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Business Innovation Synergizer FAQ: What applicants need to know

Media organisations interested in the Media Innovation Europe 3.0 Business Innovation Synergizer (BIS) can now consult a new FAQ document providing additional answers and practical clarification for applicants ahead of the 20 September 2026 application deadline. The Business Innovation Synergizer supports established media organisations that have already developed or validated a business idea, plan or strategy and are ready to move towards implementation and growth. Selected organisations

EU Investigative Journalism Award 2025: Meet the Winners

The EU Investigative Journalism Award 2025 has officially concluded, celebrating the most impactful investigative work from the Western Balkans and Türkiye. This year’s awarded stories highlight the role of investigative journalism in strengthening freedom of expression, advancing the rule of law, and promoting transparency and accountability across the region. Each winning investigation represents how reporting can challenge abuse of power, expose corruption, and bring

Ash-covered budgets: Inside North Macedonia’s power plant corruption scandal

How an IRL investigation uncovered inflated contracts, institutional complicity, and millions lost from North Macedonia’s state budget Maja Jovanovska and Bojan Stojanovski’s investigation for North Macedonia’s Investigative Reporting Lab (IRL), won the 2025 EU Investigative Journalism Regional award for exposing large-scale corruption involving public and private actors. This also marks the second regional award for the IRL team, as they were the first winners

Exposing power without fear: Inside a documentary on systematic political employment in Montenegro

An award-winning investigation into nepotism, public institutions, and accountability after the 2020 change of government Nikola Milosavić Aleksić and Tatjana Ašanin came into their latest documentary with substantial experience. They had already completed two major investigative films, one exposing abuses in the Podgorica Waterworks and another examining the intelligence services and the “Udar” affair. This time, however, the scope was wider and the consequences

Beyond proof of concept: The work that comes after validation

Why audience validation is only the beginning of building sustainable, impactful media projects Media innovation rarely starts with numbers or business plans. It begins with a feeling that something important is missing—and with people who care enough to try to fix it. During the latest Validation Booster cycle, I worked with several media teams that carried that kind of motivation. Among them, two stood

Empowering paths : The impact of the specialised internship for young female journalists and what we learnt from it 

Why investing in young female journalists strengthens media and democracy Thomson Foundation (TF) Deepening Digital Reinforcing Resilience project ran a one-year internship programme that provided structured and focused support to young female journalists across the CEE region. Its goal was to contribute to quality journalism and to the increase of representation of female journalists in the news desks Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

“It didn’t have to happen”: Inside the winning  podcast that uncovered what really caused the tragedy at Serbian Soko mine

How an award-winning investigation turned tragedy into a powerful narrative podcast When journalists Stefan Marković and Jovana Tomić began investigating the fatal accident at the Serbian coal mine “Soko,” which occurred in 2022, they did not plan to produce a narrative podcast. The accident, caused by a sudden and uncontrolled release of methane inside the mine, left eighteen people injured and claimed the lives

Contracts signed for 27 Small grants for media content production

Local media across the Western Balkans begin producing new content As part of the Small grants for media content production grant scheme under the SMS Facility – Small Media Support in Western Balkans project, 27 contracts have been signed with local media outlets across six Western Balkan countries, officially launching the implementation of new projects aimed at improving the quality of media content. This

Breaking the silence: How a Kosovo journalist’s case became a collective struggle and exposed an online network of sexual harassment

From online anonymity to real-world accountability Investigative journalist Ardiana Thaçi Mehmeti, from Kiks Kosova, won first prize at the EU Investigative Journalism Awards 2025 in Kosovo for an investigation that exposed vast online networks of harassment, blackmail, and gender-based violence targeting women and girls.  What began as professional reporting on illicit Telegram groups evolved into a profoundly personal battle, revealing the real-world consequences of

How Chris Dalby validated two sports journalism products—and learned when less is more

A mentoring case study on audience validation, revenue models, and strategic focus in sports journalism written by Christine Liehr  For my previous article on Journalift, I borrowed a sports analogy to describe the mentoring process with Ioana Epure, creator of „The Lost Expat Digest“. Apparently, that didn’t deter the Thomson team to call me back as a mentor for cohort 3. This time, with

Exposing power and impunity: İsmail Arı’s investigation into the Yunus Emre Foundation

How an award-winning investigation exposed corruption, political pressure, and the power of persistence Investigative journalist İsmail Arı received second prize at the 2025 EU Investigative Journalism Awards for exposing large-scale corruption at the Yunus Emre Foundation, one of Türkiye’s most prominent public institutions with a global cultural mission. His reporting uncovered how millions of lira were diverted from the foundation through fake invoices, findings

Where is Sara: Uncovering a missing child amid bureaucracy and silence

An award-winning investigation from Bosnia and Herzegovina exposes institutional failures, emotional struggles, and a journalists’ relentless pursuit of answers When the story of a missing newborn first reached the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN) in BiH, journalists Jelena Jevtić and Mubarek Asani did not realise the emotional and institutional challenges that lay ahead. Their award-winning documentary Where is Sara exposes the disappearance of baby
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