Back on the road — The Circle Gothenburg and Cluj-Napoca

New season, new design sprints—between 11th and 22nd September, Europe’s most innovative cross-border media project headed to Romania and Sweden. 

The Circle team in Cluj.

In Cluj, a team of five, ranging from journalists to marketing professionals, took part in the two-week workshop, which focused on mapping the local media context, ideating a new project and developing a business model. Local partners TVR Cultural, Komiti, and MindBugs provided valuable input on cultural journalism and the role of creativity in media. Hub members Andrei Petre, an investigative journalist focusing on corruption, and Ancuța Ciolan Stăvar, a journalist and co-founder of ȘtiriMed, talk about their country and project. 

The Romanian media landscape, as both Andrei and Ancuța explain, suffers from over-centralisation around Bucharest. This leaves the local press in a difficult position, with a chronic lack of funding creating opportunities for political parties to enter and influence newsrooms, creating both biased media and distrust in journalism. This lack of trust exists both between journalists and the public, but also between journalists themselves, most of whom are isolated and suffer from a “toxic, competitive attitude,” according to Andrei.

Building on the need to restore collaboration and solidarity in Romanian media, the Cluj team decided to create a new code for journalism. For Ancuța, this will “bring more good and valuable journalistic materials for the public,” as well as help journalists to “collaborate better not only together, but also with the authorities and civil society.” The group sees this new code as paving the way to greater collaboration in media, but also as an opportunity to act as a “glue” for journalists and the media community as a whole. Further down the line, the Cluj team aims to organise workshops, training, and mentoring sessions for young journalists, following their collectively-built code. “We got to an idea that has inputs from everyone,” highlights Andrei.

The Circle team in Gothenburg.

Over in  Gothenburg, The Circle brought together eight international journalists, who all pitched in to map the local media ecosystem and identify any areas for improvement. With inputs from street newspaper Faktum, research organisation Medier och Demokratiand arts centre Röda Sten, the Gothenburg team explored the potential for diversifying the city’s media scene. Hub members Regine Glaß, a freelance journalist, and Amélie Reichmuth, a media professional with a European focus, tell us more about the local landscape and the team’s project. 

Issues faced by Swedish media include the rise of polarisation in society, which leads to a lack of positive coverage of underrepresented communities and migrant populations. Another, as both Regine and Amélie point out, is financial constraints, with a recent “wave of letting-off people.” The Swedish media model is in need of rebuilding bridges between its strong foundations and people living in Sweden from all backgrounds, some of whom don’t speak Swedish fluently. 

Creating a more inclusive media landscape is the team’s goal. As Regine explains, sharing “skills, contacts, and space with other freelance journalists” is a must. Another priority, Amélie adds, is fighting “dead angles in the way Swedish media report about Swedish news.” To tackle these issues, the team has decided to launch an events series that will allow them to build up a community spirit among Gothenburg-based journalists. These events will become an opportunity to “foster a fruitful conversation in the industry — and hopefully create positive change,” says Amélie. As the group believes in cross border dynamics, they would love for their project to grow into a meeting place for the whole Nordic region, becoming a network of satellite hubs producing stories that challenge people's views around marginalised groups or environmental topics. 

We’re super excited to see these projects develop. In October, The Circle team also travelled to Naples. Don’t miss the next blog post for more information—Pe curând & Vi ses snart!

This post was adapted from The Circle’s October newsletter. To receive updates and opportunities from The Circle’s network straight in your inbox, sign up to our monthly newsletter here.