Arena organizes and hosts the annual Dataharvest – the European Investigative Journalism Conference, usually held in May. The most recent was June 1-4, 2023, in Mechelen, Belgium.
Journalists play a key role when it comes to assisting the public discourse on national issues, which are increasingly connected to regional and global developments. In order to cover issues with greater depth and accuracy, journalists are increasingly establishing peer-to-peer networks to exchange data and experiences – and investigate together.
Dataharvest – The European Investigative Journalism Conference – provides a space for such networking, sharing, learning and innovation. The growing number of participants (from 35 in 2011 to 550 in 2022) indicates both a need for and interest in such a meeting place from the European journalism community.
The Dataharvest conference wishes to provide a European Newsroom Moment for its participants. It is a meeting point where networks are established and nurtured, interesting data and documents shared, new cross-border projects conceived and teams established, necessary skills taught and pressing issues discussed.