The European Commission has earmarked some 1.8
million euros of funding to help establish a "European newsroom"
 bringing together 16 news agencies, dpa reported on Monday.

This would be "the first ever pan-European newsroom space and
will allow journalists to report jointly on EU affairs and
promote, let's say, a spirit of collaboration," European
Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said at an event in
Brussels on Monday.

The funding will be used, among other things, to finance further
 newsroom training and a new multilingual website with selected
texts on EU topics from participating news agencies, according
to the EC.

The project, which is coordinated by the German news agency dpa,
 involves the following news agencies: AFP (France), ANSA
(Italy), Agerpres (Romania), APA (Austria), ATA (Albania), Belga
 (Belgium), BTA (Bulgaria), EFE (Spain), Europa Press (Spain),
FENA (Bosnia-Herzegovina), HINA (Croatia), MIA (Macedonia), STA
(Slovenia), Tanjug (Serbia) and TASR (Slovakia).

Peter Kropsch, chairman of the dpa management board, said: "When
 16 news agencies from 15 countries, each with their own
national perspective on Europe, use a common newsroom in
Brussels, everyone benefits from the diversity of perspectives.
This networking drives up journalistic quality."
 
The initiative will also include training, events and newsroom
infrastructure like technology and news feeds, he said.

"With the 'European Newsroom' concept, it is particularly
important to us that all partners are committed to free,
independent journalism," Kropsch said in a written statement.

The project could get started as soon January, with the newsroom
 to become operational around the middle of next year. /ZH

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