Designing Europe’s Media  for All

The European media space is fragmented. Niche publications running on global tech platforms compete to capture small portions of the audience. Waves of new media come up as more and more people and organisations retreat from tech giants. Traditional centres of media production (London/Paris) also attract the majority of the funds. Meanwhile, the growing concentration of media ownership threatens media independence and European democracy. Within this framework, some innovative, inspiring, and inclusive media projects are trying to push back. 

The Circle is one of them. During its pilot phase (2022 to 2024) it kickstarted 8 media hubs in all corners of Europe — Tbilisi, Porto, Vilnius, Lyon, Gothenburg, Cluj-Napoca, Naples and Belgrade. It is putting the spotlight on new — more inclusive, cross-border, and collaborative — ways of doing journalism, building on the design thinking methodology and business model regeneration. It is encouraging a growing network of individuals and teams to apply innovation to future projects across the media space.

Building collaborative, resilient communities is at the core of a strong independent media landscape in Europe. For this, it is necessary to foster relationships between media professionals, from creatives to journalists, in order to break the barriers that stand between groups of like-minded individuals. By joining forces with European Lab, the itinerant talk platform, this The Circle — Designing Europe’s Media for All event aims to facilitate knowledge-sharing and collaboration between media professionals across Europe’s local and cross-border independent media landscape. 

An antidote to the classical network event, to the online meet-ups and countless others, Designing Europe’s Media For All is designed to spark creativity and thought-provoking conversations, in the here, now, and later. It’s designed to be collaborative, participatory, and engaging. 

This one-day event brings together media professionals, journalists, creatives, and policymakers from all over Europe to share their experiences, best practices, and success stories in cross-border media collaboration. Discussions, workshops, and networking sessions will foster cross-cultural understanding and promote high-quality, inclusive journalism. Topics will range from the challenges of crossborder reporting to the necessity of creating communities within the media landscape, the ethics of responsible journalism, and the role of technology in shaping democracy.