– h
Mit Festivalticket
With Erol Gurian
"The best camera is the one that’s with you" is a photographers’ motto. In other words: smartphone cameras are democratizing visual reporting. You no longer need an expensive professional camera to create high-quality documentary images and you don't need a university degree to become visually literate. The documentary instinct and the smartphone camera give everyone a visual voice.
– h
Design Offices
Mit Festivalticket
With Lisa Urlbauer
Discover how to kickstart constructive journalism in an engaging deep dive workshop led by Lisa Urlbauer, Head of Journalism Training at the Bonn Institute. Dive into best practices, gain essential know-how, and share experiences to spark constructive change in your newsroom.
– h
Münsterplatz
Organizer: City of Bonn, Bonn Tourism
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Ellen Heinrichs, Markus Beckedahl und Sham Jaff
- More details will follow soon -
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Shirish Kulkarni und Mattia Peretti
Many marginalised people and communities feel let down by journalism. So how do we better understand what they really want and need from us? “News for All” is a radical collaboration between BBC News and Media Cymru, that’s putting those who are badly served by journalism at the centre of the design process, rather than on the outside. In this session, you’ll hear how prioritising connection, collaboration and care for communities is pointing the way to a reimagination of journalism for everyone.
– h
// Museum der Zukunft
Mit Festivalticket
With Priti Salian
For years, the news media has ignored persons with disabilities and their accessibility requirements. “Disabled people are not our audience,” is a common excuse. “Accessibility is expensive” is another. But with 16% of the world’s population recorded as disabled and many more uncounted and invisible, disability is more common than we think. Join my workshop to understand how news content should and can better reflect and serve the world’s largest minority.
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Styli Charalambous
Sustainability is the biggest issue facing journalism today. Big problems need bold solutions and the way we are approaching the challenges won't help us. These brave and left-field moves can help slay the sustainability monster.
– h
// Seminarraum 1
Mit Festivalticket
With Jean-Christoph Boulanger und Sebastian Turner
Redundancies, disappearing titles, the end of the free web model, fake news, algorithms and AI... There's no denying that the press is at a turning point. What path should we follow to overcome this challenge? Sebastian Turner, publisher of Table.Media, a fast-growing BtoB online media on politics based in Berlin, and Jean-Christophe Boulanger, publishing director of Contexte, another a fast-growing BtoB online media on politics, based in Paris and Brussels, both believe that the solution will emerge from a new way of practicing journalism: “deep journalism”.
– h
Münsterplatz
// Green Tent
Mit Festivalticket
With Rina Tsubaki und Rahel Könen
How do social media and journalistic practices on these platforms contribute to the polarisation of public debates on issues like forest fires, wildlife protection, and rewilding? Do social media polarise debates, or do they bring different communities of actors together? Most importantly, what do our online mapping analyses tell us about the media's role when climate-linked events unfold? This workshop will explore the materials from our research to close-read, co-interpret, and collectively reflect on “what happens” on social media platforms at different levels of engagement.
– h
// Workshop I
Mit Festivalticket
With Prof. Dr. Katja Ehrenberg, Margarida Alpuim, Ellen Heinrichs und Peter Lindner
Come with us on a journey exploring Bonn Institute’s recent book publication „Psychology for Journalists”! In a blend of impulse talk and experiential learning, you get a sneak preview on principles of information processing, biases in judgment, and how these affect engagement. We provide research-based practical tools that facilitate a constructive mindset in daily work and empower journalists and audiences alike. The session is presented by the authors, who are happily available for discussions afterwards. Ellen Heinrichs, Bonn Institute founder and CEO, will give an introduction.
– h
Haus der Bildung
// 1.61
With Tetiana Gordiienko, Anna Ovcharenko, Alona Yatsyna, Yelyzaveta Kovtun und Oleh Dereniuha
MDF, a leading media development organization in Ukraine, has executed 75+ projects for local media outlets since 2013. Currently the organization is working with around 80 local media outlets from all regions of Ukraine including Eastern and Southern regions on capacity building programs. Our deep regional insight, including war-affected areas, adds unique value to the international for International audience highlighting Ukrainian media resilience.
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Stefan ten Teije
Smartocto is a smart content analytics system. It's built with and designed for newsrooms, storytellers and other content creators. Our mission is to help you make your news stories more relevant, impactful and profitable. Get from data to action with our smart tips and suggestions and connect the dots between you and your audience. It’s analytics made easy.
– h
// Workshop II
Mit Festivalticket
With Çağrı Özdemir, Özge Artunç und Seyit Mirik
+90, part of DW, champions constructive journalism in Turkey, is merging tradition and modernity in a tough media landscape. We're innovating story formats to spotlight solutions and inspire change. By countering news fatigue with engaging, interactive narratives, we're reviving interest in context and in-depth content. Our approach fosters trust, hope, and proactive dialogue. We'll share our impact, highlighting co-jo's role in a more inclusive, action-driven Turkish media.
– h
Haus der Bildung
// 1.59
With Julia Minner
Gen Z is flocking to podcasts. And while listenership is on the rise, podcasting is also an effective way to enable young people to actively engage with the media. In this session, DW Akademie will share learnings from the PodcasTrainings it has designed for young people and implemented in different parts of the world. You’ll also learn how to use the MethodKit for Podcasts - an analogue and digital tool that can be used across every aspect of your podcast — from development to production to distribution to marketing or from audience growth to content ideation and more.
– h
Haus der Bildung
// 1.55
With Egbert van Wyngaarden
Newsworthy is often what deviates from established norms. But what happens when change in business, society and politics becomes so rapid that is it no longer possible to say what’s ‘normal’? In a world, where fixed points of reference begin to shift, "Future Affairs" aims to redefine how we understand and report on topics and events. Rather than relying solely on historical context, “Future Affairs” explores how to interpret them through the lens of a potentially better world to come.
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Kate Sherman
History's biggest global election year has forced us to recognize that audiences want more from their election coverage than just horse-race journalism. Readers crave content that enables agency and earns back their trust in the news.In this talk, we’ll introduce 5 ways to fulfill these needs from our latest whitepaper, “Building Audience Trust and Engagement this Election Season with Live Blogs.”
– h
// Workshop II
Mit Festivalticket
With Mara Bierbach, Lisa Urlbauer, Alena Zhabina und Zobaer Ahmed
How can news organizations foster constructive journalism? DW, Germany's international broadcaster, launched a one of a kind training program for its journalists in partnership with the Bonn Institute in 2023. At this talk, fellows Alena Zhabina and Zobaer Ahmed will share what they learned about reporting constructively, including in a fast-paced news environment and on difficult issues. And organizers and trainers Lisa Urlbauer and Mara Bierbach will talk about what they learned works (and what doesn't) when training a diverse group of journalists in constructive reporting.
– h
// Workshop I
Mit Festivalticket
With Fara Warner, Alexandra Borchardt und Vera Peneda
The global climate crisis demands a radically different approach to how journalists and scientists engage with each other. Traditionally, these two disciplines have had contentious relationships. But the two disciplines have more in common with each other than their differences reveal. At a time when the public needs more equitable and actionable communication, we propose a different way of working with each other –immersion, engagement and even collaboration between scientists and journalists.
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Derrick Cain, Méline Laffabry, Keri Mitchell und Anita Li
Our panel discussion will contribute to the festival by shedding light on the power of storytelling and relationship building. Fostering unity, collaboration, inspiring action, empowering communities.
– h
Haus der Bildung
// 1.57
With Katerina Sergatskova und Roman Stepanovych
2402 Foundation was founded in the first days of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, to secure journalists and war crime documentators who faced a war for the first time. Since then, we grew up in an organisation that provides complex Hostile Environment First Aid training, mental health and safety awareness training free of charge for civic actors and media workers in Ukraine and beyond. We use innovations and technologies to improve learning experience, to make sure that every person is getting right skills and knowledge. When you live and work in the country at war, knowledge saves lives.
– h
// Workshop II
Mit Festivalticket
With Amélie Reichmuth
Compliance with professional standards is widely considered a must in our trade, but also treated as a burden, rather than an asset. Algorithms even seem to amplify and reward the exact opposite: sensationalism, clickbait, falsehoods and hate. Reporters Without Borders has launched the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) to reverse this logic and offers a session which is designed to showcase the JTI with best practices and examples of tangible benefits it can bring to newsrooms of different types and sizes.
– h
// Workshop I
Mit Festivalticket
With Martin Schori und Elin Wieslander
Sweden's largest newspaper, the 194 year old Aftonbladet, early adopted AI to drive change. In this talk, the leaders of the seven-person AI hub will inspiringly share how they: - Created a (very cute!) AI chatbot for the EU elections, which has answered tens of thousands of questions. - Allowed their audience to chat with Sweden's first king (!). - Reached young people with the help of AI-generated quick summaries. - Reviewed 120,000 articles using AI - and discovered a skewed gender balance (and how they use AI to address the issue). ... And much more!
– h
// Seminarraum 1
Mit Festivalticket
With Tina Rosenberg
Adding a solutions component will make your investigation more powerful. This talk and discussion will help you understand how a solutions story can add impact and how to find the right solutions story for your investigation.
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Ivan Couronne und Diego Arguedas Ortiz
Climate change is still unchecked, and most media organisations are unable to or unwilling to adequately respond to it. To change this within rapidly closing windows for action, scale and impact become crucial. Join this fireside chat between the team behind the world’s largest climate reporting network (the Oxford Climate Journalism Network) and the team running climate journalism at the world’s oldest newswire agency (AFP).
– h
Münsterplatz
// Yellow Tent
With Emma Thomasson und Barbara Maas
Come and escape from the intensity of the panel discussions. Process all the input from the festival and apply it to your work as a journalist in a creative space. You will design your own zine, a mini-booklet, your personal instruction manual for your future as a constructive journalist. No artistic talent required! We use pens, stamps, stickers and clippings from magazines. We will provide everything you need to get creative, but you are welcome to bring your favorite pens or your own pictures.
– h
Münsterplatz
Organizer: City of Bonn, Bonn Tourism
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Patricia Kühfuss
Our brains think visually — what does this mean for constructive journalism? laif photographer Patricia Kühfuss is convinced that we cannot afford to rely on stock photography and AI when reporting on complex topics. Using examples from her work, she takes the audience on a journey exploring the paradigms of photojournalism: How are photos created, selected and perceived in editorial work? Which aesthetic mechanisms should be taken into account and which stumbling blocks occur? To think constructively about the urgently needed new journalistic narratives — we should do so in text and images.
– h
// Seminarraum 1
Mit Festivalticket
With Peter Damgaard-Kristensen und Claudia Isabel Rittel
Artificial intelligence is a key technology of the coming years. How can we use it responsibly and in order to improve journalistic content? How can AI and language models help us make reporting more constructive, enhance it with a broader variety of perspectives, and focus on solutions, thereby benefiting democracy? Both the Constructive Institute and the Bonn Institute have been paying attention to these questions for some time. In this talk, Claudia Isabel Rittel and Peter Damgaard-Kristensen will explore questions considered important for the responsible use of AI in the newsroom.
– h
// Workshop II
Mit Festivalticket
With Qian Sun und Fabian Peltsch
German media often delivers a dualistic portrayal of China, steeped in negativity and marred by stereotypes, primarily highlighting human rights and environmental issues. This depiction, swayed by Eurocentric norms and domestic agendas, frequently omits China's complex social and cultural tapestry. Despite these challenges, certain exemplary journalistic works transcend these constraints, offering a more nuanced narrative. We endeavor to spotlight these efforts, discussing enhanced approaches to reporting on China.
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Tina Rosenberg, Lisa Urlbauer und Manuela Kasper-Claridge
In this session, we want to dive into the aspects that shape a constructive reporting culture in a news organization. How do we go beyond isolated improvements toward a constructive transformation on an organizational level? From program planning to feedback culture – this session will share practical lessons on moving your news organization into a constructive future.
– h
// Workshop I
Mit Festivalticket
With Yuliia Mishyna, Daria Synhaievska, Dmytro Zinchuk und Anastasiia Rudenko
Discover the surprising global influence of media coverage on Ukraine's wartime reconstruction, offering insights and solutions for countering natural and technological disasters worldwide. Join us on the panel to learn how the experience in Ukraine can help you and your country with crisis response.
– h
// Workshop II
Mit Festivalticket
With Gerson Veenstra
EenVandaag’s Interaction Team has revolutionized viewer engagement, utilizing live chat to transform audiences from passive watchers to active participants. This approach has notably increased viewer trust and involvement. By directly integrating audience feedback, we’ve shaped content to be more transparent and engaging, positioning EenVandaag as a leader in dynamic news consumption. Join us to explore how these strategies enhance both interaction and trust in media.
– h
Haus der Bildung
// 1.60
With Zahra Salah Uddin und Taha Siddiqui
Join us for a conversation with journalists and illustrators from Pakistan to discuss how their unique use of graphic novels has furthered the art of journalism and telling untold stories about complicated issues such as political regimes, repression, press censorship and the use of comedy to share serious life experiences.
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Mar Cabra
In this mega election year with 60+ countries hosting elections, multiple global conflicts and harrowing images on social media (both real and AI-generated), journalists need mental health protection more than ever. Join us for a workshop and discussion about The Self-Investigation's Mental Health Leadership Framework for the Media, with practical insights that will benefit anyone working in the industry. We will also share a preview of our guide to mental health leadership in newsrooms.
– h
// Seminarraum 1
Mit Festivalticket
With Mattia Peretti, Shirish Kulkarni und Styli Charalambous
Generative AI is the talk of the town but the audience is mostly missing from the conversation, with experiments focused primarily on gaining efficiencies. But we can’t make journalism more sustainable without radical new solutions and creating products that people actually want. Removing AI from the centre of the conversation, a group of media people started exploring avenues to make journalism more user-centric, and more equitable and sustainable as a result. This is what we've learned so far.
– h
Haus der Bildung
// 1.57
With Carolyn Thompson und Olha Konsevych
How do you investigate networks of hate that exist online, without focusing only on the few people whose names or accounts you can identify? This panel will discuss the research methods we used, the ethical questions we faced, and the parts we couldn't prove. We'll talk about why this kind of journalism tries to find the bigger picture and patterns to call out layers of accountability and identify potential solutions, instead of blaming individuals for a much larger problem.
– h
Haus der Bildung
// 1.60
With Uwe H. Martin
The hands-on workshop "Transition Journalism" explores how journalists can build a sustainable business model and contribute to solving the crises of the 21st century by expanding constructive journalism with eco-social design, participatory art practices, and mediation, facilitation, and coaching techniques. "Transition Journalism" connects people and their ideas to develop equitable and sustainable solutions to complex problems, linking existing knowledge and generating new knowledge.
– h
Mit Festivalticket
With Miriam Wells
A workshop for existing and prospective members of an Impact Journalism Network to brainstorm the future of the network and a potential global movement for impactful, human-centred journalism that helps drive systems change.
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Meenal Thakur, Yasmina Al-Gannabi und Sara El-Khalili
We've all heard the adage:: "If it bleeds, it leads." But is this relentless focus on violence fueling conflict or hindering solutions? News often prioritizes dramatic visuals and violence, neglecting the crucial role media plays throughout all stages of conflict. A new approach is urgently needed. By solely focusing on bloodshed, the media overlooks critical community and peacebuilding efforts. This portrayal reduces people in conflict zones to mere victims, stripping them of their agency and resilience . We need a paradigm shift: how can media be a more constructive force during conflicts?
– h
Haus der Bildung
// 1.56
With Belenn Bekele und Molly Grönlund Müller
Navigating News Futures is a workshop where participants will explore the future of journalism, with a focus on trust. Working in groups, they will envision and discuss potential news media products and services for a future scenario based on current trends, particularly those emerging among younger audiences. The process will be guided by IN/LAB.
– h
// Workshop I
Mit Festivalticket
With Lynn Walsh
In today's digital landscape, understanding and effectively communicating about AI is crucial for fostering trust in newsrooms. This session will explore how engaging with your audience and addressing their questions about AI can enhance transparency and credibility. Learn from industry experts how to leverage AI to better serve your audience, build trust, and navigate the evolving media landscape.
– h
// Workshop II
Mit Festivalticket
With Laurien Michiels, Jimena Aguilar und Daniel Bangura
In this panel, three digital storytellers pull the audience into their respective creative stories: an augmented reality book on the topic of echo chambers, an audio walk collective memory project and an interactive web documentary about urban space. What unites them all: their social relevance, narrative strength and multi perspective character that seek to create dialogues with their audiences. Are digital narratives particularly apt at stifling polarization and unleashing innovation?
– h
// Auditorium
Mit Festivalticket
With Ezra Eeman
Year 2 after the launch of Chat GPT is coming to an end. What now? Ezra Eeman, Strategy and Innovation Director at NPO, will talk about his experiences and expectations, surprises and disappointments and the future of journalism in an AI-supported world.
– h
// Seminarraum 1
Mit Festivalticket
With Erika Marzano, Yasmina Al-Gannabi und Alina Živanović
New audiences demand authenticity - including when exploring news and information - it is no longer a neutral terrain. Our panel explores the intersection of genuine connection and digital trends, drawing from experiences and expertise from DW and RFE/RL. Learn how news organizations engage audiences across platforms, where authenticity converges with algorithms. Discover strategies to maintain credibility in the fast-paced social media landscape.
– h
// Workshop I
Mit Festivalticket
With Catarina Carvalho, Nuno Trigueiros und Nuno Varela
Mensagem from Lisbon has a vision for community journalism, that involves fostering civic participation and belonging in Lisboa urban communities. Through innovative formats, we inform, highlight individuals, and try to have a positive impact. Mensagem de Lisboa has worked with disenfranchised communities, turning media literacy concepts upside down and doing pop up newsrooms where we work with people from those places to tell their own stories. This is a process of empowerment but also a way to tackle news deserts, and promote empathy in a big city.
– h
Münsterplatz
// Purple Tent
Mit Festivalticket
With Ellen Heinrichs, Markus Beckedahl und Nathanael Liminski
- More details will follow soon -