How Study Visits are boosting innovation across Europe’s independent newsrooms

Over the past year, independent newsrooms from across Europe have opened their doors, shared their strategies, and exchanged ideas as part of the Journalism Value Project (JVP) study visits. From Dublin to Madrid, Paris to Lisbon, these peer-to-peer exchanges have demonstrated that collaboration is one of the most powerful tools we have to strengthen public interest journalism.

Across 15 visits, participants from Reference – The European Independent Media Circle tackled some of the sector’s biggest challenges: building resilient funding models, engaging diverse audiences, strengthening editorial independence, and maintaining operational transparency. They were about listening carefully, questioning openly and, above all, about rediscovering the strength that comes from standing together.

When Elisabetta Tola of Facta (Italy) travelled to Lisbon, she found herself inspired by two very different models: Divergente’s grassroots growth, driven by sheer resilience, and Fumaça’s radical transparency with its community. “The contrast between Divergente and Fumaça’s methods highlighted diverse yet effective strategies for managing independent media,” she reflected. It was not about finding a one-size-fits-all model, but about seeing new possibilities in the choices others had made.

At Maldita.es (Spain), Oštro‘s team discovered a newsroom where fighting misinformation is not just a task but a daily mission, interwoven with the rhythm of fact-checking workflows and dynamic community engagement. They returned to Slovenia not just with practical ideas about audience engagement formats, but with a renewed belief in the transformative power of media literacy.

Mensagem de Lisboa‘s hosting of Átlátszó Erdély (Romania) brought an exchange of ambition as much as method. Observing Mensagem’s blend of positive storytelling and robust offline engagement, Átlátszó Erdély’s team found a living model for the community-driven project they plan to launch in the near future.

Some of the most striking lessons came not from strategies but from philosophies. Dublin Inquirer, a small local paper in Ireland, found itself reimagining its role after visiting Correctiv in Berlin. Seeing Correctiv’s network of civic initiatives, they embraced the idea that journalism does not end at publication, it extends into training, events, and public conversations. “We took the lesson that we should do more offline and in real life,” said co-founder Sam Tranum, a reflection that led directly to new events and subscriber meet-ups in Dublin.

For Fumaça, a visit to Follow the Money in Amsterdam unlocked the potential of small but significant changes: from tweaking email journeys to redesigning contribution pages, every detail aimed at deepening relationships with readers. As they saw, sustainability is built not in grand gestures, but in careful, thoughtful engagement.

Throughout these exchanges, the limitations many outlets face became starkly apparent. As Elisabetta of Facta noted after its visit, “The scarcity of foundations supporting journalism forces newsrooms to rely heavily on project-based grants, donations, and crowdfunding.” Yet even amid precariousness, what stood out was a fierce creativity: hosting open newsroom events, developing niche newsletters, and using CRM systems to personalise communications. Everywhere, there was evidence that building strong community relationships is not a luxury; it is a necessity.

The value of these study visits, then, was not simply in acquiring new tools or templates. It lay in the conversations that pushed people to think differently, in the solidarity felt across languages and borders, and in the quiet realisation that despite different contexts, the mission remains shared: to produce journalism that matters.

By opening their doors and their minds, the newsrooms that participated in the JVP study visits have strengthened more than their own operations. They have reinforced a growing European network committed to journalism that holds power to account, tells untold stories, and engages citizens in shaping their own futures. By Johanna Pisco

NB: We’ve created a Study Visit Toolkit. Download the toolkit here, and download the accompanying Study Visit Plan Worksheet here.