Perugia International Journalism Festival 2022: Schedule for IMS Panel Discussions

The International Journalism Festival, being held in Perugia, Italy from 6-10 April 2022, attracts journalists and students, as well as scholars and representatives from media outlets to a conference offering free access to keynote addresses, workshops, panels and discussions on media in society. More than 650 speakers – of whom 49% are women – will take part in about 280 sessions. Each session of these sessions will be live-streamed, with the on-demand video available on the festival website immediately afterwards. All festival sessions will be free entry for all attendees, without any need for registration.

”The power of collaboration: The Febrayer Network of Independent Arab Media.”

Thursday, 7 April 2022. Time: 1400-1500

With political challenges throughout the Arab region, a number of independent media outlets have risen and taken an active progressive political position while combining that with an experimental approach to journalism. The different media outlets found each other and began figuring out how working together could improve the quality and impact of their work. This panel will address how these various media groups have come together. They will also discuss what sorts of projects they jointly developed and how they intend to collaborate in the future.

Lina Attalah, Hala Droubi, Michael Jensen and Karam Nachar

“Sex and violence through a constructive lens?”

Thursday, 7 April 2022. Time: 10:30-11:30

How to use constructive journalism approaches to report on the world’s most challenging and divisive issues. The panel will explore a training and mentoring model developed by Constructive Institute and International Media Support for news rooms globally. Insights will be offered from a project created by innovative Indonesian news media Magdalene.

Devi Asmarani, Henrik Grunnet and Cynara Vetch

“New revenues, new freedoms: business model innovations from politically pressured contexts.”

Thursday, 7 April 2022. Time: 10:30-11:30

The overall economic reliance of journalism in politically pressured contexts is on donor funding.  Time and again, published analysis and reports say weak markets, soft corruption, and apathetic audiences make business the biggest challenge. It is. And new economic challenges, that have emerged as a result of Covid 19 and hit women journalists hardest, have pressured donors to revisit their priorities and repurpose their funds. Innovation and creative business models for sustainability need illumination. Despite exhausting exogenous and internal challenges, there are compelling pockets of innovation for viable business models in politically pressured contexts. Belarusian Citydog.by was founded in 2012. Leveraging expertise as a creative agency, it has pioneered new native advertising formats, and developed new technology verticals. Daraj has harnessed influencers in the Arab world on social media to drive growth and revenues. Al Mamlaka TV, Jordan’s first public service news station, achieves effective reach and quality engagement with a fragmented audience to increase earnings and achieve sustainable growth. This all-female panel shares frontline victories not just for journalism but for a resilient business model against the odds.

Lara Ayoub, Clare Cook, Alia Ibrahim and Iryna Vidanava

“Putting the #hashtag into hard news.”

Saturday, 9 April 2022. Time: 10:30-11:30

In a bid to reach younger audiences on social media with compelling and innovatively told public interest journalism, IMS has struck a partnership with the NGO Hashtag Our Stories. Using the same high editorial standards as IMS has always promoted, and which are also used by Hashtag Our Stories, the partnership is intended to engage young people with fact checked hard news content from marginalised and conflict torn communities. Reaching this younger demographic group has long been a challenge for traditional media searching for innovative storytelling forms that make sense to young people in the social media world of clickable and ephemeral formats. In response to the challenge of reaching young people, IMS and Hashtag Our Stories have teamed up to put the #hashtag into hard news by striking a balance between flashy social media and the authenticity of conflict sensitive journalism. Hashtag Our Stories has empowered more than 10,000 people in 140 countries to make videos with phones and wearable cameras.

Clare Cook, Henrik Grunnet and Yusuf Omar

IMS partners will also be participating in additional panels:

“Changing the world: journalists or activists – or both?”

Thursday, 7 April 2022. Time: 09:00-10:00

How reconcilable are journalism and activism, especially in grassroots media? This panel takes a look at how newsrooms determine the boundaries in their work while maintaining a high ethical standard, and panel members will also offer insights into how these at times conflicting ideas can be navigated.

Isam Uraiqat, co-founder and editor at IMS-partner Al-Hudood will be joining the panel.

“The development and future of Syria’s emerging media”

Thursday 7 April 2022. Time: 10:30-11:30

The Syrian uprising of 2011 (and the subsequent conflict) marked a fundamental breaking point in the informational environment of the country. The collapse of the Syrian regime’s authority over large parts of the country was paralleled by a collapse of its stranglehold on the public sphere. In the years following 2011, a multitude of new journalistic and media initiatives flourished inside Syria and later in exile in neighboring countries. The growth of this sector reached its zenith in 2014-15 with the emergence of more than 90 new media outlets — radios, newspapers, magazines, and online news agencies — often made possible by support of media development aid. Following that initial burst of creativity, a process of consolidation, institutionalization, and professionalization has ensued. Today, the emerging Syrian media sphere lays claim to a number of well-established, albeit fewer, independent media outlets. They are now able to serve up high-quality and reliable journalism for Syrians inside and outside the country as well as for an international audience. The aim of this panel is to trace the emergence of this media sphere, reflect on its current place in Syrian society, and its potential and future development.

Rula Asad, Executive director of IMS-partner Syrian Female Journalists Network, will be joining the panel.

“Podcasting in the Global South”

Saturday 9 April 2022. Time:18:30-19:30

Creating a podcast audience in the Global South isn’t easy. This session will hear from people who are already doing it and ask what the challenges are, why it’s important and how they did it. In the Arab world, podcasts allow people to talk about taboo topics and become parts of a larger storytelling community. Many of the Global South countries have very rich oral storytelling cultures, which are now moving into podcasts. Together with the guests, we’ll look at how podcasts are developing across the African continent, the Arab world and Latin America. These are some of the fastest growing podcast audiences worldwide.

Ramsey Tesdell, CEO at podcast network – and IMS-partner – SOWT, will be joining the panel.