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This is The Outlook, IPI’s media innovation newsletter, where we take a look at strategies and tools for innovation and business development, and learn from newsrooms that are implementing them.
In this week’s newsletter, we will talk about our upcoming event Media Innovation Festival, and about our brand new call for applications for the Local News Accelerator programme.
Innovation in journalism goes to Sarajevo
The Media Innovation Festival takes place in Sarajevo on 22 to 24 May, 2024, and will host a series of engaging panels designed to address current challenges and opportunities in the media landscape. It will happen alongside IPI’s 2024 World Congress.
Among the highlighted sessions is Investigative journalism’s profit puzzle: Going beyond breaking even, which aims to explore sustainable business models in investigative journalism. This panel will provide insights into balancing financial viability while maintaining a mission to deliver impactful reporting – a discussion that does not seem to get old, especially under an uncertain economic landscape.
Another panel, Bursting bubbles: Feminist media innovate to reach wider audiences, will focus on how feminist media are breaking barriers to expand their reach and influence, as those media organizations strive to appeal to broader demographics.
The festival also includes the discussion Pivot under pressure: How media innovate through crisis, where journalists will give first-hand accounts about news organizations tackling sudden and protracted forms of crisis and developing strategies around opportunities, mitigation and resilience, sharing experiences of managing news organizations through crises, from conflict and climate change.
The Revenue Roadmap: An insider’s playbook to driving impact and paying for your journalism will share IPI’s guide to help news organizations identify, test and deliver opportunities for diversifying revenue that pay for your quality, independent journalism. You can already check out the summary of the guide on our website. We will soon be sharing the full version too, so keep an eye on this newsletter.
Finally, the panel AI’s impact on journalism: Evaluating risks and opportunities will assess how artificial intelligence is reshaping journalism and news strategies, while Audience-first journalism: Innovative strategies to build trust in your brand will highlight the importance of audience engagement and trust-building, which are crucial for sustaining a loyal and active readership.
>> You can check the full event schedule here.
>> Watch the panels live on IPI’s YouTube channel.
The Local News Accelerator is back
This is the second edition of the programme, which offers personalized advisory services, tools and guidance to help you reach audiences and empower your teams to grow into an engaged, responsive media brand during and after the accelerator.
We hope to receive applications from small and mid-sized local news organizations that are just starting their ventures or that are pivoting their businesses.
💡The numbers: In 2023, we received almost 150 applications for this programme, and 12 news organizations were selected. Learn more about them and some of their success stories.
>> Apply now to the Local News Accelerator
Opportunities
- The Climate Change Media Partnership COP29 Reporting Fellowship will cover the travel costs of selected journalists that want to cover the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP29), in Azerbaijan, during November 11-22, 2024. Deadline is June 6.
- The Earth Journalism Network (EJN) is offering two organizational grants of around $20,000 each, in order to boost media and journalism initiatives that enhance coverage and spark public dialogue on infrastructure development in Southeast Asia. Deadline is June 9.
