  • Stories, information and ideas that reflect diverse types of communities and their interests and views

Fully in line with The Trust Project