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.
The campaign to free Jimmy Lai. How a globe-trotting attorney is trying to win the release of the famed Hong Kong publisher
The BBC is in a fight for its survival. The BBC only has itself to blame for its handling of a serious error in a documentary on Trump. But its demise—as the US media landscape shows—would leave us all far worse off. By Alan Rusbridger
From taxes to news: how Denmark is rethinking public funding for private publishers. The Nordic country is creating a model to decide which outlets should receive subsidies, how and on what basis. Rasmus Nielsen explains how it could work
Viktor Orbán’s Hail Mary. I was editor-in-chief of Hungary’s most-read independent daily until a pro-government media network bought the newspaper. It’s the fifth time in thirty years that politics has cost me my job—and it’s all about Orbán holding on to power. By Ivan Zsolt Nagy
Journalism & Science Alliance awards €1 million in its first round. The first round of grantees brings together 24 winning projects from 15 European countries, showcasing where investigative journalism meets science
In Sri Lanka, The Examiner embraces a new vision for journalism. Launched in September 2025 by a team of three, the brand new outlet employs a digital model focused on subscriptions. They currently receive no money from advertising and are committed to maintaining their editorial independence. “You, dear subscriber, pay our bills,” reads the website
Nearly nine in ten organizations now use AI — but few have scaled it to capture full enterprise value. In McKinsey’s latest Global Survey on the state of AI, Alex Singla, Alexander Sukharevsky, Lareina Yee, and coauthors explore how leading companies are turning AI potential into real performance gains.
JournalismAI Innovation Challenge call for applications is open. The programme will fund projects from small and medium-sized publishers that seek to enhance and improve audience intelligence and revenue growth. Deadline: 3 December
‘Censorship disguised as law’: investigative journalists in Peru push back against government crackdown. Media organisations are attempting to overturn a law that could curtail crucial foreign funding
The ever-powerful liberal mainstream media that is no longer liberal, mainstream or particularly powerful. The ‘liberal mainstream media bias’ critique has lost its explanatory power because the world that produced it has dissolved. By Peter Erdelyi
The Daily Aus opens Gen Z corporate advisory shop. Digital youth publisher The Daily Aus has launched a strategic advisory business in a move to capitalise on growing demand from Australia’s biggest companies for advice on how to engage young people. The advisory arm is called Futureproof, and will sit inside the publisher’s existing business
More than $6 million to support local news and information in the borderlands. MacArthur Foundarion announced more than $6 million in new funding to eight organizations that are working to address the unique challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border
Chatbots are terrible at providing accurate news. But compared to what? And what should we do about it? By Gina Chua
When your local reporter needs the same protection as a war correspondent. Five months of covering ICE raids taught our small LA newsroom hard lessons — and we’re still figuring out how to sustain it
Photo credit: Caoilfhionn Gallagher at #ijf25 by Diego Figone