Five Takeaways
It's impossible to capture the entirety of knowledge, ideas and innovation that was shared at the b° future festival 2025. Yet a few points really stood out.
1. Everything starts with listening. To truly understand something or someone, you must first listen. This means letting yourself be surprised – great news for everyone who started out in journalism because they are genuinely curious!
2. Think beyond video, article and audio. Journalism can be a performance, art, a video or board game or even a shared experience. Relevance and value to an audience combined with effective communication are what count – and this can take many forms.
3. Hope is a user need. So many attendees said the festival gave them hope. One almost left journalism but found new purpose at the festival. Local passersby also expressed a desire for journalism to stay critical while keeping hope alive.
4. GenZ cares. Young audiences do engage with the news – when we take them seriously and respect their interests, preferred formats and tone. This is what we heard from the many young people who attended the festival.
5. The future of journalism starts with values, not tech. European journalism needs to develop its own answers rather than parrot Silicon Valley thinking. Now is the time to focus on trust rather than scale.
Keynote speech by Nina Fasciaux
Nina Fasciaux is the Director of Partnerships and Fellowships at the Solutions Journalism Network. Her keynote speech at the b° future festival 2025 described why journalism should be a profession of care and connection. Her speech text is available to download here.
Impressions from the b° future festival 2025
From introvert-friendly networking, to workshops that were open to all at the public library and a bed for the night with a local family, I came away with new friends and new ideas about how to promote dialogue, trust and new kinds of citizen-first journalism.
