The Nordic Journalist Centre (NJC), which is run by UPDATE at the Danish School of Media and Journalism, has received a DKK 4 million grant from the Nordic Council of Ministers. The money is earmarked for enhancing journalism in the Nordic Region/North-West Russia.

It will help to fund a wide range of projects for student journalists and, in particular, for their more experienced colleagues. Projects will range from actual continuing education to study trips, teaching and working together on journalistic and cultural projects, e.g. photography books.

"One of the main purposes of the Council of Ministers' pool is to promote democracy. One of the contributions we in the Nordic Region can make is to show how we perceive a modern democracy with a free press, etc. Conversely, our Russian partners — in addition to networking — will be able to provide Nordic journalists with a clearer insight into conditions in Russia," says Steen K. Rasmussen, the development manager for UPDATE and head of the NJC.

The importance of working together

The Nordic Journalist Centre has received several grants in the past from the Nordic Council of Ministers for mobility programmes in the region — which, apart from the Nordic countries, also includes the provinces of Kaliningrad, Murmansk and St Petersburg on the Russian side — but never anything on this scale.

"It's great. With this amount of money we'll be able to dig deeper and run really high-quality projects. It's extremely important that we in the Nordic Region have a regional network and working relationship with our big neighbour to the east. Especially so for Norway and Finland, which share common borders with Russia," Rasmussen adds.

Steen K. Rasmussen, head of the Nordic Journalist Centre Mobile: +45 2172 5236, e-mail: