Missed this year’s International Journalism Festival?
Three members of our team — Adriana, George and Ben — were there to present our work on the next generation of news consumers and debate whether transparency can be a cure for mis- and disinformation.
They also attended dozens of sessions over the four days and have rounded up a selection of the most compelling talks to watch back in your own time.
From the pioneering role of the impact editor to the pressing challenges faced by journalists in conflict zones, their recommendations provide a window into how journalism is responding to threats in the wider information ecosystem, challenges to existing strategies and business models and the evolving operations to stay relevant.
If you would like to learn more about FT Strategies and how we can support you in your work on these topics, then get in touch with our team here.
Richard Addy (co-founder and director, AKAS), Miriam Wells (impact editor, The Examination)
Miriam was the world’s first impact editor when she took on the role at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and, in this one-on-one chat, she and Richard unpacked the scope and day-to-day responsibilities of the role. She explained how there is a “gap in perception between audience and journalists about whether outlets have an impact” and so it is important for newsrooms to be more intentional in the impact that stories have. The impact editor helps guide those conversations in the newsroom as well as building relationships with organisations that can co-publish or help amplify a story.
Mary Fitzgerald (director of expression, Open Society Foundations), Claudia Baez (Co-founder and director, Cuestión Pública), Juliette Garside (deputy business editor, The Guardian), Daniel Howden, founder and managing director, Lighthouse Reports), Valentine Oberti (co-editor, Mediapart)
This panel covered how investigative journalism can be funded, from The Guardian’s product-specific subscription model to The Lighthouse project’s non-profit, co-publishing structure. Claudia Baez from Colombian outlet Cuestión Pública shared details of their 2018 crowdfunding campaign, which was called “Sabemos lo que hiciste la legislatura pasada” (We know what you did last legislative term) and invited its audience to decide on the politician that they investigated. French investigative outlet Mediapart is financed only by subscribers and has 220k paying readers. “Only our readers can buy us”, co-founder Valentine Oberti said.
Evan Smith (senior advisor, Emmerson Collective), Natalia Andaleva (co-founder and editor-in-chief, Coda Story), Mary Walter-Brown (founder and CEO News Revenue Hub)
This fascinating discussion went in depth about live events as a revenue stream through the lens of TribFest, Texas Tribune’s annual festival, and Zeg, the storytelling event set up by Coda Story in 2019. Both Evan — who founded the Texas Tribune and led as CEO — and Natalia spoke about how live events represented “another platform to distribute content across” and that designing the programme content was “a very editorial process” that was “designed to make news and break news”. It can be lucrative too: after 14 years, revenue from TribFest exceeds $3m a year with around a 50% profit margin; the profits are invested back into the newsroom.
Ed Bice (CEO and board chair, Meedan), Maria Ressa (co-founder and CEO, Rappler), Vivian Schiller (VP and executive director, Aspen Digital), Maggie Farley (senior director, innovation and Knight Fellowships, ICFJ) Ritu Kapur (co-founder and managing director, Quint Digital Media)
The panel had a frank — and at times depressing — conversation about the rise of AI in various guises during elections. Vivian Schiller of the Aspen Institute called to mind incidents in Indonesia and Slovakia but suggested that data about the impact of these incidents on the outcome of the election was limited. Researcher access to platform data was vital, she noted.
Ed Bice, CEO of Meedan, noted how the vast challenge of addressing misinformation at scale and the need for “projects that bypass governments, connect media and civil society and improve information landscape”. He gave the example of election programmes in Mexico and Brazil, in which fact-checkers use technology and shared data and content to amplify trusted information across messaging platforms.
Olga Rudenko (editor-in-chief, Kyiv Independent), Sevgil Musaieva (editor-in-chief, Ukrayinska Pravda), Natalie Sedletska (editor-in-chief and host, Schemes)
One of the most impactful sessions of the festival saw three amazing female editors talk through their experience of the first two years of the Ukraine-Russia war. Together, Olga, Sevgil and Natalie explained how “journalism stopped performing its watchdog function” as the priority became reporting on the story of the war rather than undertaking corruption investigations.
However, as time went on, this changed: Ukraine’s largest news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda looked into an official who lied about Russian war crimes. Sevgil and Natalie also talked about how their teams were put under pressure by the Ukrainian government, leading to various outlets looking into reported government surveillance of journalists. It was a reminder of the ethical challenges of reporting on corruption, particularly when everyone is on the same side
Heather Gilberds (deputy director, Center for International Media Assistance), Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro (co-founder and CEO, National Trust for Local News), Harlan Mandel (CEO, Media Development Investment Fund) and Jakub Parusinski (director, The Fix)
The panel explored private and commercial capital as a route to funding journalism. Heather Gilberds, introducing the panel, explained that journalism has limited access to official development budgets (0.3% of the total budget in the US) and that that pool is unlikely to increase given other competing priorities (such as the environment and refugee crises around the world).
The panellists shared some very practical advice to organisations: accept grants (they are free money) but treat them as seed capital and non-recurring, selling equity can provide access to important commercial advice from investors, media can support media when it comes to investments (e.g. media companies buying minority stakes in media-tech) and media executives need to change the narrative about the viability of the business model (positive outlooks and clear explanations).
Styli Charalambous (co-founder and CEO, Daily Maverick) and Lea Korsgaard (co-founder and editor-in-chief, Zetland)
This was a brilliant, practical session about how to build truly user-centric journalism and business models. Styli shared a ‘staircase’ framework that shows the connections between Daily Maverick’s key metrics (that are used daily) and their purpose (‘what journalism is for’). This conceptual framework can prove a vital tool for organisations that are struggling to connect their business model and editorial mission.
Lea, on a practical level, explained how news media organisations can get closer to their audiences. Firstly, Zetland starts with its member's needs and purposes - as opposed to starting from the perspective of the product. This allowed Zetland to quickly realise that 75% of their audience actually wanted to consume journalism in an audio form, a perspective that has since majorly informed their content strategy. Another great tactic that Zetland has adopted is using members/ambassadors as a meaningful way to achieve organic growth and overcome member stagnation. As you can see from the chart, this has proven successful on multiple occasions and often exceeds their original goals.
Sessions we'll be watching back
If you would like to learn more about FT Strategies and how we can support you in your work on these topics, then get in touch with our team here.
About the authors
Adriana is a Director at FT Strategies. She has over 25 years experience in media and telecoms consulting, especially in the areas of M&A, opportunity assessment, and product strategy.
Ben is a Manager at FT Strategies with extensive experience working with global publishers. He previously worked on the Audience Diversity Academy to help six EMEA publishers diversify their audience and build engagement among target segments. Prior to joining FT Strategies, Ben was an independent newsroom and content strategy consultant. He has ten years of experience in newsroom transformation and audience development from his time working at The Guardian and The Times.
George is Head of Insights at FT Strategies and an expert in the media industry and its accompanying business models. George has led and contributed to a number of high-profile projects including the News Sustainability Project, the National Theatre and various leading European news publishers. Prior to joining FT Strategies, George spent 4 years guiding FT's data strategy and their future approach to marketing & advertising. George holds an MBA from IE Business School and is a regular speaker at media events (including the JournalismAI Launch Event 2023).
