The European Commission is launching a Call for Proposals in the field of data-driven news production. The European Commission invites applicants to submit proposals to increase reporting on European issues, either from a pan-European point a view or by comparing different viewpoints from within Europe. The multimedia actions by the European Commission aim to engage EU citizens with the policy-making process by providing information about European issues from a pan-European viewpoint, rather than only reporting national perspective.

According to the European Commission big data may be of assistance to increase reporting on European issues by making it easier for media companies and journalist to produce innovate and attractive content, which allows citizens to be better informed and have a better understanding about the EU. By using data-driven news reporting journalists are able to visualize data to compare viewpoints across Europe, help audiences understand complex issues, contextualize story timelines and create interactions with the target audience. The European Commission states that the Call is open to both news reporting and more in-depth background reporting on current affairs. The Call is open to all types of media. Additionally the applicants have to indicate what value they could add to existing EU affairs reporting.

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In the course of an EU project an international team of researchers, amongst representative of the MODUL University Vienna, have been developing an open source dashboard for the newsroom called Pheme. According to the Pheme’s official website, Pheme is a set of innovative tools which will make users able to reveal hidden "modalities" such as reputation, influence or credibility of information in two different fields: journalism and enterprise (2016).
The online magazine Journalism mentions that the open source tool Pheme aims to assist the newsroom to instantly detect, track and verify facts and content spreading on social media platforms (2016). According to the magazine Journalism the EU project, which began January 2014, is aiming to have a completed prototype available to the public early next year (2016).

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The Irish Times mentions that social media networks publish and share news stories, hence act as a publisher. Elieen Culloty’s article “Is it time to treat Facebook as a traditional news publishers?”, discusses the value of journalism and editorial responsibilities.
According to Elieen Culloty, social media platforms are not subjected to the same responsibilities as press and broadcast media.
Furthermore the article in the Irish Times seeks to shed light on the issue that there is no simple solution to save the news industry and to safeguard journalism.

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The EBU and the Berlin-based production company EuroArts have partnered to produce a unique documentary series called “Soundtrack Europe”. The series, blending travel, culture and musical performances, will see German soul singer-songwriter Joy Denalane travel to different regions of Europe in search of the continent’s musical essence as expressed through its folk music.

Europe comprises 60 countries, about 120 languages, 742 million inhabitants and uncountable variations of folk music. According to the EBU and EuroArts music in Europe has shaped the identities of generations, has offered young people an open space for experimentation, and is the safe keeper of the heritage as well as reflects the voices of the present. According to the EBU by travelling through musical regions that are, like the continent itself, unified through diversity, the series promises to get to the heard of the complex issue of European identity.

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 New research from the EBU’s Media Intelligence Service demonstrates that subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) subscribers in Europe grew 56% between 2014 and 2015, and are expected to reach 50 million homes by 2020. The research shows that 97% of EBU Members, including the ORF, offer free catch-up video service. MIS’s research highlights that free catch-up services like BBC iPlayer remain the preferred way to access demand content.

In Austria, TVThek, ORF’s free catch-up service, offers the audience 7 days free catch-up of ORF produced TV series and news content. Additionally, in 2015 ORF partnered with Flimmit, the Austrian video-on-demand channel to offer Austrians 6000 movies from 60 different countries, with a focus on European film productions.

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