From AI to diversity to business models – catch up on IJF24

The International Journalism Festival is unique. It brings together more than 3000 participants from all over the world to explore what’s happening – and what’s next – in journalism. 

Held in the medieval city of Perugia, it’s free to attend and there’s no registration: you just turn up. The atmosphere is welcoming and friendly. It’s an opportunity to meet and share ideas with hundreds of speakers and panellists, and immerse yourself in the program.

There are big queues to get into almost every session, but you can watch the entire conference live or catch up later on YouTube. 

Top themes in 2024

Getting into your session meant queuing for up to half an hour! But it was all worth it once you’re inside – even if you had to stand up. (Image: Ascanio Pepe)

Artificial intelligence was a headline topic, with 13 sessions looking at AI’s opportunities and threats compared to just five last year.

Key topics in storytelling innovation included sessions on covering warzones and elections, investigative and data journalism, film-making, podcasting and audio, and climate journalism. There were also multiple sessions on approaches to journalism such as constructive, solutions and collaborative reporting.

Other sessions dealt with challenges to the industry as a whole – including business models and funding, newsroom management, local news, strategies for diversity and inclusion, decolonising journalism, the need for legal protections for reporters and whistleblowers, and workplace policies on journalist safety and well-being.

Walkleys at IJF24

Panellists (L-R) Corinne Podger from the Walkley Foundation, Dina Aboughazala from Egab in Egypt, and Lisa Urlbauer from the Bonn Institute. (Image: Bartolomeo Rossi)

Corinne Podger, who manages programs and education at the Walkley Foundation, was part of a panel asking whether a solutions approach – which has been used to cover problems ranging from plastic pollution to mental health – might be applied to attempts to solve journalism’s business model problem. You can watch the session here:

Quick reads

Get up to speed with takeaways from these industry thought leaders:

• #ijf24 – the best yet: A look back at the Festival from the organisers, with links to video playlists, image galleries, and what’s planned for 2025. 
• International Journalism Festival 2024: what we learned in Perugia about the future of news: The team from the Reuters Institute highlights the inclusion of AI and audio in the festival program; threats to press freedom posed by AI regulation; the need for public service media to support community-building; the post-Twitter social media landscape; the need for innovative approaches to investigative reporting to reach a wider range of audiences; and what to do about the growing problem of news avoidance.
• Notes from the International Journalism Festival: Jonathan Heawood from the Public Interest News Foundation highlights the value of live events; the moves by Microsoft and other big tech firms to occupy the industry vacuum left by Facebook; what characterises audiences who reject news avoidance; the global state of journalism philanthropy; and opportunities to fund journalism through private capital. 
• Key learnings from the International Journalism Festival: Antonio Zappulla, CEO of Thomson Reuters Foundation highlights sessions on AI disinformation during elections; newsrooms working on purpose-built AI systems; legislation to force big tech to pay for news; media outlets operating in exile; and attacks on media freedom.
• Post IJF24 thoughts about the future of the news ecosystem: Madhav Chinnappa is the former Director of News Ecosystem at Google, and his ‘in conversation’ session drew a huge crowd. His blog looks at what news organisations that have partnered with Google and Meta have learned that might inform collaborations with other big tech firms – and how news outlets can approach these partnerships into the future.

Above all, IJF is a place to share ideas, make connections, and meet old friends. (Image: Bartolomeo Rossi)