SRT Grantee News – September

Grantee News:

• TV8, an independent Moldovan media outlet, was both the country’s most watched TV channel and most accessed news website on parliamentary election day. The channel produced an 18-hour live bilingual broadcast which also attracted hundreds of thousands to tune in across social media. It was an important source of credible information during the entire election campaign.
• 972 – Advancement of Citizen Journalism: Microsoft is blocking Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians, after a joint investigation by Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Guardian that revealed the Israeli military is relying on the Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians.
• Breaking the Silence has successfully fended off a SLAPP lawsuit brought by the right-wing Israeli NGO Ad Kan, with the case dismissed without damages in late September. Breaking the Silence, which documents human rights abuses in the occupied territories, called the outcome vital for protecting testifiers from intimidation and for sustaining its work amid Israel’s shrinking democratic space and the ongoing war in Gaza.
• Direkt36 received the 2025 Free Media Award, a journalism prize awarded by Germany’s ZEIT Stiftung Bucerius and Norway’s Fritt Ord Foundation. It honours “valiant investigative journalism under exceedingly difficult circumstances”. Direkt36 was recognised for its “powerful in-depth journalism”, including its documentary The Dynasty, which investigates the financial empire of the Orbán family. Within 24 hours of its YouTube release, the film reached one million views.
• Hope not Hate’s Nick Lowles told the Guardian that despite the growing visibility and radicalism of extremists, most Britons still show a “basic decency” that rejects hate. He warns that mainstream politics has fuelled division by echoing xenophobic rhetoric. He insists the way to counter the far right is by focusing on people’s everyday concerns, such as the cost of living and public services, while rebuilding trust and cohesion at the community level. His new book How to Defeat the Far Right: Lessons from Hope Not Hate is out now.
• A Hope not Hate investigation prompted Reform UK to suspend Northumberland councillor John Allen over alleged online posts about shooting Keir Starmer. The party is investigating after being shown the comments. The suspension follows Nigel Farage’s call last week for police to act against TikTok users who had called for him to be shot.
• Watershed Investigations found that over 750,000 tonnes of toxic landfill liquid  are mixed with sewage and spread on English farmland each year, in a joint investigation with the Guardian. The leachate contains hazardous chemicals, including PFAS, microplastics, and flame retardants, many of which pass through treatment plants and enter rivers, seas, and the food chain. Critics are calling for stricter regulation and a ban on dangerous chemicals in sewage sludge.
• UCL – For the first time, researchers at University College London have reported that a single-dose gene therapy known as AMT-130 has slowed progression of Huntington’s disease by about 75% over 36 months in patients given a high dose, compared to untreated controls.
• No Borders Orchestra has been receiving standing ovations and glowing reviews during its ongoing Turning Point 2025 regional tour. Following performances in Mostar, Pristina, and Skopje, the orchestra is set to perform in Tirana on 31 October.
• Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds has reported some major conservation successes, despite operating in a challenging environment for civil society. These include growing the Eastern Imperial Eagle population from just 8 pairs to 47, and reintroducing breeding Cinereous Vultures to Bulgaria after 32 years. Alongside these species’ recoveries, BSPB has restored over 1,500 hectares of landscapes, securing lasting habitats for biodiversity.