Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is launching a six-month project supported by the International Visegrad Fund to produce a series of multimedia stories about transformations triggered by European integration and regional cooperation in Central and Eastern European countries. From June to November 2014, RFE/RL journalists will travel across the region researching and reporting on the changes impacting people’s daily lives at the family and community levels. The project has secured co-financing from the International Visegrad Fund’s Small Grant program, which will partially cover this work in the four Visegrad Group members: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
The series of multimedia stories – which will include elements of written, audio, video and photo reporting – are intended to be distributed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) both on-air and online for the duration of the project and beyond. Upon conclusion of the project, the potential impact of the series will be assessed using focus-group research based on responses from radio listeners and internet users.
RFE/RL broadcasts to 21 countries in 28 languages, from Eastern Europe and the Balkans to Central Asia and the Middle East. With over 400 full-time journalists, 750 freelancers and 19 local bureaus, RFE/RL is one of the most comprehensive news operations in the world (see map). RFE/RL journalists report the news in 21 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established, providing what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion and open debate (mission statement). RFE/RL journalists are on the front lines in the fight for media freedom in their countries and often put themselves at great risk to do their jobs (click here for more). RFE/RL journalists and experts are a unique source of information about many of the world’s political hotspots (browse RFE/RL’s experts).
The International Visegrad Fund is an international organization based in Bratislava founded by the governments of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of Poland and the Slovak Republic – in Štiřín, Czech Republic, on June 9, 2000. The purpose of the fund is to facilitate and promote the development of closer cooperation among citizens and institutions in the region as well as between the V4 region and other countries, especially the Western Balkans and countries of the Eastern Partnership. The fund does so through grant support of common cultural, scientific and educational projects, youth exchanges, cross-border projects and tourism promotion, and through individual mobility programs.
