EJN Awards Four New Story Grants to Support Reporting on the Mediterranean Sea
Since it was launched in March 2022, EJN’s Mediterranean Media Initiative has supported journalists to highlight issues impacting the Mediterranean Sea, specifically, the scale of unsustainable marine management driving biodiversity loss and environmental degradation in the region.
So far, 14 story grants have been awarded and more than 35 media reports produced, including several ground-breaking investigations.
As part of the project, EJN just awarded four new grants to journalists from Spain and Morocco.
In Spain:
- Juan David Escorcia will produce a podcast exploring the relation between anthropogenic soundscape in the Mediterranean coast (Catalonia and Valencia) and their consequences in the marine diversity (Carijonas)
- Rocio Periago will report on the environmental damages in the Mar Menor lagoon in Murcia, Spain (Revista Late)
In Morocco:
- Mohamed Abatach will look at the endangered species Grouper fish and investigate its illegal fishing and trade in Morocco (Raseef 22)
- Sofia Fagroud will produce a radio show and a written report on the impact of invasive species in Morocco (Radio Chaîne Inter & Etlettres)
“We are quickly building a new community of journalists in the Mediterranean expertly covering complex marine issues in innovative ways — from podcasts capturing underwater noise pollution to the use of satellite data to track illegal fishing activities,” says Mona Samari, Project Director of the Mediterranean Media Initiative. “We are also seeing as a result, the emergence of female investigative journalists in North Africa tackling controversial issues.”
The Mediterranean Media Initiative is funded by the Adessium Foundation.
Look out for these grantees’ stories in the coming months on the EJN website.
Banner image: Grouper fish in the Mediterranean Sea.
