As Bivol reported on COVID-19 in Bulgaria, it found the pandemic being used as a cover for corruption Just some hard-hitting stories they uncovered: dried fruits masquerading as medical supplies, ‘toxic’ disinfectant and unreliable antibody tests September 28, 2020 Tara Kelly
‘A bittersweet moment’: How gal-dem launched membership amid Black Lives Matter protests and COVID-19 Few publications were hit as hard by the global pandemic than the UK independent media collective gal-dem September 24, 2020 Tara Kelly
Heidi.news’ recipe for growing its members and expanding into new areas during the pandemic Flexibility and a focus on readers’ needs helped this Swiss-Francophone startup build credibility and find new paying customers September 16, 2020 Tara Kelly
COVID-19 deepened Serbia’s local media crisis. Here’s what one nonprofit did to help. Cenzolovka, a Serbian site dedicated to media and free speech, used satire and small pots of money to strengthen local media during the pandemic. September 11, 2020 Tara Kelly
Reader-funded journalism in a crisis: Lessons from OKO.press Reader donations were the main revenue stream of this Polish investigative outlet. But round-the-clock coverage led to 75% more one-off contributions. September 10, 2020 Tara Kelly
How a Ukrainian radio station put women first in its coronavirus coverage By tackling topics like domestic violence and single motherhood during the lockdown, Hromadske Radio appealed to its majority female audience. July 29, 2020 Tara Kelly
How media collective Are We Europe launched a membership program while in lockdown Revenue from memberships at the pan-European non-for-profit is still small but its financials have never been stronger. July 24, 2020 Tara Kelly
Why and how Buletin de București attempted to uncover Romania’s ‘patient zero’ The local news site kept residents in the capital informed about COVID-19 through a mixture of video reports, data journalism and a daily newsletter. July 21, 2020 Tara Kelly
How Koncentrat’s interactive TV show entertained and informed Danish teens during lockdown An interactive daily show, broadcast online and regional TV, allowed 13-to-17-year-olds to talk to media experts and war correspondents from home July 17, 2020 Tara Kelly
Why Átlátszó tried to forecast, and not just visualize, COVID-19 cases in Hungary With limited trustworthy government information, this investigative outlet’s daily maps and graphs helped Hungarians better understand the pandemic. July 15, 2020 Tara Kelly
Crashed servers, ‘superpowers’ and science journalists: How Maldita.es navigated the pandemic and nearly doubled its membership Inundated with messages from fearful readers, the Spanish fact-checking organization used reader expertise and a chatbot to tackle COVID-19 misinfo July 8, 2020 Tara Kelly
Istinomer fact-checked COVID-19 and the Serbian national election at the same time. Here’s how. Fighting misinformation about the virus during the run-up to June’s boycotted election was an arduous task for the small Belgrade-based outlet. July 7, 2020 Tara Kelly
How Belgium’s Apache increased its membership base despite layoffs, budget cuts and COVID-19 The pandemic arrived months after this Belgian cooperative’s staff and budgets were downsized. That didn’t stop it growing its paying members by 20%. July 1, 2020 Tara Kelly
How Faktograf worked across borders to stem COVID-19 misinformation in southeastern Europe Misinformation doesn’t care about borders, so the Croatian fact-checking site joined forces with nearby specialists in a cross-country effort. June 26, 2020 Tara Kelly
How Solomon’s inclusive storytelling elevated the voices of migrants during the pandemic Already at risk and now under attack from COVID-19, this Greek media nonprofit knew it had to tell the story of refugees during the pandemic. June 22, 2020 Tara Kelly