MEDIA LOVES TECH is on the lookout for the best digital concepts for innovative and quality journalism. Launched by DW Akademie, Germany’s leading international media development organisation, this competition is open to journalists, start-uppers, project leaders, creative minds, developers, designers, civil society members, and any other individual or organisation that aims to make a contribution- through innovation- to a quality media landscape in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.
MEDIA LOVES TECH is an initiative by DW Akademie in cooperation with the Tunisian NGO Al Khatt. This project is funded by German cooperation, in particular by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The objective of MEDIA LOVES TECH is to identify and enable the implementation of effective solutions tackling the challenges and problems of media and journalism in general in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.
To achieve this, MEDIA LOVES TECH is applying the new technological spirit of crowdsourcing, i.e. the collaboration of connected internet users to generate services, ideas or content together. Crowdsourcing describes the process of sharing information and knowledge in a way that stimulates the flow of ideas and creativity.
Prize:
The best digital innovation for the future of journalism in Tunisia is awarded a monetary prize of € 10.000.
Benefits:
MEDIA LOVES TECH takes place in two stages with the possibility to obtain financing and support to accelerate the development of your product at every stage. The selected concepts will also benefit from professional support.
Step 1: Selection of the best concepts. Concepts can be submitted until the 15th of July 2023.
Step 2: The winning teams will participate in the support program which runs from September to November 2023 (inspiration phase in September, incubation phase in October and November). The best project will receive funding amounting to €10,000 which will be presented to the winning team at the closing ceremony on December 7th, 2023.
Eligibility:
The competition is open to creative people, journalists, media professionals, entrepreneurs, designers, developers, civil society members, any individual or organization wishing to contribute, through a concept or by offering their skills, to the rise of innovative and digital journalism in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.
Themes:
In general, MEDIA LOVES TECH is looking for:
- solutions to the problem of limited access to information
- projects that facilitate the work of journalists and media (data processing/ organisation/ visualisation)
- ideas that improve the interaction with the public (tracking, audience measurement, engagement, feedback)
Responsibilities:
- Science journalism
Solutions that enable journalists to provide better coverage of scientific news, topics and studies, break them down and disseminate them to the general public.
- Citizen journalism – connecting with local communities:
Tools to reach specific audiences and to connect citizen journalists with media outlets in order to reach a broader audience.
- (Fact-) Checking content / fighting misinformation and fake news:
In a fragile political context, particularly in the light of the upcoming elections, Tunisians have difficulty distinguishing information from misinformation. Comments are often shared without clarifying the context, and articles and reports often interpret the facts in an unspecified or misleading way, without taking fine nuances into consideration.
- Election coverage:
As parliamentary and presidential elections approach, the media is in need of new tools to ensure quality coverage.
- Data journalism:
New tools and technologies that can help the media to analyze, process or visualize data are sought after.
- Media viability:
Innovative tools to ensure the economic and financial viability of media projects.
- Dialogue with public authorities:
Tools that contribute to a greater transparency in public action and promote the dialogue between citizens and political and economic decision-makers are needed.
- Information in times of crisis :
Tools contributing to the dissemination of information of public interest and the implementation of solutions that enable the general public to better face crises of different nature (health, environmental, economic or political).
