Rationale

Journalism has been going through several major changes during the past decades. The pace of these changes is quickening, altering the practice of the profession as never before. Digital technology and modern marketing are changing journalism as profoundly as the telegraph and the television did. Today’s journalists are thus operating in an increasingly complex media environment requiring an understanding of and ability to operate across, multiple production platforms using multiple communication technologies.

In such an environment of rapid technological change, the new media tools and social networks have changed the daily way of communication significantly. Traditional media are thus being overlapped by the innovative possibilities of the new media. Journalists need to embrace the change and learn new skills to answer the demands and challenges of a changing profession. They need to acquire skills that will allow them to participate in the digital world.

The upgrading of skills and competencies of journalists is clearly a crucial need not only for journalists entering the market, but especially for the journalists that have started working in the time before the digital revolution of the news media market in the past 15 years. There is a real need to go beyond the limits of traditional journalism, and to provide basic technical training for multiple technology platforms. However, the situation of the vocational training in journalism in Europe is quite diverse and in many countries limited.

 

What is Media Hackers?

Responding to the aforementioned dynamic media landscape, the Media Hackers is an initiative developed to enhance digital media competencies to journalists working in all media sectors by providing specialized training courses for new/cross media skills in Cyprus, Germany, Greece, and Romania.

Media Hackers provides innovative training material, new opportunities and tested training methodologies specifically designed for the needs and demands of journalists through the use of the tangible outputs (i.e. the tested and complete blended training material and program) as well as through its intangible outcomes (i.e. improved employability in the multimedia-based media industries and professional development). All results will be published here.

The Media Hackers project offers added value by benefiting not only employed journalists in the participating countries that are lacking basic skills and understanding of the use of new technologies, but also media and journalists’ associations as well as journalists’ unions, since it offers to their members new, flexible and missing training possibilities that could potentially boost their professional evolution. What is more, the project benefits also trainers and VET actors in new media sector by providing them with an extra tool for their in-house training methodology.

 

Aims & Objectives

The core aim of Media Hackers is to provide a flexible and basic training for journalists so that they are better equipped to cope with the new technologies.

The project interlinked objectives are to:

  • Identify the current skills and training needs of journalists as well as the current situation of journalists VET training in the partners’ countries.
  • Offer a state of the art training material, new opportunities and tested training methodologies specifically designed for the needs and demands of journalists.
  • Foster sustainability and exploitation by producing a complete training programme (including face-to-face and online learning) for journalists.
  • Increase the employability of journalists by offering new and innovative ways of media training.

 

WHO WE ARE?

The consortium has been specifically set up for the purpose of the project and it includes eight (8) experienced partners representing the journalist, media education, VET as well as the consulting sectors, established in six EU Member States (i.e. Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Romania, and the Netherlands). Through their joint expertise, each consortium member will do its best to ensure the continuation, sustainability and exploitation of the Media Hackers initiative. Click here and meet the partners.

IKY EU programme logo

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission within the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the Education and Culture Directorate General. This website reflects only the views of the authors, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.