Journalists from Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic are invited to join the training to learn, practice, and improve big data analysis in Microsoft Excel and SQL. Journalists will gain skills in practical sessions and will also adapt their knowledge while working in teams where they will develop an investigative project idea. 

Mediathon training event is also a chance to learn from the outstanding investigative journalism examples: all participants will attend the investigative journalism awards ceremony where the best investigations from Lithuania and Slovakia will be announced.

When and where?

The workshops will take place from 30th March  to 3rd, April 2022. The workshops will be held in Lithuania (two days in Vilnius and three days in Innovators’ Valley in Antaliepte).

Duration: five days, including travel days – arrival on March 30th before 15:00, departure on April 3rd  after 17:00.

What is in the Mediathon’s program?

The training will include sessions and discussions with investigative journalists, data experts. The participants will:

• participate in investigative journalism awards ceremony in Vilnius where the best investigative stories from Slovakia and Lithuania will be rewarded;
• explore data journalism (introduction to big data analysis using Excel, SQL: data cleaning, formulating a hypothesis, data acquisition);
• analyze how mapping tools can add a creative interactive element to the story;
• learn what online tools can be used for the effective search for information;
• develop collaborative spirit (journalists will work in teams and create a journalistic project proposal).

Who will lead the training? 

Adriana Homolova (Netherlands)

Adriana is a Slovak-born Netherlands-based data journalist. Her specialty is collecting and making sense of (very large) excel tables. In the past, she has worked mainly with Dutch (investigative) newsrooms and is now focusing on various European projects (with Arena for Journalism in Europe, Lost in Europe, OCCRP). She also teaches other journalists how to make sense of data.

Šarūnas Černiauskas (Lithuania)

Based in Vilnius, Lithuania, Šarūnas joined OCCRP in 2015 and is a regional editor for the Baltics. He leads Siena.lt, the first Lithuanian non-profit organization dedicated entirely to investigative reporting, and an OCCRP member center. He has contributed to numerous investigations, including the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, and the Pandora Papers. He was a key contributor to the Troika Laundromat investigation, which won the Sigma Data Journalism Award in 2020 and the IJ4EU Impact Award in 2021. With an international team, he also investigated the misuse of EU funds by members of the European Parliament and was shortlisted for the European Press Prize in 2017. In 2021, another international team involving Siena.lt was shortlisted for the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism. 

Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) (United States)

C4ADS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing data-driven analysis and evidence-based reporting on global conflict and transnational security issues. C4ADS uses cutting-edge technologies to manage, integrate, and analyze disparate data from diverse languages, regions, and sources, incorporating our own field research from conflict zones and fragile states. We seek to engage with local and international audiences and produce compelling analysis on conflict and security issues.

Who can apply?

The training is open for professional journalists and other media makers from Lithuania, Slovakia, Latvia, and the Czech Republic without age limit, who:

• work or intend to work on local investigations; 
• want to acquire new competencies, especially in data gathering and  analysis;
• have previous working experience in media.

20 participants in total will be selected.

What else is in?

• Travel costs reimbursed after the event (limit: 200 EUR)
• Accommodation, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners covered directly by the organizers

What is the deadline for submitting your application?

You can apply until 17th March 2022 (23:59 EET) by using this form. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] .

We are looking forward to your application!

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The training is one of the activities of the Media4Change – Future Investigative Story Lab project, which aims to support cooperation, innovation, and professional standards in the field of investigative journalism in Lithuania and Slovakia. The project is implemented by Media4Change, a movement for the highest standards in journalism, and its partner European Dialogue.

The project is co-financed by the European Commission under the DG CONNECT program and its call “Media freedom and investigative journalism”.