EU grants for small-scale online media: supporting high-quality news products and tackling fake news

Deadline: Nov 30, 2020  
CALL EXPIRED

1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND

The internet has not only vastly changed the volume and variety of news available to citizens but has also profoundly changed the ways citizens access and engage with news.

New technologies can be used, notably through social media, search engines and ads networks, to disseminate and support disinformation on a scale and with a speed and precision of targeting that is unprecedented. The rise of disinformation and the gravity of the threat have sparked growing awareness and concerns in civil society, both in EU Member States and internationally.

The spread of disinformation also affects policy-making processes by swaying public opinion. Domestic and foreign actors can use disinformation to manipulate policy and societal debates in areas such as climate change, migration, public security, health, and finance. Disinformation can also diminish trust in science and empirical evidence (e.g. campaigns against vaccination). It can influence behaviour as well and may encourage people to act in ways that put health and safety at risk.

The April 2018 Commission Communication “Tackling online disinformation – An European approach”1 has analysed the phenomenon of online disinformation and devised a strategy to limit its impact while respecting freedom of expression and other fundamental rights and democratic values. One of the key elements of such a strategy is to create a European multidisciplinary community composed of independent fact- checking organisations and academic researchers with expertise in the field of online disinformation, and open to collaborations with media organisations and media literacy practitioners. As set out in the Action Plan against disinformation2, such joint efforts should leverage on multidisciplinary teams established at national or regional level in order to capture specific knowledge about information environments with local and/or linguistic characteristics.

As analysed in the June 2020 Communication “Tackling COVID-19 disinformation”, the COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by an overflow of information through online media that has made it difficult for citizens to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance. This situation has created fertile soil for the spread of disinformation, which has revealed the need for a dedicated and independent research infrastructure capable of detecting, analysing and exposing disinformation campaigns in real-time and across the whole EU territory.

The European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), which has become operational on the 1st of June 2020 responds to such need.3 EDMO will support the creation and the activities of the above-mentioned European multidisciplinary research community to address the relevant actors, vectors, tools, methods, prioritised targets and its impact on society of disinformation campaigns.

EDMO will also provide the necessary evidence and specific knowledge to public authorities in charge of monitoring and assessing platforms’ policies under the Code of Practice on disinformation.4 Moreover, it will provide relevant and updated material to media literacy practitioners to sharpen their initiatives aimed at enhancing critical thinking of digital media users.

Legal Basis

Pilot project within the meaning of Article 58(2)(a) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1).

The annual work programme was adopted under Commission Decision C/2020/2259 of 20/04/2020.

2. OBJECTIVE – ACTIVITIES – PRIORITIES – RESULTS

The objective of this call is to support the EU strategy to tackle disinformation and complement EDMO’s activities by providing funding to specific research projects on disinformation. Such projects, which include fact-checking and analysis of online propagation patterns, should be carried out by expert teams with a specific knowledge of information and media environments in one or more Member States.

Applicants are expected to commit that they will actively contribute to EDMO’s activities by focusing on social and political themes and narratives targeted by disinformation campaigns, which fit with the research agenda that EDMO will develop in view of the evolving threats posed by disinformation, in accordance with its governance rules. Each project will have the possibility to access EDMO’s technological platform under the conditions set out by the EDMO governance board.

Proposals must ensure the involvement of media organisations, and specific expertise in fact-checking, media literacy, network science, data and computer science. Moreover, the projects should able to reach out, whenever necessary, to experts in areas that might become target of disinformation campaigns (e.g. health, climate change, immigration, European policies). These projects will focus their journalistic investigations and research activities around emerging digital media vulnerabilities and disinformation campaigns, which are of special relevance within the territory and/or linguistic area in which they will operate.

Activities to be covered by the Pilot Project:

1. Analysis and detection of harmful disinformation campaigns at national/regional level and their impact on society and democracy

Each proposal must describe how the project will:

•   Promptly detect emerging disinformation campaigns with potential negative impact on public opinion-forming at national/regional level, and assess such an impact;

•   Analyse relevant actors, vectors, tools, methods, dissemination dynamics, prioritised targets of disinformation campaigns, in coordination with EDMO;

•   Actively contribute to the EDMO investigation and research activities, and promptly react to requests from EDMO linked to emerging disinformation issues.

2. Expose disinformation campaigns, including their impact on society and democracy

Each proposal must describe how it will ensure:

•   The implementation of appropriate means of communication, including conferences and seminars, and a website connected to the EDMO public page, to be used to make public the outcome of the project’s activities;

•   The involvement of media organisation(s) to carry out effective communication campaigns targeting relevant audiences. Cooperation with media organisations not directly involved in the projects could also be considered in order to extend the outreach of the research results.

3. Media literacy activities at national/regional level

Each proposal must describe how it will:

 Organise media literacy campaigns and events and create media literacy material targeted to the national/regional needs;

 Leverage on the exchange of good practices and materials stored on the EDMO platform as well as, if relevant, from available results of the Preparatory Action “Media Literacy for All”5. Contribute to EDMO’s repositories with newly created educational and training materials and, in particular, will develop specific training for journalists;

 Ensure that journalists working for the media organisations taking part to the funded projects will be involved in the activities carried out by the academic and fact-checking experts, so as to acquire the necessary knowledge of state- of-the art tools and techniques to detect and properly debunk disinformation campaigns.

All proposals are encouraged to include a sustainability plan, including activities that will contribute to the continuation of the activities without the Pilot Project funding in the future.

Results

The Pilot Project facilitates the creation of independent national multidisciplinary teams, which include media practitioners, fact-checkers and academic researchers. The Pilot Project will enable fact-checkers academics and media practitioners, to detect, analyse and expose disinformation campaigns and their impact on society. Moreover, the Pilot Project is expected to support targeted media literacy activities as well as journalists training focused on the use of state-of-the-art technology to detect and debunk disinformation campaigns..

3. TIMETABLE

The indicative schedule for the different steps and stages of the selection procedure are as follows:

(a) Publication of the call

Q3 2020

(b) Deadline for submitting applications

30/11/2020

(c) Evaluation period

Q4 2020

(d) Information to applicants

Q1 2021

(e) Signature of grant agreements

Q1 2021

(f) Start date of the project

Q1 2021

The proposed maximum duration of the projects is from 12 to 15 months.

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of the projects under this call for proposals is estimated at EUR 2.200.000 (two million two hundred thousand euros).

The EU co-financing is limited to a maximum co-funding rate of 75% of the total eligible costs.

The maximum grant will be EUR 315.000 (three hundred fifteen thousand euros). The Commission expects to fund up to 7 proposals.
The Commission reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

In order to be admissible, applications must be:

•   sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section 3;

•   submitted in writing and in electronic form (pdf) (see section 14), using the application form available at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/news- redirect/684180 and

•   drafted in one of the EU official languages6.
  Failure to comply with those requirements will lead to rejection of the application.

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

6.1. Eligible applicants

The call is open to:

•  A grouping of entities (consortia) – with the entities forming this consortia not having entities affiliated to them.

Applicants may include the following types of entities employing e.g. fact-checkers, academic researchers, etc.:

•   non-profit organisation (private or public);

•   universities;

•   educational institutions;

•   research centres;

•   profit making entities;

•   small sized online media companies;

•   Non-Governmental Organisations;

•   natural persons: natural persons are eligible as part of a consortium but the project cannot be coordinated by a natural person

  6 In order to speed the evaluation process and the award of funds, proposals must be drafted preferably in English.

General notice for UK applicants: Please be aware that following the entry into force of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement7 on 1 February 2020 and in particular Articles 127(6), 137 and 138, the references to natural or legal persons residing or established in a Member State of the European Union are to be understood as including natural or legal persons residing or established in the United Kingdom. UK residents and entities are therefore eligible to participate under this call.

Affiliated entities

Entities affiliated8 to the applicants are not eligible to receive funding under this Call for proposals. They may take part in the action as affiliated entities at their own costs only.

Country of establishment

Only applications from legal entities established in the following countries are eligible:  EU Member States.

Consortium requirements

In order to be eligible, a proposal must submitted by a consortium .

Supporting documents

In order to assess the applicants' eligibility, the following supporting documents are requested:

•   private entity: extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of trade or association register, certificate of liability to VAT (if, as in certain countries, the trade register number and VAT number are identical, only one of these documents is required);

•   public entity: copy of the resolution, decision or other official document establishing the public-law entity;

•   natural persons: photocopy of identity card and/or passport; certificate of liability to VAT, if applicable (e.g. some self-employed persons);

•   entities without legal personality: documents providing evidence that their representative(s) have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf.

   

In accordance with Article 187 FR, entities that satisfy the eligibility criteria and that do not fall within one of the situations referred to in Articles 136(1) and 141(1) FR and that have a link with the applicant, in particular a legal or capital link, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation, will be considered as entities affiliated to the applicant.

6.2. Eligible activities

The following types of activities are eligible under this call for proposals:

•   conferences, seminars, events;

•   training activities;

•   awareness and dissemination actions;

•   actions aiming at the creation and improvement of networks, exchanges of good practices;

•   studies, analyses, mapping projects;

•   fact-checking and research activities.

Implementation period

The proposed start date is after 1st of January 2021.
The maximum duration of projects is from 12 to 15 months;