During the Media4Europe conference, held on October 14th, 2020, the Stars4Media first edition’s results were unveiled. This project supports innovation in the media sector, through training and cross-border cooperation: 21 Initiatives were co-financed, involving 105 media professionals from 42 media outlets in 17 countries.
Five prizes were awarded to the outstanding initiatives during this virtual conference. This project is co-funded by the European Commission, based on a ‘rising stars’ budget earmarked by the European Parliament.
During the conference, media stakeholders and MEPs – MEP Dace Melbarde (ECR); MEP Margarida Marques (S&D); MEP Ramona Strugariu (Renew Europe); MEP Damian Boeselager (Greens) – considered the continuation of the underlying ‘rising stars’ programme and agreed that Creative Europe should be increased, including more support to media transformation.
In April 2020, this Open Letter by 42 MEPs also proposed to create a NEWS programme.