EBTICAR-Media – Support for innovative online media

EBTICAR-Media – Support for innovative online media

Goals

To support the establishment of democratic debate and contribute to the economic development of countries south of the Mediterranean by strengthening the media
To strengthen the online media and promote the emergence of structured professional organisations
2,323M
36months
20Supported Projects

A project

Supported by

In partnership with

Presentation

Following a surge in popularity during the Arab Spring, online media are profoundly changing people's relationship with the news. Beyond the technological aspect, they create a new dimension for expression based on interactivity and participation by the public, a forum for debate and dialogue.

In the face of growing demand from consumers, the content on offer has its limitations. Web activists are often self-taught and lack formal training in journalism, which can be detrimental to the quality of democratic debate while their impact on the population is growing. As for traditional media, who are poorly prepared for the transition to digital technology, they find themselves forced to adapt their content to new media and to move towards an offer outside their usual area of expertise.

Against this background, with stakeholders unable to afford the investment necessary for further development, CFI and its partners have launched EBTICAR-media, which aims to identify and provide financial support for the most innovative projects that give structure to this industry.

Open to online media and private traditional media, the EBTICAR (E-Booster for Technical and Innovative Contents in the Arab Region, or "innovation" in Arabic) programme provides support, through four distinct components, to projects involved in:

  • As regards the media individually: improving their content and their structure, both financial and organisational.
  • Collectively: strengthening their capacity to come together in professional organisations and share their experiences.

For more information about the ETBICAR-MEDIA project, visit http://www.4m.cfi.fr/index.php/fr/projet-ebticar-media-fr-ar.

Verbatim
“We have discovered the power of on-the-ground reporting: the camera becomes a tool which enables us to tell the world about our struggle every day. The support we have received has helped us enhance our professional skills, enabling us to report and raise awareness properly.”
Caroline Donati, Journalist and consultant at New Syrian Voices, winner of EBTICAR 2014

Project beneficiaries

  • Emerging online media in the Arab world
  • Private traditional media (radio, TV, print) seeking to develop a digital offering

Files to download

EBTICAR-Media
Online media overview

Actions

Strengthen web journalism skills

Funding awarded under the EBTICAR programme, with the successful applicants being selected after a call for projects, prioritises projects that meet objective professionalisation criteria and aimed at:

  • Enhancing content: writing, sound and image
  • Ensuring security: communication, personal data, file transfer
  • Mastering interactive tools: crowdsourcing and social networks

Particular attention is given to projects that promote the transfer of skills through the involvement of online media professionals in training courses and student internships.

Related news
July 7, 2014

EBTICAR-Media: Applicants invited to Marseille

After close scrutiny by a professional selection panel, 26 projects from across the Arab world have been shortlisted to take part in the EBTICAR...
July 15, 2014

EBTICAR-Media : 2014 selected projects

EBTICAR's jury gathered on 8 and 9 July 2014 at Villa Méditerranée, in Marseille, to select future grantees out of 28 projects presented and...
May 5, 2015

EBTICAR-Média 2015: pre-selection of 22 projects

A panel of judges comprising media professionals met on 16 April 2015 to pre-select 22 projects out of the 135 applicants eligible for the 2015...
June 11, 2015

Ebticar-Media: the 8 award-winners

Eight projects from the Arab world were selected by a jury of professionals that met in Beirut from 2 to 6 June as part of Ebticar-Media 2015.
November 16, 2021

Malek Khadhraoui : Earning readers’ trust was a challenge, and it’s still the case today

Malek Khadhraoui, a Tunisian journalist and co-founder of Inkyfada, tells the story of this media outlet, founded in 2014 in the wake of the...

Define sustainable business models

Both emerging and private traditional media, who find themselves forced to make the transition to digital, have to give thought to the definition of an organisational model that complies with a strategic vision.

For this component of the programme, the projects deemed relevant relate to:

  • The definition of digital strategies to position themselves in the market, identify their target public, strengths and weaknesses
  • The editorial line: having a specific identity
  • Website user-friendliness
  • Workflows: finding a mode of organisation in line with the chosen strategy
  • Innovation: developing applications and tools.

Lastly, the projects supported must propose a business model adapted to their strategy, whether they rely on advertising revenues, grants, subscription services, crowdfunding or a diversification of activities.

Related news
November 28, 2014

An EBTICAR-Media award-winner is the Courrier International readers’ choice

“Syrie, journaux intimes de la revolution ”, web site looks back and follows periods in the life of 4 Syrian citizen-journalists in the form of...
June 11, 2018

Le Desk takes a gamble on investigative journalism in Morocco

One day in my media organisation is a series of weekly reports illustrating the daily lives of people who work in media organisations across...

Encourage the structuring of professional organisations

The projects selected for funding under this component must be used to create mechanisms for trust and dialogue between online media, including:

  • Establishment of online press unions
  • Formation of working groups between journalists' unions and online press stakeholders to discuss ethical or statutory issues
  • Coordination and networking of collective organisations
Related news
May 19, 2015

Online media overview

This document is an abridged version of a wide-ranging survey conducted between July 2014 and January 2015, which attempts to provide an overall...
December 10, 2015

Mideast Tunes launches its online radio station

On 4 December 2015 Mideast Tunes, a winner of the European Union-funded Ebticar project, launched its online radio platform Mideast Tunes Radio...
May 23, 2018

Mashallah News – Solution journalism in the Near East

One day in my media organisation is a series of weekly reports illustrating the daily lives of people who work in media organisations across...

Promote partnerships between emerging and traditional media

The projects selected for funding under this component must be used to create mechanisms for trust and dialogue between online media, including:

  • establishment of online press unions
  • formation of working groups between journalists' unions and online press stakeholders to discuss ethical or statutory issues
  • coordination and networking of collective organisations
Related news
February 9, 2015

EBTICAR-Media is supporting innovative projects run by online information stakeholders in the Arab World

With European Union funding, CFI, the French media cooperation agency, is launching its second EBTICAR-Media call for projects in order to...
November 26, 2015

Birth of a new pure player in Morocco

After months of intensive work, le Desk, a Moroccan news and investigation pure player, came into being on Monday, 9 November 2015.
December 2, 2015

Clicks for changing the world

The Egyptian start-up company Bassita has just been awarded the 2015 Orange African Social Venture Prize for its 'click funding' idea.
February 23, 2016

A Workshop for all Ebticar laureates

On January 27th and 28th 2016, CFI and the partners of the Ebticar programme organized a 2-day workshop in Amman dedicated to the 19 initiatives...
June 7, 2016

GEN Summit 2016: three Ebticar projects will be covered in the Southern-hemisphere-media bootcamp

From 15 to 17 June 2016 in Vienna (Austria), the GEN (Global Editors Network) summit will for the first time focus on the media in the southern...
October 14, 2016

Seven-city Photo Marathon to be held on 22 October

On 22 October 2016, photographers will be simultaneously taking to the streets of Beirut, Algiers, Naples, Palermo, Marseilles, Amman and...
May 30, 2017

Silencing the few voices left: Egypt blocks 21 news websites

Wednesday (24 May 2017) evening, Egypt has banned at least 21 websites, including the main website of Qatar-based Al Jazeera television, The...
October 17, 2017

Evaluation of the EBTICAR project

In 2014, CFI launched the EBTICAR project with the support of the European Union. Following its completion in March 2017, CFI had a final...