The International Journalism Festival weekly round-up. Stay up to date by subscribing to our newsletter, by following us on Instagram or Telegram, or by joining us on Bluesky.
USAID and the media in a ‘time of monsters’. What the aid funding freeze means for independent journalism around the world. Olga Rudenko will be a #ijf25 speaker
“It’s a shock” – end of US aid threatens future of independent media outlets in Balkans and Eastern Europe. The Fix spoke to three independent media outlets – in Ukraine, Moldova, and North Macedonia – to see the impacts of the end of USAID programs and how they are trying to fill the gap. Anna Babinets will be a #ijf25 speaker
Mexican journalist under federal protection shot dead. Unidentified attackers shot and killed reporter Calletano de Jesús Guerrero while he was in the parking lot of the San Antonio de Padua parish church in Teoloyucan. Guerrero, 57, had been under federal protection since 2014 because of threats relating to his journalism
Protecting a free and independent press. Kathy Im, Director, Journalism and Media, shares context for the MacArthur Foundation’s growing focus on press freedom and safety as journalists face increasing threats. Kathy Im will be a #ijf25 speaker
MIF member spotlight: Committee to Protect Journalists. In this Q&A, we sit down with Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the CPJ, to explore the organization’s insights on the state of press freedom, the critical role of funding in supporting independent journalism, and the unique threats posed by a shifting political landscape in the U.S. and abroad. Jodie Ginsberg and Nina Sachdev will be #ijf25 speakers
A thousand days of Israeli impunity, still no justice for Shireen Abu Akleh. A full 1,000 days since Israeli forces killed journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, no one has been held accountable despite efforts for justice
What can business leaders learn from modern sports? In a new article, McKinsey’s Bob Sternfels and Daniel Pacthod present five leadership practices of great athletes that business leaders can adapt to their own work.
Call for proposals: strengthening independent public interest journalism in Europe. Civitates is launching an open a call for proposals for independent media outlets, welcoming proposals from media organisations registered in Hungary, Poland, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Croatia
The critical role support organizations can play in maturing the local news field. As local news in the U.S. has experienced a precipitous decline, philanthropy has increasingly played a vital role in funding local news businesses and organizations offering varying support to these news businesses, including revenue strategy, technical expertise, and leadership training. Most of these support organizations rely heavily on philanthropic funding. Darryl Holliday will be a #ijf25 speaker
Q&A: Lucas Graves on Meta’s decision to shut down its global fact-checking program. In an effort to make sense of this financial blow to the fact-checking community, Tow research assistant Kaylee Williams chatted with Lucas Graves, professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Lucas Graves will be a #ijf25 speaker
More than $6 million in support of climate journalism. The MacArthur Foundation today announced more than $6 million in grants to support the growing field of climate journalism in the United States. This funding for independent newsrooms and organizations that support environmental journalism will help inform the public about the complexities of climate change and the economic opportunities of the clean energy transition
Transforming longform text into multimedia using generative AI. How gen AI tools can be used to translate long articles into more accessible multimedia presentations. Jaemark Tordecilla will be a #ijf25 speaker
How to protect democracies from falsehoods? By empowering the young with open-source investigation skills. “If anyone with a smartphone can publish, they should also be able to verify,” argue Bellingcat’s founder Eliot Higgins and Dr Natalie Martin in this piece
Image credit: screenshot from DW News report