September 4, 2025
Beyond the Newsroom: How to Involve Citizens in Your Investigations
What if investigations didn’t stop at the newsroom door? What if citizens were not just sources, but active co-investigators bringing local knowledge, fresh perspectives, and vital leads to the table? On Saturday 20th September, we are hosting a hands-on workshop in Berlin, Germany, designed to spark a new kind of investigative journalism: one where journalists, […]
What if investigations didn’t stop at the newsroom door? What if citizens were not just sources, but active co-investigators bringing local knowledge, fresh perspectives, and vital leads to the table?
On Saturday 20th September, we are hosting a hands-on workshop in Berlin, Germany, designed to spark a new kind of investigative journalism: one where journalists, CSOs and citizens work side by side to investigate issues that cross borders and impact communities across Europe.
Building on the investigative practices piloted by the Seek Initiative and the media innovation approaches from Are We Europe, this workshop will explore how investigative journalists can structure meaningful, safe, and effective collaborations with the public. During the session, participants will break out into groups, identify shared investigative interests, and begin to prototype collaborative frameworks for working with citizen contributors. We’ll explore methods of engagement, training, safety, and community building, all aimed at producing more inclusive and impactful investigations as well as hear about new techniques by Seek Initiative’s environmental fellows.
Whether you’re already experimenting with participatory journalism or just curious about expanding your investigations, this session will leave you with new ideas, potential collaborators, and the beginning of a community committed to transforming how investigations are done.
The workshop will be from 14:00 to 16:30 CET and will be held at The International Alumni Center (iac Berlin) as part of the Berlin Hub programme from the Civil Society Forum.
It’s free! Please email hello@seekinitiative.org to join.
Facilitators
Neus Vidal is the Executive Director of Seek Initiative, an organisation that supports and trains citizens, community leaders, journalists, and civil society organisations to drive change in their communities through grassroots investigations in the public interest. Neus is a journalist and political scientist who specialises in access to information laws and media policies. She has worked as an investigative reporter in several countries, including Spain, UK and Germany.
Sabrina Faramarzi is the Managing Director of Are We Europe, an award-winning, independent multimedia European media platform and collective working towards a borderless European media space. Previously a journalist and editor focused on international issues around data, AI, gender, and digital human rights, Sabrina has worked and written for The Guardian, Vogue Business, Vice, Wired and others, as well as consulting on audience development strategies and producing large-scale global editorial projects for media and non-profit organisations.