The European Journalism Observatory (EJO, de.ejo-online.eu), which currently operates in 13 languages (Albanian, Arabic, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Portuguese and Russian) was the basis of the project.
This AGORA project extended and strengthened EJO’s network of cooperating research institutions, journalism training facilities and newsrooms in the German speaking part of Switzerland, improved the English EJO platform which is needed for joint dissemination efforts (in coopertion with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford) and made the project more visible by a strong effort in social media marketing. In particular, the focus was on the dissemination of communications and journalism research from Switzerland and in Switzerland, also across the language barriers in the country, and trying to mobilize the younger communications researchers to participate actively in dissemination efforts and to train their communication and reporting skills
in dealing with the media.
Important was the strong partnership between IAM at ZHAW with the “headquarters” of EJO at the University
of Lugano. Together they implemented a “marketing plan” addressing the operations of EJO in the German and Italian speaking world and finally reached out for the Suisse Romande where a French version of EJO has started in fall 2017.