Constructive Institute awarded 40.000 euros

The Helsingin Sanomat Foundation has awarded the Constructive Institute a 40.000 euro grant to enable a Finnish journalist to take part of the fully-funded Constructive Fellowship program at Aarhus University for the academic year of 2018 / 2019.

The grant will allow a Finnish fellow to spend one academic year at Aarhus University, where they will have free access to courses, lectures and academic experts and can attend workshops on constructive journalism. The aim of the program is to allow a talented Finnish journalist to take the necessary time and space to strengthen his / her knowledge of their chosen topic areas and explore existing solutions to problems in the fields they are covering. The program will also provide the journalist with the necessary tools to engage in more constructive forms of journalism, increasingly important in societies bombarded by fake news, constant stream of negativity, sensationalism and tabloidization.

The Constructive Institute Fellowship Program is the European equivalent of the mid-career journalism fellowship programs at Stanford University in San Francisco and at Harvard University in Boston. The fully funded programme will allow the fellows to take advantage of the intellectual richness of the Aarhus University and apply the gained knowledge to their journalistic work. The fellows will have a unique opportunity to spend a year pursuing their interests, broadening their knowledge, and exploring solutions to problems in their fields.

The autumn of 2017 will see the launch of the TrygFonden Constructive Fellowship Pilot Program, that will finance the fellowship of five Danish fellows. From 2018 / 2019, the Constructive Institute will start with the full Fellowship Program, integrating journalists from around the world.

“The launch of the Constructive Institute has already created attention all over the world, as the lack of trust in media worries not only journalists but anyone caring about the future of democracy,”

the founder of the institute, Executive News Director of Danish Public Broadcasting (DR), Ulrik Haagerup says.

“Our aim to create a global constructive movement to reinstall news journalism as a trustworthy fundament for the public debate. The initiative builds on the support from likeminded people and organisations, and we are proud that the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation will send a Finnish journalistic talent to Aarhus University as one of our future international Constructive Fellows.”

The Constructive Institute is an independent organisation that lies at the heart of the constructive journalism movement. Its mission is to combat trivialisation and degradation of journalism by emphasising reporting that is more accurate, balanced and solutions-focussed. The institute helps journalists and news organisations to apply constructive reporting in their daily work through providing access to an inspiring best practices portal, a world-class fellowship programme, relevant training curricula, and rigorous academic research.

The Helsingin Sanomat Foundation is a private, non-profit organization. The purpose of the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation is to secure the future of Finnish media and quality journalism as well as to support freedom of speech.

The Helsingin Sanomat Scholarship will be open for applications in the autumn of 2017.