Media Diversity Institute

17/07/2025

01/07/2025

📢 Apply Now: Support for Local & Community Media

Are you an independent local or community media outlet, or a freelancer, in Belgium, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, or Serbia?

LIMENet, co-funded by Creative Europe, is offering grants of €16,000–€20,000 to help local media and freelancers grow stronger, reach wider audiences, and produce quality journalism that serves diverse communities.

✔️ Eligible applicants include local non-profit or public interest media, freelancers with 5+ years of experience, and civil society organisations focused on media.
✔️ Funding can support audience outreach, multimedia, collaborative reporting, new revenue models, or networking.
✔️ Successful applicants will also receive tailored mentoring and training.

Deadline: 25 August 2025 | Apply via https://app.media4change.co/grant/local-innovative-media-in-europe-network

🗓️ Don’t miss your chance to build resilient, independent local media that amplifies underrepresented voices.

30/06/2025

Be they ra**st, cheat or bully, ‘trans’ has become shorthand for ‘predator’ — fear turned fact, headlines turned laws.”

In her new piece for MDI, Dr Victoria McCloud, British lawyer and former High Court judge, explains how UK media coverage and policy have collided, leaving trans people in what she calls a “legal twilight zone.”

Recent legal changes have removed key protections: diagnosed trans people now face being legally two s*xes at once, but with fewer rights than either. Rights to equal pay protections, single-s*x spaces, and freedom from surveillance are all under threat. Some new rules even allow male officers to strip-search trans women and businesses to demand ‘proof’ of biological s*x.

📖 Read her full analysis and why this should matter to anyone concerned about press freedom and rights:
👉 https://www.media-diversity.org/the-great-deceiver-observations-on-uk-coverage-of-the-trans-community-just-before-and-after-recent-events/

27/06/2025

🗣Στο πλαίσιο του Ευρωπαϊκού έργου 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗦𝗘 - 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗯𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗛𝗔𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗯𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗘𝗱𝗶𝗮, η Symplexis μαζί με τους υπόλοιπους εταιρούς ( Media Diversity Institute, CESIE ETS, ITML, protothema.gr, Center for Social Innovation - CSI, European Center for Human Rights, WAN-IFRA, Alpha Κύπρου) προσκαλεί στελέχη διαδικτυακών ΜΜΕ στο διαδικτυακό εργαστήριο συν-δημιουργίας - 𝗖𝗼-𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗯, όπου θα παρουσιαστεί ένα νέο ICT εργαλείο έγκαιρης ανίχνευσης διαδικτυακής έμφυλης ρητορικής μίσους (gendered hate speech)❗️

🖥Το εργαστήριο θα πραγματοποιηθεί την
📅Πέμπτη 3 Ιουλίου 2025
⏰11:00 π.μ. (ώρα Ελλάδας)
📍online
✍️Εγγραφές: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=LmJAJlNQ2UOw-AcjIfL0_x3NlMjwNwZFm8D898edM31UOU5LQlMxVjEyNFk0MU1TSDRCT0JVTkg0My4u

Το εργαστήριο θα διεξαχθεί στα αγγλικά, καθώς θα συμμετέχουν εκπρόσωποι online media από Γαλλία, Ιταλία και Κύπρο.

🔗 Μάθετε περισσότερα: https://symplexis.eu/chase-co-creation-lab/

25/06/2025

Is the UK doing enough on media diversity?

Our latest Diversity Matters episode features Naomi Sakr, Emeritus Professor of Media Policy at the University of Westminster, unpacking what the new Media Diversity Index reveals about the UK — and what most people overlook when they talk about inclusion in media.

🎧 From content to governance, find out where the UK stands — and what comes next for the Index as it goes global.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4AktT6gi4udVIUT27jZjmJ?si=WtaLl63QQnaLaiq-oTHwzw

19/06/2025

How can we better respond to gender-based
hate speech online?

Join us on 3 July 2025 for a free, in-depth session introducing CHASE – a new digital tool developed to help journalists and media professionals detect and moderate online hate speech.

🛠️ Explore key features
💬 Share your input to improve the tool
🤝 Connect with others journalists and media producers

🔗 Register now: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=LmJAJlNQ2UOw-AcjIfL0_x3NlMjwNwZFm8D898edM31UOU5LQlMxVjEyNFk0MU1TSDRCT0JVTkg0My4u

19/06/2025

Help shape a new tool to fight online hate.
Join us for a free session on 3 July to explore CHASE — a tool designed for journalists to detect and moderate gender-based hate speech.
💻 Online | 🗓️ 3 July | 🆓 Free to attend
🔗 Register now (Link in bio)

19/06/2025

18/06/2025

Hate speech today isn’t just published on fringe platforms; it’s embedded in the algorithms shaping our news feeds.

More than half of newsrooms and media producers now use AI to write headlines, moderate comments, and flag hate speech. (WAN-IFRA). But in politicised contexts or underrepresented languages, the tech often fails, missing nuance or worse, silencing marginalised voices.

A recent NewsGuard Technologies audit found leading AI tools failed to detect 83% of harmful or false claims in non-English content.

This International Day for Countering Hate Speech, we’re not just calling out hate—we’re calling attention to the systems that sustain it.

Read how AI may be deepening exclusion in journalism—and what can be done to fix it:
🔗 https://www.media-diversity.org/how-to-prevent-ai-from-exacerbating-diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-journalism-industry

16/06/2025

📰 “Exiled but Not Silent”: The Struggle of Refugee Journalists to Be Heard
📍 Read the full story

As we mark , we share the words of Lailuma Sadid—a journalist who, like many, risked everything for the truth and found herself in exile.

But leaving the country didn’t mean regaining freedom. In exile, refugee journalists lose access to platforms, credibility, and support. They are expected to relive trauma for public consumption but rarely receive payment or mental health support.

This article challenges the way we treat exiled media professionals, not as survivors, but as peers. As we celebrate community as a superpower this week, let’s remember: journalists in exile don’t need pity. They need partnership, protection, and a platform.

Exiled journalists face immense challenges in preserving their voice and identity. This article explores the struggles, emotional toll, and the need for media organizations to support refugee journalists in continuing their vital work despite adversity.