Within the Creative Europe Programme, the European Commission has launched the call Journalism Partnerships – Collaborations (CREA-CROSS-2026-JOURPART-COLLABORATIONS). The call aims to strengthen the sustainability, resilience and competitiveness of the European news media sector through collaborative projects involving media organisations across Europe.
At the same time, the initiative responds to structural pressure on journalism, including the digital transition, declining advertising revenues and the closure of local and public-interest media outlets. Consequently, the call supports systemic change that reinforces media pluralism and contributes to the proper functioning of democratic societies.
Objectives of the call
The Journalism Partnerships – Collaborations call focuses on deeper cooperation between news media organisations of different sizes, formats and genres. In addition, it supports projects that help media adapt to new economic and consumption realities, improve sustainability and drive innovation across the sector.
More specifically, projects should strengthen the production and organisational capacities of participating media. Moreover, they should raise the quality and impact of journalistic work at European level.
Priority areas
Project proposals must address collaborative transformation from a business, technological and/or production perspective. For example, supported activities may focus on one or more of the following areas:
- development of new revenue and monetisation models;
- innovative approaches to audience development, community building and marketing;
- creation of shared professional or technical standards;
- establishment of collaborative newsrooms, syndication networks or content-sharing models;
- support mechanisms for small and local media organisations;
- innovative journalistic collaborations that improve efficiency and reporting quality.
Eligible activities
Projects may include a wide range of activities, depending on the needs of the selected media subsector. For instance, activities can include events, online trainings, workshops, mentoring schemes and exchange programmes. Likewise, projects may cover mapping of best practices, development of editorial guidelines, creation and testing of technical platforms, and dissemination and outreach actions.
Importantly, projects may provide financial support to third parties for exchange programmes for journalists and other media professionals. In addition, such support may cover participation in trainings or events, collaborative journalistic projects, legal advice, or the acquisition, development and maintenance of technical tools. However, applicants must set clear rules and ensure a fair and transparent process.
Quality standards and impact
All supported projects must follow widely recognised professional and ethical media standards. Furthermore, partnerships involving editorial work must operate with full editorial independence. To confirm this, applicants submit a signed Declaration on Standards and Independence.
Equally important, projects must define concrete deliverables and measurable performance indicators. In addition, applicants must demonstrate expected impact beyond simple dissemination. Therefore, proposals should include a detailed outreach plan and evidence of interest from target groups.
Funding and timeline
The call runs as a single-stage procedure under the Creative Europe Programme.
Total budget: €6,900,000;
Opening date: 23 October 2025;
Application deadline: 4 February 2026, 17:00 (Brussels time).
Source of information
The official call text, application requirements and submission documents are available on the European Commission’s Funding & Tenders Portal under the topic CREA-CROSS-2026-JOURPART-COLLABORATIONS.
More funding opportunities for media organisations and cross-border journalism projects are available in the grants section of the GetGrant service.