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.
Surveillance secrets. A trove of surveillance data challenges what we thought we knew about location tracking tools, who they target and how far they have spread. An investigative collaboration between Lighthouse Reports, paper trail media and 12 other media partners
An AI Enlightenment? The consumer experience of AI-mediated news. What would an ideal AI-mediated information ecosystem look like from the perspective of a consumer? How would it feel? Part one of a four-part essay series by David Caswell
Why the future of journalism is still human. On the Newsroom Robots podcast Nikita Roy interviews Vilas Dhar, President of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, one of the world’s foremost philanthropies advancing AI for public good
Designing clarity: labeling AI in news. Design principles from a news company on showing readers when AI is in play
How non-coding journalists can build web scrapers with AI (examples and prompts included). The Pulitzer Center data team has prepared a new toolkit
Introducing the News Atom: a metadata blueprint for journalism in the age of AI. The News Atom provides a way for the news industry to structure, define and embed its own meaning rather than having that meaning imposed by external systems
Humanity AI launches $500 million commitment to mobilize civil society in shaping the future of AI. Ten U.S. foundations – co-chaired by Omidyar Network and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation – will drive new investments toward establishing an AI future where people and communities can flourish
Discover how top CEOs thrive in every phase of leadership. In A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership, McKinsey senior partners and bestselling authors Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, Scott Keller, and Vik Malhotra share how the world’s top CEOs master each stage of the journey.
Reuters investigation: Assad government secretly moved mass grave to cover up killings. From 2019 to 2021, Syria’s authoritarian government carried out a secret operation to move tens of thousands of bodies from the exposed Qutayfah mass grave to a hidden site in the desert east of Damascus
Palestinian journalist Saleh Aljafarawi killed by armed group in Gaza City. Aljafarawi, a 28-year-old freelance Palestinian journalist who gained prominence on social media for his war coverage, was shot and killed on 12 October 2025, reportedly by members of an armed Palestinian group in Gaza City, just days after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement
China: 90 NGOs demand the release of Gui Minhai on the 10th anniversary of his kidnapping. On 17 October 2015, Chinese state agents abducted Gui Minhai while he was in Thailand on what was supposed to be a short vacation. He has yet to return to Hong Kong or his family in Sweden
The state of product management in journalism. The results of the 2025 News Product Alliance census, a comprehensive look at how product practices are shaping the future of journalism
New EU-funded independent frontline and investigative journalism project launches in Ukraine. FAIR Media Ukraine is a two-year €3 million project implemented by Internews International in partnership with the Media Development Foundation
What can news publishers learn from creators? Don’t leave money on the table and think outside the box about business models
Media Confidential. On the first anniversary of the launch of London Centric, its founder and owner Jim Waterson joins Alan and Lionel to talk about the new London-focused publication
A united media stands up against the Pentagon’s press restrictions. In a notable united stand, U.S. media organizations from across the political spectrum have banded together to fight back against the latest restrictions on their coverage
Photo credit: Gabriel Geiger at #ijf24 by Francesco Cuoccio