At the International Journalism Festival in Perugia last week, there were several sessions of insightful conversations by brilliant journalists. While we were not physically present, we made sure to follow a lot of the sessions made available virtually.
So far we have followed several discussions but there are five important ones that we think Nigerian journalists or media houses need to immediately catch up with. Most importantly because the conversations do not come in the form of the usual handout of “what we think will work” but clear disclosure sessions of “what is working for us and others” and have proven to be impactful and rewarding. There are special sessions that you can identify with because of the relatability
First, is the Empowering journalism through user-centric models session, using lessons from Daily Maverick in South Africa and Denmark’s Zetland user-centric models to discuss how media platforms are sustainably doing journalism.
It was a full disclosure session by the co-founders, Lea Korsgaard of Zetland and Styli Charalambous of Daily Maverick where they walked participants through their blueprint and answered questions asked.
Charalambous exposed, visually and with adequate explanation, how Daily Maverick started out with the task of clearly defining what their journalism is for which aided them in defining a clear framework of what their kind of journalism will be, their vision, mission and goals as an organisation. Korsgaard also explained how Zetland built its operation on an original set of six core principles which revolves around serving their users primarily, and in a way that is enabling and clear to them.
One thing similar across both platforms is their clearly defined model set around satisfying their users and how they continuously improve it with regular feedback from them. You can watch the session here or follow our Saving Journalism playlist which has this video and other sessions on how to do sustainable journalism.
We also particularly enjoyed the session moderated by Fatu Ogwuche, which had journalists like Mercy Abang, Johanna Rüdiger and Enrique Anarte Lazo who are innovatively using social platforms for news propagation which is more aptly and recently called news influencing. During the session titled The Rise of News Influencers: What Journalists Must Learn the journalists used their work to expose how they were able to go viral and reach younger news consumers with even hard news on social platforms typical misinformation and disinformation sharing.
Rudiger and Lazo’s viral Tiktok video content that has gained large communities of followers who see it as a fun and relatable alternative to the serious and gloom-like content on traditional news platforms was used to show how journalists can innovative beat news avoidance and reach a new audience base.
Abang explained that the lack of relatability and representation for what the younger generation of news consumers want in the news content and presentation of legacy media is what makes them turn to the new media and now news influencers for their preferred version of the news.
A great deal of lessons are available here for Nigerian media houses and journalists who are still battling with the news avoidance phenomenon.
You can watch the session here or in our How to News playlist which has this video and other sessions explaining how to reach more people and make more impact with the news.
Data journalism sessions of the SIgma Awards were also ones to immerse in for journalists all over the world. Particularly because it was centered on the outstanding data journalism project of the 10 winners of the 2024 Sigma awards. There was a deep data dive session moderated by Joshua Olufemi of Dataphyte, and the pulling data together session moderated by the University of Stanford’s Cheryl Phillips.
The one we most enjoyed was the session on investigating stories hiding in plain sight, moderated by Marianne Bouchart. It was particularly interesting because the speakers on the panel used their work to explain how a personal journalist’s observation of anomalies in society and his willingness to investigate can lead to impactful journalism work.
Also worthy of note is that the tools and concepts used to gather data and investigate the stories were not high-end expensive or sophisticated tools, they are ones that newsrooms and journalists have easy access to. Nigerian journalists and media houses need to watch this video and other similar ones we already curated into the Data & Investigative Journalism playlists.
Panel Sessions on Artificial Intelligence (AI) were in abundance at the festival, in fact, our playlist dedicated to this had the most videos. Journalists and journalism institutions explored various aspects of the transformative tool as it concerns journalism. From its rise to its use, in news and newsrooms, for journalists and even in elections, to regulations and other pertinent concerns, brilliant resource persons explored and exposed the intricacies of AI.
One particular session focused on lessons journalists can take from the AI in Journalism Challenge that saw a number of small newsrooms apply AI in their workflow. This session is very important for newsrooms and journalists in Nigeria to learn from as it exposes in detail how AI can be used innovatively to transform workflows, boost delivery and efficiency in news production and even improve the news experience for news audiences. Watch this video which is at the top of our AI in Journalism playlist
The festival did not shy from discussing issues As it concerns the journalists. There were sessions about issues around journalist’s welfare, safety and how to fight against press repression tactics like SLAPP and even how to wade through extreme cases of being taken hostage, especially in this time of war.
There was a particular session on safety guidelines for journalists and even editors, a timely and important resource for Nigeria especially in cognisance of the recent happenings in the media space as media freedom continues to decline in the country.
Worthy of note is that our curated lists and playlist are our attempt at bringing crucial conversation around the development of journalism at the 2024 International Journalism Festival in Perugia closer to you and they should introduce you to the world of rich knowledge sharing typical of an international gathering of journalists like that. It should however not define or limit your exploration and engagement with other provided content. There are many other sessions important for you to watch and gain from beyond the five videos listed.
