Neus was a Fellow in 2019/2020 and Viktoria in 2022/2023. They met during the re:constitution Network and Alumni Conference in 2022 and connected over their shared interest in media freedom and media regulation in Europe. Ever since, they have organised several events about this topic and have co-authored several publications. Most recently, they organised a workshop in Brussels about Access to Information in the Digital Age, funded by Stiftung Mercator. They also co-authored a Verfassungsblog article in which they made the case for a European Access to Information Act. In 2023, during the Fellows' Exchange Meeting in Brussels, they co-organised a panel of journalists, publishers, policy-makers, academics and civil society to discuss the European Media Freedom Act. They also teamed up to host the Verfassungsblog-Symposium “Shifting Paradigms of European Media Regulation” in June 2023. The success of their joint endeavours and the network established throughout these events has prompted them to work on developing an initiative that transcends the yearly events and that brings together journalists, academics and practitioners to discuss and defend media freedom across Europe.