The network of the European Journalism Observatory (EJO) is growing: From  April, the responsibility for its English platform will be shared between our new partners, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, and the University of Lugano where the EJO was founded in 2004.

This new partnership will help the EJO extend its presence in the Anglo-Saxon world and raise the profile of the work it does on the developments of media and journalism cultures in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The new initiative is funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation, Stuttgart and the Stiftung Pressehaus NRZ, Essen.

Dr. David Levy, Director of the Reuters Institute, said: “I look forward to working with the EJO, building on the work it has already done, developing new collaborative projects and expanding its international reach and relevance for researchers, policymakers and practitioners.”

The EJO is also building another bridge West.  The School of Journalism at the University of Oregon, USA will extend the EJO network to the New World. Professors Peter Laufer and Scott Maier, who are working with the EJO, intend to make European developments of journalism and media more visible in the U.S. They will also analyse American journalism research for EJO followers in Europe. Both Laufer and Maier have spent extended periods of time in Europe and feel “at home” on both sides of the Atlantic.

The EJO is, in addition, growing stronger in Switzerland. Thanks to funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) , the Zürcher Hochschule Winterthur will become the second Swiss partner in the EJO network, focused on making Swiss media research more visible in the German speaking countries and training young researchers to improve the dissemination of research results. Professor Vinzenz Wyss, an expert on quality management in journalism, is responsible for this cooperation. The University of Lugano also receives additional funding from SNSF  to improve the visibility of EJO on social networks like Facebook and Twitter and to intensify the exchange among existing EJO partners.

At present, the EJO publishes in ten European languages: English, Albanian, Czech, German, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian and Ukrainian. It aims to boost journalism, to fight for press freedom and make the case for better media accountability all over Europe. It also wants to make academic research into the media and the future of journalism more easily accessible and thus more useful for journalists, media managers and students of journalism, media and communications.

With its new partners the EJO reinforces its international presence, extending  its reach  further into Western Europe, and North America.