The 2019 festival will be the best yet. More than 650 speakers – of whom 49% are women – will take part in about 280 sessions. Each session will be live-streamed, with the on-demand video available on the festival website immediately afterwards. Simultaneous translation in English-Italian will be provided for about 55 sessions. All festival sessions will be free entry for all attendees, without any need for registration.
The festival has received a generous donation this year from Craig Newmark Philanthropies. Festival main sponsors, as in 2017 and 2018, are Facebook and Google. The main institutional partner is the Umbria Regional Council. Festival sponsors are Amazon, the European Commission, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Sky and Unipol. There are also three smaller NGO sponsors. We thank all festival supporters, big and small, for their support.
About 130 volunteers will take part, involved in activities such as event reviews, speaker interviews, logistics, press office, etc. The volunteers – journalism students, aspiring journalists or journalists at the beginning of their careers – this year come from 19 different countries.
The festival programme is the result of the input of many different individuals, organisations, institutions and media companies. We thank them all for their contribution. A particular thanks to the European Journalism Centre, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The programme attempts to cover most of the major issues of current interest in the media and beyond. We hope you find it stimulating.
What follows is a condensed version (about one third) of the festival programme, divided category by category. Examples of sessions in each category are provided for reference. For the full programme please see the festival website, the brochure or download the festival app. Here’s all you need to know.
ijf19TALKS
Julia Angwin – founder The Markup
moderator Dan Gillmor (co-founder News Co/Lab Arizona State University)
Matthew Caruana Galizia – freelance journalist
moderator: Mario Calabresi (journalist and author)
Maria Ressa – CEO and executive editor Rappler
moderator: TBD
IN CONVERSATION
War photojournalism: in conversation with Paul Conroy and Nicole Tung
Paul Conroy (photojournalist and documentary-maker), Nicole Tung (photojournalist), Marta Serafini (Corriere della Sera)
#metoo in India: a cultural revolution
Rana Ayyub (investigative journalist and author), Priya Ramani (Mint), Barbara Serra (Al Jazeera English)
Youth activism: mass mobilization through social media
Jaclyn Corin (co-founder March For Our Lives), David Hogg (co-founder March For Our Lives)
Human rights and activism: the role of NGOs
Oscar Camps (founder and director Open Arms), Corrado Formigli (Piazzapulita LA7)
Breaking News: the remaking of journalism and why it matters now
Mathew Ingram (chief digital writer Columbia Journalism Review), Alan Rusbridger (principal Lady Margaret Hall Univ. of Oxford)
Google News Initiative: what’s been achieved and what’s next?
Mark Little (CEO and co-founder Kinzen), Olivia Ma (director Google News Lab)
In conversation with WhatsApp
Fergus Bell (founder Dig Deeper Media), Carl Woog (head of communications WhatsApp)
Activism and feminism: in conversation with Inna Shevchenko
Barbara Serra (Al Jazeera English), Inna Shevchenko (leader Femen)
The people vs tech: how the Internet is killing democracy (and how we save it)
Jamie Bartlett (director CASM Demos), Fabio Chiusi (journalist and author)
Nationwide collaborations on local investigative reporting in Germany and the UK
Charlie Beckett (director Polis London School of Economics), Megan Lucero (director The Bureau Local), David Schraven (publisher Correctiv)
The lessons of EU internet regulation
Jeff Jarvis (Newmark Journalism School CUNY), Paul Nemitz (principal advisor DG Justice European Commission)
DISINFORMATION
Preparing for the next wave: video fake news
Hazel Baker (global head of UGC newsgathering Reuters)
Vaccinating against misinfodemics: journalists and public health misinformation
Ed Bice (CEO Meedan), Nat Gyenes (Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society), Seema Yasmin (director Stanford Health Communication Initiative)
The Spiegel scandal and the seduction of storytelling
Swantje Dake (digital editor Stuttgarter Zeitung), Jeff Jarvis (Newmark Journalism School CUNY), Tanit Koch (former editor-in-chief Bild)
Nutrition labels for news: how can standards help our media ecosystem?
Joan Donovan (director TSCRP Shorenstein Center), Dan Gillmor (co-founder News Co/Lab University of Arizona), Dwight Knell (program lead Credibility Coalition), Natalie Turvey (president The Canadian Journalism Foundation)
The impact of disinformation on human rights
Alexandre Alaphilippe (executive director EU DisinfoLab), Fanny Hidvegi (European policy manager Access Now), Mira Milosevic (director Global Forum for Media Development), Carolina Rossini (director RightsCon)
MEDIA UNDER ATTACK
Hungary: media in an illiberal democracy
Marius Dragomir (director Center for Media, Data and Society), Marton Gergely (editor HVG), Andras Petho (co-founder and editor Direkt36), Jonathan Stein (managing editor Project Syndicate)
When a state trolls: strategies for responding to online harassment against journalists
Rana Ayyub (investigative journalist and author), Yavuz Baydar (editor-in-chief Ahval), Caroline Muscat (co-founder and editor The Shift News), Courtney Radsch (Committee to Protect Journalists)
Freedom after expression: censorship of the press and violence against journalists in India and Pakistan
Gul Bukhari (The Print), Aliya Salahuddin (freelance journalist), Taha Siddiqui (founder safenewsrooms.org)
Can we tell the truth when covering the Arab world?
Lina Attalah (publisher Mada Masr), Lina El Wardani (Ahram Online), Alia Malek (journalist and author), Bel Trew (The Independent)
Journalists under fire: protecting journalists reporting on corruption in Europe
Cecilia Anesi (co-founder IRPI), Beata Balogova (editor-in-chief SME), Tom Gibson (Committee to Protect Journalists), Pavla Holcova (founder Investiace)
How we can fight the political undermining of the media and promote freedom of expression
Lucy Freeman (CEO Media Legal Defence Initiative), Nishant Lalwani (director Luminate), Maria Ressa (CEO and executive editor Rappler), Laurent Richard (founder & director Freedom Voices Network)
How to fight back against the censors?
Kaya Genc (journalist and author), Rachael Jolley (editor Index on Censorship), Caroline Muscat (co-founder and editor The Shift News), Wana Udobang (freelance journalist & documentary filmmaker)
Jamal Khashoggi: born 13 October 1958 (Medina) murdered 02 October 2018 (Istanbul)
Francesca Caferri (La Repubblica), Iyad El-Baghdadi (fellow Civita), Bobby Ghosh (member of editorial board Bloomberg), Margherita Stancati (Middle East correspondent WSJ)
COMMUNITY & TRUST
Why you should listen to your readers
Catalina Albeanu (digital editor Decât o Revistă), Tomas Bella (co-founder and head of digital Dennik N), Sebastian Esser (founder and editor Krautreporter)
Century of truth: building positive attitudes towards journalists
Anna Babinets (co-founder Slidstvo.info), Tamas Bodoky (editor and director Atlatszo.hu), Jakub Parusinski (chair Media Development Foundation), Drew Sullivan (co-founder and editor OCCRP)
Financial journalism and trust
John Authers (senior editor Bloomberg), Jane Martinson (Department of Journalism City University), Vivian Schiller (CEO Civil Foundation), Tom Standage (deputy editor The Economist)
Membership that matters: it’s not just about money, it’s about trust, transparency and learning
Emily Goligoski (research director Membership Puzzle Project), Maaike Goslinga (De Correspondent), Elizabeth Hansen (research fellow Shorenstein Center, Mary Walter-Brown (founder and CEO News Revenue Hub)
Jumping through hoops to optimize for trust
Kathy English (public editor The Toronto Star), Mathew Ingram (chief digital writer Columbia Journalism Review), Sally Lehrman (Markkula Center for Applied Ethics), Anna Masera (public editor La Stampa)
Extreme engagement lessons from journalism shows around Europe
Riikka Haikarainen (founder Black Box Helsingin Sanomat), Cristian Lupsa (founder and editor Decât o Revistă), Florence Martin-Kessler (founder Live Magazine), Jakob Moll (co-founder and CEO Zetland)
The role of experts in rebuilding trust in journalism
Miguel Castro (senior officer Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation), Mary Fitzgerald (editor-in-chief openDemocracy), Aine Kerr (COO and co-founder Kinzen), Misha Ketchell (editor The Conversation Australia), Stephen Khan (editor-in-chief The Conversation UK), Anya Schiffrin (SIPA Columbia University)
Trust and bias: how often unconscious bias is eroding trust in news
Jane Barrett (global head of multimedia Reuters), Michael Heaver (founder Westmonster.com), Rachel Smolkin (executive editor CNN Politics), Zuzanna Ziomecka (founder and editor-in-chief NewsMavens)
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
#metoo in the global South
Joyce Barnathan (president ICFJ), Mijal Iastrebner (co-founder & managing director SembraMedia), Mercy Juma (BBC Africa), Priya Ramani (Mint)
Telling gender stories innovatively in the #metoo era
Julie Posetti (senior research fellow RISJ), Hannah Storm (director International News Safety Institute), Inga Thordar (executive editor CNN Digital International), Annette Young (France 24 Television), Zuzanna Ziomecka (founder and editor-in-chief NewsMavens)
Amplifying women’s authoritative voice in media
Ros Atkins (creator and presenter Outside Source BBC), Jenny Holm (Internews), Melanie Walker (media development director WAN-IFRA), Laura Zelenko (senior executive editor Bloomberg Editorial)
Suppressed or unbelievable: the polarised perception of Muslim women in Western media
Arifa Akbar (theatre critic The Guardian), Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (journalist and author), Anila Baig (Asian Life), Hani Yousuf (freelance journalist)
Sexual harrassment in the newsroom: #metoo in Egypt
Farah Barqawi (journalist and author), Lina El Wardani (Ahram Online), Fatemah Farag (founder & CEO Welad Elbalad Media Services), Donia Kamal (journalist and author)
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
How organized crime groups plan long-term investments and infrastructure
Pavla Holcova (founder Investiace), Paul Radu (executive director OCCRP), Olesya Shmagun (freelance journalist)
Who owns Hamburg? Local investigative journalism on [your town]’s residential property market
Anne-Lise Bouyer (head of product & technology Correctiv), Justus von Daniels (head of Correctiv.Lokal)
Investigative journalism: a global toolbox
Majdoleen Hasan (Global Investigative Journalism Network), David Kaplan (executive director GIJN), Alastair Otter (managing partner Media Hack Collective)
openMedia: exposing commercial interference in press freedom
James Cusick (editor openMedia), Mary Fitzgerald (editor-in-chief openDemocracy), Deepa Iyer (associate investments Luminate), Martin Moore (King’s College University of London)
The Perugia Principles: new guidelines for journalists working with whistleblowers
Julia Angwin (co-founder and editor-in-chief The Markup), Suelette Dreyfus (University of Melbourne), Frederik Obermaier (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Julie Posetti (senior research fellow RISJ), Gerard Ryle (director ICIJ)
The CUMEX files: the €55 billion fraud
Oliver Schroem (editor-in-chief Correctiv)
Following the dark money fueling European populism
Mary Fitzgerald (editor-in-chief openDemocracy), Peter Geoghegan (investigations editor openDemocracyUK), Sam Jeffers (co-founder Who Targets Me?), Alice Ross (Unearthed Greenpeace UK), Stefano Vergine (freelance journalist)
How to see in the Wilderness of Mirrors
Vian Bakir (School of Music and Media Bangor University), Alexandra Herfroy-Mischler (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Paul Lashmar (deputy head of journalism City University), Josh Meyer (journalist and author)
The business of investigative journalism: best practices for sustainable newsrooms
Emily Goligoski (research director Membership Puzzle Project), Caroline Jarboe (Global Investigative Journalism Network), David Kaplan (executive director GIJN), Ross Settles (JMSC University of Hong Kong)
How newsrooms can incorporate open-source investigation techniques
Alexa Koenig (director Human Rights Center UC Berkeley), Miranda Patrucic (investigative reporter OCCRP), Tom Trewinnard (director of programs Meedan), Nick Waters (Bellingcat)
IN THE NEWSROOM
How to resist the siren call of too many chickensh*t projects
Lyndsey Jones (executive editor The Financial Times), Lucy Kueng (senior research fellow RISJ), Helje Solberg (news director NRK), Inga Thordar (executive editor CNN Digital International)
Information overload: how journalists can cope
John Crowley (digital editor and journalist), Garrett Goodman (VP business development EMEA Wochit), Lucy Kueng (senior research fellow RISJ), Isabelle Roughol (senior editor-at-large LinkedIn), Zuzanna Ziomecka (founder and editor-in-chief NewsMavens)
Rethinking leadership and developing new leaders in media orgs to manage transformation
Jane Barrett (global head of multimedia Reuters), Shazna Nessa (chief visuals editor The Wall Street Journal), Konrad Weber (head of digital strategy SRF), Anita Zielina (director leadership & innovation Newmark J-School)
News orgs that are doing it differently
Julia Angwin (co-founder and editor-in-chief The Markup), David Boardman (chair Lenfest Institute for Journalism), Aron Pilhofer (Temple University), Rosan Smits (editor-in-chief De Correspondent)
AI in the newsroom
Guido Baumhauer (managing director Deutsche Welle), Clara Jiménez Cruz (editor Maldita), Esther Paniagua (freelance journalist), Eduardo Suarez (co-founder Politibot)
AI/AUDIO/VIDEO/VOICE/VR
Everyone is talking about audio but what’s in it for your newsroom?
Mukul Devichand (executive editor Voice and AI BBC), Renée Kaplan (head of audience engagement Financial Times), Nic Newman (senior research fellow RISJ), Olle Zachrison (head of news & current affairs Swedish Radio)
VR in journalism
Ole Krogsgaard (immersive journalism editor Euronews), Gayatri Parameswaran (co-founder NowHere Media), Linda Rath-Wiggins (co-founder and CEO Vragments), Daniela Schulz (Deutsche Welle)
The missing marketplace: monetizing podcasts beyond the 1%
Jake Shapiro (co-founder and CEO RadioPublic)
Constitutional democracy and technology in the age of artificial intelligence
Fabio Chiusi (journalist and author), Paul Nemitz (principal advisor DG Justice European Commission)
BUSINESS MODELS, FUNDING & START-UPS
News start-ups
Mijal Iastrebner (co-founder & managing director SembraMedia), Aine Kerr (COO and co-founder Kinzen), Phillip Smith (Journalism Entrepreneurship Training Company), Alan Soon (co-founder The Splice Newsroom)
Public funding for the media
Simon Galperin (director Community Information Cooperative), Victoria Prest (Local Democracy Reporting Service BBC), Karyn Pugliese (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network), Mike Rispoli (director News Voices Project at Free Press)
Is philanthropy the answer to save journalism?
Indira Lakshmanan (executive editor Pulitzer Center), Craig Newmark (founder Craig Newmark Philanthropies), Alan Rusbridger (principal Lady Margaret Hall Univ. of Oxford), Vivian Schiller (CEO Civil Foundation)
Journalism was trapped in a click bubble: it’s finally bursting
Mario Vasilescu (co-founder and CEO Readefined.com)
What’s next for the business of news?
Ritu Kapur (co-founder and CEO Quintillion Media), Rasmus Nielsen (director RISJ), Rosan Smits (editor-in-chief De Correspondent), Tom Standage (deputy editor The Economist)
Changing the rules of the game: a new generation of media outlets
Christoph Bumb (founder & managing director Reporter.lu), Maaike Goslinga (De Correspondent), Richard Hoechner (head of community relations Republik), Lea Korsgaard (co-founder and editor-in-chief Zetland)
Funders confidential
Miguel Castro (senior officer Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation), Nishant Lalwani (director Luminate), Stephanie Reuter (director Rudolf Augstein Foundation), Adam Thomas (director European Journalism Centre), Sue Valentine (Open Society Foundations)
The business of news: what every journalist should know
Janine Gibson (journalist), Jeff Jarvis (Newmark Journalism School CUNY), Amanda Michel (global director contributions The Guardian), Aron Pilhofer (Temple University)
ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM
Don’t think of a polar bear: media, news and the future of climate change
Mauro Buonocore (Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change), Daisy Dunne (Carbon Brief), Emmanuel Vincent (founder Climate Feedback), Arthur Wyns (Climate Tracker)
The end of the world? Why environmental journalism has never been so vital
Sven Egenter (editor-in-chief Clean Energy Wire), Louise Sarant (freelance journalist), Bel Trew (The Independent), Wim Zwijnenburg (project leader PAX)
Track changes: how to use open-source information to identify and monitor environmental issues
Nick Waters (Bellingcat), Wim Zwijnenburg (project leader PAX)
Climate change: is it time for journalists to do more advocacy?
Richard Black (director Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit), Emma Howard (Unearthed), James Painter (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism), Ingerid Salvesen (freelance journalist)
SOCIAL MEDIA & MESSAGING PLATFORMS
Criticize Facebook? Sure. Leave? Why?
James Ball (journalist and author), Jennifer Brandel (co-founder and CEO Hearken), Jesper Doub (director news partnerships EMEA Facebook), Jeff Jarvis (Newmark Journalism School CUNY), Alan Rusbridger (principal Lady Margaret Hall Univ. of Oxford)
Regulation of information spread on social media: is it being done too hastily?
Emma Goodman (LSE Media Policy Project), Sylvie Kauffmann (editorial director Le Monde), Tanit Koch (former editor-in-chief Bild), Natalie Nougayrède (editorial board member The Guardian), Damian Tambini (Department of Media and Communications LSE)
Digital dominance: the power of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple
Jane Martinson (Department of Journalism City University), Martin Moore (King’s College University of London), Damian Tambini (Department of Media and Communications LSE)
Private messaging apps: best practices for newsrooms
Nat Gyenes (Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society), Alba Mora Roca (executive producer AJ+ Español), Redouane Ramdani (co-founder and CEO Snipfeed), Tom Trewinnard (director of programs Meedan)
Publishers and platforms: strategies for 2019
Janine Gibson (journalist), Renée Kaplan (head of audience engagement Financial Times), Rasmus Nielsen (director RISJ), Maria Ramirez (director of strategy eldiario.es), Inga Thordar (executive editor CNN Digital International)
OTHER TOPICS
Who controls the media in Europe?
Rachael Craufurd Smith (University of Edinburgh), Helen Darbishire (founder and director Access Info Europe), Mattias Erkkila (managing editor Svenska Yle), Alina Ostling (Global Citizenship Observatory)
Measuring what matters: new ways of quantifying the impact of great journalism
Sebastian Esser (founder and editor Krautreporter), Kathryn Geels (director Engaged Journalism Accelerator), Lindsay Green-Barber (founder Impact Architects), Andrew Haeg (founder and CEO GroundSource)
World News Day: a celebration of the power of journalism
Madhav Chinnappa (director news ecosystem development Google), Solomon Elliott (founder The Student View), Natalie Turvey (president The Canadian Journalism Foundation)
Pan-European journalism initiatives
Ryan Heath (political editor Politico Europe), Sylvie Kauffmann (editorial director Le Monde), David Levy (senior research fellow RISJ), Natalie Nougayrède (editorial board member The Guardian)
First lessons from the Journalism Innovation Project
Ritu Kapur (co-founder and CEO Quintillion Media), Aron Pilhofer (Temple University), Julie Posetti (senior research fellow RISJ), Maria Ressa (CEO and executive editor Rappler)
Democracy hacked: political turmoil and information warfare in the digital age
Mathew Ingram (chief digital writer Columbia Journalism Review), Martin Moore (King’s College University of London)
“Fair and balanced” or “False equivalence”?
Indira Lakshmanan (executive editor Pulitzer Center), Craig Newmark (founder Craig Newmark Philanthropies), Jay Rosen (Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute New York Univ.), Rachel Smolkin (executive editor CNN Politics)
Tech companies hiring journalists to… be journalists
Aine Kerr (COO and co-founder Kinzen), Isabelle Roughol (senior editor-at-large LinkedIn), Gabriella Schwarz (managing editor Flipboard)
European right-wing populism
Leonardo Bianchi (VICE Italy), Caterina Froio (Centre for European Studies Sciences Po), Daphne Halikiopoulou (University of Reading)
Ethical and social impact of technology
Gemma Galdon-Clavell (founder Eticas Research and Consulting), Lorena Jaume-Palasí (founder The Ethical Tech Society), Esther Paniagua (freelance journalist)
Memory and justice: the case of Syria
Sara Afshar (founder Afshar Films), Hadi Al Khatib (founder The Syrian Archive), Anwar al-Bunni (human rights lawyer), Francesca Caferri (La Repubblica)
French panorama: what do the yellow vests tell us journalists?
Sylvie Kauffmann (editorial director Le Monde), Pierre Louette (CEO Groupe Les Echos–Le Parisien), Florence Martin-Kessler (founder Live Magazine), Pascal Ruffenach (CEO Groupe Bayard)
Latin America seen from Europe
Jon Lee Anderson (The New Yorker), Irene Caselli (freelance journalist), Carola Solé (freelance journalist), Arturo Wallace (BBC Mundo)
Goodbye news, hello drama: visual forms and post-news journalism
Hossein Derakhshan (fellow Shorenstein Center), Robin Kwong (head of digital delivery The Financial Times), Shazna Nessa (chief visuals editor The Wall Street Journal), Lucy Rohr (Snapchat editor The Economist)
What can blockchain do for news?
Mattias Erkkila (managing editor Svenska Yle), Mark Little (CEO and co-founder Kinzen), Maria Ressa (CEO and executive editor Rappler), Vivian Schiller (CEO Civil Foundation)
Parachute journalism: is development reporting a thing of the past?
Eliza Anyangwe (founder The Nzinga Effect), Paul Myles (head of editorial On Our Radar), Joseph Warungu (director Top Story), Emanuela Zuccalà (freelance journalist and film-maker)
Can thematic newsrooms help fill the public-interest gap?
Emma Howard (Unearthed), Annie Kelly (editor Modern-day Slavery in Focus The Guardian), Nick Mathiason (co-founder Finance Uncovered), Sameer Padania (director Macroscope)
Facing the challenges of a datafied society
Philip Di Salvo (Insitute of Media and Journalism USI), Stefania Milan (University of Amsterdam), Colin Porlezza (Department of Journalism City University), Adrienne Russell (University of Washington)
Inside the mind of a hacker: why all journalists need to care about digital security
Joseph Cox (cyber-security reporter Motherboard)
Pitfalls of over-reacting to populism: the relationship between populism and the media
Charlie Beckett (director Polis London School of Economics), Caterina Froio (Centre for European Studies Sciences Po), Alina Ostling (Global Citizenship Observatory), Jay Rosen (Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute New York Univ.)