Good morning, Perugia!
We invite you to check out the full festival programme on the website, but to provide a taster we have prepared the following brief overview. By clicking on +info► you can link to full details of each session, and then add it if you wish to your personal festival day-by-day agenda on your computer or smartphone.
09:30 – 09:55 > Hotel Brufani – Sala Raffaello | journalist safety & well-being
Safety culture 101: for newsrooms and journalists +info►
As threats to journalists take many forms, from digital and legal to physical and psychosocial, what role should safety play in professional journalism practice? And what do we mean when we talk about creating a culture of safety? The ACOS Alliance brings together leading security experts to guide us through the fundamentals of safety and provide information about the opportunities and resources that can help journalists, editors and newsrooms confidently prepare for an increasingly complex safety landscape. These include the Journalist Safety Clinics which are on offer (all day long on Thursday and Friday) at this year’s festival.
Organised in association with ACOS Alliance.
10:00 – 10:50 > Sala dei Notari, Palazzo dei Priori | collaborative journalism
Collaborative investigations: risk and rewards +info►
International collaborations have become a staple of investigative journalism. From the ICIJ’s era-defining offshore leaks – the Panama, Paradise and Pandora Papers – to the Pegasus Project, coordinated by Forbidden Stories, and countless other partnerships, big and small, between media organisations around the world. When the Guardian was leaked the Uber files, a cache of more than 120,000 documents, it chose to share them with over 100 journalists around the world. What does it take to bring together a consortium of investigative journalists? What are the risks – and what can sometimes go wrong? This session will hear first-hand from leading journalists who have been at the forefront of the world’s biggest and most complex investigations.
10:00 – 10:50 > Sala Brugnoli, Palazzo Cesaroni | climate reporting
Counting the dead: lessons from the pandemic for confronting climate change +info►
One of the confounding questions of the pandemic was how to measure the dead – what counts as a COVID-19 death, and how do you tally them in places where barely any are tested for the virus? Researchers, policy makers and journalists grappled with the task of labeling every loss of life succumbing to the virus, all while confronting weak data collection systems, the politics of the rising deaths and the lack of a unified, global effort to make sense of the pandemic’s death toll. In many countries across the world, the official death toll was not representative of the actual number of deaths that many, including journalists, were witnessing on the ground. Counting the number of “excess deaths” or deaths that occurred due to direct and indirect causes resulting from COVID-19 was one way to record the impact of the pandemic. The process of this reporting is not only helpful in highlighting the impact of COVID-19, but is also key to understanding other crises – especially climate change. As the consequences of climate change related disasters on health become more acute, the lessons learned from the pandemic on accurately counting the dead will only be increasingly crucial. How will countries label deaths due to climate change, and what kind of global mechanisms exist to hold them accountable? How are journalists and researchers thinking about the linkages of these crises and how can we empower newsrooms to undertake accurate and in-depth reporting of excess deaths? How can data journalists support health and climate reporters, and what kind of synergies are needed to face these new challenges? These are some questions that the panel will seek to answer.
10:00 – 10:50 > Sala delle Colonne, Palazzo Graziani | media under attack
Towards an early warning system for online violence: how to monitor digital attacks on women journalists and prevent escalation +info►
The Chilling, a major global study produced by UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), found a clear link between online violence and offline harm. 20% of survey respondents and dozens of women journalists interviewed by the researchers described offline attacks, abuse and harassment that they connected to online violence. There is now an urgent need to mitigate the surge of online violence into the physical world. So, what can be done to monitor, predict and ultimately prevent the escalation of online violence? In this session, Julie Posetti – the lead author of The Chilling and the chief researcher on a new projects developing tools to help monitor and predict online violence escalation – and computer scientist Diana Maynard will present a new set of research-informed indicators for gendered online violence escalation and a companion monitoring tool for gendered digital attacks on journalists developed for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). They will also demonstrate a new interactive system for monitoring and measuring online attacks. Research underpinning these new tools focuses on emblematic gendered online violence cases like prominent Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, and the terrifying accounts of journalists like Northern Ireland crime reporter Trish Devlin – both of whom will join this panel discussion.
Organised in association with International Center for Journalists.
11:00 – 11:50 > Hotel Brufani – Sala Priori | journalist safety & well-being
Interactive self-care for women and non-binary journalists +info►
The International Women’s Media Foundation just launched A Mental Health Guide for Journalists Facing Online Violence, a practical resource including a psychological self-assessment tool as well as downloadable exercises for managing acute stress, insomnia, PTSD and other forms of trauma. In this self-care workshop, we will hear from Ana Zellhuber, a Mexican psychoanalyst and journalism trauma expert, who is the main author of the guide. She will walk us through key techniques and guidance for how to navigate the psychological impacts of online abuse.
Organised in association with the International Women’s Media Foundation.
11:00 – 11:50 > Sala dei Notari, Palazzo dei Priori | investigative journalism
Investigating the crimes of war +info►
The work of investigative journalists and human rights researchers is vital to holding accountable perpetrators of war and conflict. This reporting work is painstaking and takes years, and must be of the highest standard, especially if it is to stand up in an international court of law. Journalists and human rights researchers alike have differing views on collaborating with legal authorities, but there is a need for in-depth investigative work to complement the work of war reporters. It is essential to safeguard evidence of atrocities, preserve the testimony of survivors and build a trail of accountability. In the second half of 2023 Global Investigative Journalism Network will publish A Guide to Investigating the Crimes of War to help journalists understand laws related to war and conflict, and relevant methodologies for investigation. It will include briefings on war crime, crimes against humanity and genocide, and methodologies and tips for investigating those multiple crimes, including gathering and archiving evidence, open-source research, researching chains of command, and interviewing victims and survivors. It will be a collaboration between journalists, civil society investigators and legal experts. To our knowledge, this Guide is the first of its kind. This session will tackle some of the critical issues of in-depth and investigative reporting in war and conflict. It will also share some of the best methodologies and tips to ensure accurate and impactful journalism that both calls the perpetrators to account and protects the victims and survivors of war.
Organised in association with Global Investigative Journalism Network.
11:00 – 11:50 > Sala della Vaccara, Palazzo dei Priori | journalists in exile
The growth of hybrid media in authoritarian countries +info►
In a world where freedom of expression is more and more constrained by autocratic regimes, entrepreneurs are seeking a new solution to bring trusted news to repressed citizens: hybrid media. Hybrid media operate both outside and inside these countries, with leadership based in a comparatively free country while journalists whose identities are kept secret gather information from inside the country where media have little or no freedom. Panelist Sami Mahdi of Afghanistan, editor-in-chief of AmuTelevision, is a prime example of this trend. AmuTelevision is based in Washington, where Mahdi and several colleagues live in exile. But they rely on journalists inside Afghanistan to gather information. Among the issues to be explored: How do you ensure the safety of contributors living inside the country? How do you pay them? How do you get the content to the audience if the government controls platforms of distribution?
Organised in association with International Center for Journalists.
11:00 – 11:50 > Auditorium San Francesco al Prato | legal protection for journalists
Lawfare: weaponisation of the law against journalists, and fighting back +info►
This panel discussion, chaired by media law expert Jonathan Price of Doughty Street Chambers, will study the phenomenon of “lawfare”, an increasingly familiar tactic in the authoritarian playbook, and ask what can be done to push back. No longer do oppressive States rely solely on defamation laws or national security laws to target journalists and journalism. They now turn to using a wide range of weapons – such as fraud laws, regulatory laws, intellectual property laws – to both silence the journalists and slur their reputations. This panel will draw on the first-hand experiences of Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, and Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew who inherited many of his mother’s lawsuits, some of which he continues to have to defend today. We will hear from their lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC – who also leads the international legal team for Jimmy Lai – and who has taken the fight to oppressive regimes on behalf of journalists all over the world, and from Jodie Ginsberg, a journalist and campaigner who is now President of the Committee to Protect Journalists. The panel will examine this growing tactic of lawfare and consider how journalists, lawyers, campaigners and States can – and must – fight back. Organised in association with Doughty Street Chambers.
12:00 – 12:50 > Auditorium San Francesco al Prato | investigative journalism
Getting ahead of the bad guys: what journalists need to know to keep up with organized crime’s 2023 playbook +info►
Paul and Pavla are back again this year, highlighting what’s new and noteworthy in investigating organized crime in 2023. Joining them is Stevan Dojcinovic. High level criminals have designed future-proof strategies that are as yet unmatched by a fragmented international law enforcement. Their toxic activities hurt our finances and damage large ecosystems. Investigative journalists and activists are left to band together to counter them. What do we need to know in 2023 to efficiently expose organized crime and the vast systemic corruption that it drives?
Organised in association with Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
12:00 – 12:50 > Sala delle Colonne, Palazzo Graziani | Ukraine
How to support the Ukrainian media system in the long run +info►
Besides the emergency support for Ukraine media, there is a need to reestablish the media ecosystem in Ukraine in the hard hit regions. We want to talk about the best ways to help the reconstruction of a vivid media landscape that serves the public and supports democracy.
Organised in association with CORRECTIV.
12:00 – 12:50 > Sala dei Notari, Palazzo dei Priori | other topics
Transparency journalism: is it the key to public trust? +info►
Transparency is an oft-cited solution to the trust crisis, but what does that mean in practice? Must journalists document all aspects of their work – or does that risk creating journalism products that are transparent but are so laden with process that no one wants to consume them? In this session, we’ll explore methods of transparency and their effectiveness with audiences.
12:00 – 13:00 > Hotel Brufani – Sala Raffaello | diversity, equity & inclusion
How I broke the story: sharing gender reporting best practice +info►
Journalists from around the world share their experience producing world-leading journalism about the rights of women and gender-diverse people. From an investigation into the skin-whitening industry to a year-long project to put stories about women on the front page, journalists and editors will show how they broke major stories about gender, and what they learned in doing so. Panellists will present their work in the PechaKucha storytelling format — 20 slides with 20 seconds of commentary each. Organised in association with As Equals CNN.
14:00 – 14:50 > Sala delle Colonne, Palazzo Graziani | social media platforms
Investigating social media companies from the inside and out +info►
Join Coda’s Isobel Cockerell, Columbia Journalism Review’s Mathew Ingram, and the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Joan Donovan for a discussion about the institutions behind our rapidly shifting digital reality. The Markup’s Aaron Sankin will moderate.
14:00 – 14:50 > Hotel Brufani – Sala Priori | investigative journalism
Tracking sanctions: experiences from the blurry field of sanctions against Russia +info►
Sanctions are supposed to be a mighty instrument of the West to counter the Russian war against Ukraine. Many investigations, especially in the last year, have shown how difficult it is to implement and to control the effectiveness of sanctions. In this presentation we will show our approach with the Sanctions Tracker as well as tools to analyze sanctions worldwide. Organised in association with CORRECTIV.
14:00 – 14:50 > Sala dei Notari, Palazzo dei Priori | diversity, equity & inclusion
Gender, leadership and surviving authoritarian regimes and cultures: women leading independent Arab media speak up +info►
Women’s leadership representation in the independent journalism sector in the Arab world is high especially when compared to their representation within the leadership of mainstream media. How does this reality relate to women’s empowerment within the sector and their position within societies that have seen great upheaval in the past years? What are the cultural and societal challenges they face and how are these further impacted by working within security challenged contexts? And in light of their experience, how can we create a roadmap for better, safer further inclusion of women as leaders of the media sector in the MENA region and beyond?
15:00 – 15:50 > Sala delle Colonne, Palazzo Graziani | Ukraine
Documenting Ukraine’s war from afar: how to use open-source intelligence to combat propaganda and expose wrongdoing +info►
This presentation takes journalists and analysts through the basics of open-source intelligence, and how it has been used in the setting of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine to combat propaganda, uncover facts and expose wrongdoing. The main subjects attendees will learn in this session are: 1. What does open-source investigative work look like in a story? 2. What tools and data can be used to document and investigate wars? 3. How can we use intelligence techniques in investigative journalism?
15:00 – 15:50 > Auditorium San Francesco al Prato | whistleblowing
To go public or not go public? Behind a whistleblower’s personal decision process +info►
Twitter whistleblower Anika Collier Navaroli, Uber whistleblower Mark MacGann and LuxLeaks whistleblower Antoine Deltour will discuss their personal decision process to go public while whistleblowing and working with journalists.
Organised in association with The Signals Network.
15:00 – 15:50 > Sala Brugnoli, Palazzo Cesaroni | AI
Supporting small newsrooms learn and experiment with AI +info►
The panel will focus on empowering small newsrooms through fellowships and bespoke training globally. Main themes to be discussed will be newsrooms’ appetite for collaboration across the industry and with platforms, a toolkit for small and medium-sized newsrooms willing to start with AI, and the key role of DEI. The JournalismAI Fellowship, a new scheme launched in 2022, was an opportunity for 10 teams of 46 Fellows to prototype innovative tools solving newsroom problems with AI. The JournalismAI Academy, piloted in EMEA in 2021, was successfully scaled in APAC and the Americas in 2022. Each cohort benefits 20 newsroom practitioners from small and medium-sized publishers.
Sponsored by Google News Initiative.
16:00 – 16:50 > Sala delle Colonne, Palazzo Graziani | climate reporting
Climate journalism that works: what newsrooms need to know to have an impact +info►
Editors talk about climate change as the defining story of our times – but many of them don’t act on it as much as they could. This panel will present and discuss findings from the March 2023 EBU News Report Climate Journalism That Works: Between Knowledge and Impact. The audience will learn about successful formats and strategies pursued by news organisations from all over the world, best-practice examples stretching from Canada to India, including public service media as well as commercial publishers. Evidence on successful climate communication strategies will be included.
Organised in association with European Broadcasting Union.
16:00 – 16:50 > Hotel Brufani – Sala Raffaello | impact
How impactful journalism supports a successful business model +info►
Defining the benefits of impact measurement in journalism can seem elusive, but an effective impact strategy drives concrete results not only in the newsroom but across other parts of a media organization. Embarking on editorial projects with impact in mind, successfully measuring that impact and gleaning insights from it can help drive positive outcomes that strengthen audience engagement, reader revenue, brand awareness, purpose-driven advertising and philanthropy. Join a panel of experts from both the editorial and commercial side of news to learn more about the many ways impact measurement – and impact – can be leveraged to both expand reach and deepen mission while also supporting a successful business model. Sponsored by The Guardian.
16:00 – 16:50 > Auditorium San Francesco al Prato | disinformation
How the far right is going global +info►
The 2022 Brazilian elections worked as a battlefield for a new type of war against democracy: the use of coordinated, highly-funded and state-supported networks of misinformation to win and then subvert the result of an election. Former president Jair Bolsonaro adopted many strategies from Donald Trump’s playbook to erode faith in the electoral system, the electronic ballots, and the electoral court. Foreseeing such a strategy, many journalists have spent the last few years developing different tools and infrastructure to monitor key politicians, social media influencers and WhatstApp and Telegram groups to report on main influencers and mediators, robot or inauthentic accounts, and to determine specific misinformation waves. On top of that, they have done shoeleather reporting, going to conservative Congresses, speaking to sources and reviewing documents to establish the international connections of a network that supports right-wing populist movements to erode trust in democracy and instigate violent attacks such as the ones in Brazil in 2023 and in the US in 2021. This panel brings together three investigative journalism organizations that worked on the intersection between disinformation and politics in Brazil, the US, and Europe.
17:00 – 17:50 > Auditorium San Francesco al Prato | Ukraine
The Kyiv Independent: a Ukrainian media startup’s unprecedented success during war +info►
The Kyiv Independent was founded in November 2021 by a group of journalists who were fired from their newspaper by a local oligarch for defending editorial independence. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the Kyiv Independent was a young media startup with very little resources. Yet within days, it became the voice of Ukraine in the world. It gained millions of followers across various platforms. It has the biggest Twitter following among Ukrainian media, by far. It raised more money via crowdfunding platforms than any media outlet in Ukraine ever did, and continues to grow the number of paying members. The story of the Kyiv Independent has been covered by nearly every major Western media. The outlet and its journalists won numerous awards. Its chief editor Olga Rudenko was featured on the cover of Time magazine, leading its “Next Generation Leaders” special feature. What’s behind its rise to stardom?
Organised in association with The Kyiv Independent.
17:00 – 17:50 > Sala della Vaccara, Palazzo dei Priori | data journalism
Data journalism: skills, tools and trends +info►
How do data journalists work? Who do they collaborate with, and what are the latest trends and sought after skills within the field? These are just some of the questions The State of Data Journalism Survey 2022 asks journalists from around the world every year. From identifying favourite data tools to sharing thoughts on the future of the field, this panel discussion will delve into the current state of data journalism. Organised in association with European Journalism Centre.
17:00 – 18:00 > Sala dei Notari, Palazzo dei Priori | legal protection for journalists
Legal threats hampering media freedom +info►
As the war on journalism rages on, the weapons used to attack journalists and undermine free speech are rapidly expanding and evolving. Increasingly, the law is being weaponised around the globe to compromise journalists’ safety and censor their reporting. And, in today’s landscape, journalists often face these legal threats alone, without the protection or visibility of well-resourced media houses or the financial ability to pay for a good lawyer. Join the launch of the Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) and Columbia University’s Press Freedom Legal Trends Report, a first-of-its-kind report that identifies key legal threats to independent journalism worldwide. The presentation of the report will be followed by a panel of leading media defence experts to discuss the report’s findings and shed light on the most serious, and often lesser-known legal threats affecting media freedom. The discussion will also explore how legal support and resources are evolving and expanding to better protect journalists and the wider media ecosystem from these threats – including through the Legal Network for Journalists at Risk. Session format: presentation of the TRF-Columbia research in a two-way conversation between Antonio Zappulla and Joel Simon (25 minutes) followed by a panel discussion (35 minutes) centered on the ways to offer solutions to the problems highlighted in the report. Organised in association with Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Photo credit: Bartolomeo Rossi