2018-09-18

BRUSSELS - On 10 September 2018, the board of Journalismfund.eu has decided to make The European Investigative Journalism Conference (EIJC) & Dataharvest a stand-alone venture in its own right, fully independent from Journalismfund.eu. 

PRESS RELEASE

Zellik (Belgium), Tuesday 18 September 2018

 The EIJC & Dataharvest Conference becomes an independent organisation

On 10 September 2018, the board of Journalismfund.eu has decided to make The European Investigative Journalism Conference (EIJC) & Dataharvest a stand-alone venture in its own right, fully independent from Journalismfund.eu. With this decision Journalismfund.eu will also be able to focus more on its core activities, in particular acting as an intermediary body to fund independent, high value, cross-border journalism.

The EIJC & Dataharvest Conference has enjoyed growing success over the recent years and is one of the most relevant networking events for investigative and data journalists in Europe. This resulted in rapid growth in a short time-span. The 8th edition of the conference, held in May 2018 in Mechelen, near Brussels, hosted 470 participants from 52 countries, almost 90 more than the preceding year. In view of this successful evolution, the board of Journalismfund.eu is convinced that the conference has reached a stage where it can map out its own path as a viable independent organisation.

Brigitte Alfter will be in charge of this process and will take the lead in setting up the new structure. This also means that she will end her longstanding work for Journalismfund.eu by the end of 2018. The members of the board of Journalismfund.eu want to thank Brigitte for all the good work done for Journalismfund.eu and wish The EIJC & Dataharvest Conference the very best for its further development.

The seed has been planted. Now it’s time to harvest“, says Ides Debruyne, managing director of Journalismfund.eu. “We are confident that the conference will continue to grow and prosper and will remain a place where investigative journalists from Europe and all over the world will meet and develop inspiring ideas for in-depth journalism.

Brigitte Alfter: “‘See you at the Dataharvest’, journalists in the cross-border journalism community say to each other. The Dataharvest has grown to become the yearly meeting-place for the European journalism community. On behalf of this community I thank Journalismfund.eu for having incubated the conference for eight years. The Dataharvest is unique because it is a working conference, where cross-border journalism projects are born. The new initiative will continue to provide an open forum for journalists from all over Europe. A forum for journalists to participate and then return to their newsroom with fresh inspiration, newly acquired skills, material for new stories and excellent new contacts. We will continue to provide a space where old networks meet and new networks happen. In short the new initiative will strive to provide a living and very open infrastructure for collaborative journalism in Europe. So: See you at the Dataharvest!”

More info about Journalismfund.eu: www.journalismfund.eu
More info about The EIJC & Dataharvest Conference: www.dataharvest.eu