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31 March 2021


Hello, and welcome to the news and tools delivery from EDJNet.

When was the last time that you boarded a train bound for a foreign country? In case you miss that, we have a story this week that could at least help you travel with your imagination. Looking at the scope of cross-border rail links in Europe, OBC Transeuropa has compiled a list of all such trains.

Links and flows are at the center of this week's newsletter, as our partners also delved into the state and prospects of internet connectivity in Europe – as we all know, access to a good connection often made the difference in the past year. OBC Transeuropa also traced the flows of the EU countries' arms exports, finding out that a good deal of them end in the hands of authoriarian regimes.

We're offering a free webinar tomorrow, jump in if you want to get a closer look at the tools we've been developing!

If you like what you read, you can forward this newsletter to a friend – and don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

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Stories

Internet speed in Europe

OBC Transeuropa has combined data on internet speed gathered by Ookla with the boundaries of municipalities and regions in Europe, so that it's possible to explore and compare the average internet speed across the different territories. The project resulted in an interactive dashboard by Ornaldo Gjergji and in an article by Federico Caruso.

  • The EU's Digital Agenda aimed at offering broadband coverage (at least 30 Mbps) for all Europeans by 2020. The new targets aim at 100 Mbps by 2025 and 1 Gigabit per second by 2030.
  • The Very High Capacity Network covered 44% of EU households in 2019, but there are large disparities both between individual countries and between urban and rural areas.
  • Broadband covers basically all households in the Netherlands and Malta. In Central-Eastern Europe, Romania leads the way.
  • The EU is set to invest more than €2 billion in connectivity over the next few years.
 

Where do we stand on the road to a European Gigabit Society?

Federico Caruso | OBC Transeuropa

The road towards universally accessible ultra-fast connectivity in Europe still seems long and bumpy. This transition has direct repercussions on social inclusion and on the lives of citizens – from health to access to public services.

Browse the dashboard >

Read the methodology >

More and more trains crossing European borders 

Gianluca De Feo and Lorenzo Ferrari | OBC Transeuropa

Cross-border rail connections are set to expand even further in the coming years thanks to the birth of the EU's single rail market. However, there are still profound differences between the central and peripheral regions of Europe.

Explore the data >

 

Biden, the EU and arms exports 

Ornaldo Gjergji | OBC Transeuropa

EU countries exported €149 billion worth of arms in 2000-20. Arms exports to authoritarian regimes has grown more than exports to democratic nations, but the European Parliament's pressures to reverse this trend have failed so far.

Read the methodology >
Explore the data >

 

EU recovery plan has helped boost consumer, industry confidence 

Anne Damiani | Euractiv

The Covid-19 pandemic has instigated fears of economic uncertainty among various economic actors. However, the latest Eurostat figures show that confidence is more or less holding up despite the health crisis.

All our articles can be freely republished or reused. Some are available in Croatian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, and Romanian. Interested? Write to us!

From our partners at the European Data News Hub

 

1 in 3 Covid survivors suffer long-term health issues

What is 'Long Covid'? At least one in three patients hospitalised with Covid-19 suffer long-term health issues, according to a review of studies looking at the lasting impact of the disease.
 

Madrid: Haven for fun-starved Europeans… but locals can’t leave

With bars and restaurants open and an 11:00 pm curfew, Madrid has become a haven for leisure-starved Europeans in a reality that has rankled residents who remain restricted from leaving the region

Tools and Tips

Webinar: The Stats Monitor

Tomorrow April 1 at 4 PM our partner LocalFocus is holding a webinar to present the Stats Monitor tool that they developed for EDJNet. The webinar will be in English and it will be free and open to everyone.

The Stats Monitor is meant to make it easier for journalists to find stories in data on a European level, from COVID-19 to economic and environmental stats. The host, Yordi Dam, will highlight the available sources and explain the main features and functionalities of the tool.

Click here to register.

Behind the scenes

 

Investigating Instagram's algorithm

OBC Transeuropa and Algorithm Watch

Nicolas Kayser-Bril coordinated ​Algorithm Watch-EDJNet’s ​joint investigation on Instagram’s algorithm. In this video, he explains ​why the subject ​matters and how it could be approached, despite the lack of transparency of the platform. Data suggests that Instagram has a bias in favour of pictures of scantily clothed men or women.​

You can browse the other videos of our series "Behind the scenes of data journalism" on EDJNet's channel on YouTube.

From the data journalism community


The Data Journalism Handbook

Liliana Bounegru and Jonathan Gray curated a new edition of the Data Journalism Handbook (published by Amsterdam University Press). It provides a rich introduction to data journalism, combining both critical reflection and practical insight. With 8 sections and 54 different contributions, the handbook offers a diverse collection of perspectives on how data journalism is done around the world and the broader consequences of datafication in the news. It's released under a Creative Commons license and it can freely be accessed at this page.
You are free to reuse and republish all the content available on EDJNet. If you’d like to know more, check our terms of use or contact us (info@europeandatajournalism.eu).

For more news and features from EDJNet visit our site and join the conversation on our social networks:
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Copyright © 2021 European Data Journalism Network, All rights reserved.


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