IJ4EU grantees and experts will be out in force at the 2025 IPI World Congress and Media Innovation Festival, helping to shape the conversation as leading journalists, editors and media thinkers gather in Vienna to tackle the challenges facing journalism today.
Taking place from October 23 to 25 at Vienna’s historic Schönbrunn Palace, the International Press Institute’s signature event will bring together more than 130 speakers and 600 participants from 102 countries.
Under the theme “Defending the Future of Free Media”, this year’s World Congress also marks IPI’s milestone 75th anniversary — a chance to reflect on 75 years of defending press freedom, strengthen the resilience and solidarity the industry needs now, and collaborate on a vision for the future of public-interest journalism.
IJ4EU grantees, jury members and experts associated with the programme will bring a cross-border perspective to the discussions.
Highlights include:
Leila Bičakčić, executive director of the Centre for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a former IJ4EU jury member, will moderate a panel exploring how journalists can better cooperate on important stories:
The future of investigative collaboration
Collaboration has become a cornerstone of investigative journalism — but what comes next? At a time of increased competition for funding, shrinking trust, AI disruption, and mounting attacks on press freedom, can our current models keep up? Join four leading investigative journalists as they share bold ideas, hard-earned lessons and radical new visions for how watchdog reporting can evolve.
The panel features IJ4EU grantee Frederik Obermaier, a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter and co-founder of Paper Trail Media, which has played a key role in several IJ4EU-backed investigations including Surveillance Secrets and World of Pain.
He will be joined by Scilla Alecci, partnership coordinator for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists; Axel Gordh Humlesjö, an Emmy-winning investigative reporter at Swedish public broadcaster SVT; and Musikilu Mojeed, editor-in-chief of the Premium Times in Nigeria.
Former IJ4EU jury member Natalia Antelava, CEO and editor-in-chief of Coda, will take part in the IPI World Congress’s opening plenary, alongside heavy hitters from the media world including Marty Baron, former executive editor of The Washington Post, and Khadija Patel, head of programmes at the International Fund for Public Interest Media.
Defending the future of free media
In 1950, 34 editors from 16 countries founded IPI to protect the free flow of news after World War II. Seventy-five years later, media freedom is at another turning point. We know the challenges: Authoritarianism is on the march, disinformation is rampant, and AI is upending the information ecosystem. But we also know that journalism is resilient. How can we work together to defend the value of independent journalism and protect media freedom as an anchor of free, democratic societies?
Antelava will also have an on-stage conversation with Richard Gingras, who served for many years as global vice president of news at Google and now chairs the board at Village Media.
The co-founder of Coda Media and Zeg Fest will discuss with former VP of News at Google the business of news, reflections on decades of experience at the intersection of tech and news and what publishers can learn from the search experience as they design strategies for adapting to AI.
Timothy Large, head of the IJ4EU consortium and director of independent media programmes at IPI, will moderate two rapid-fire sessions giving participants a chance to inspire others and share hard-won lessons.
Lightning round: Tales of community will feature individuals with a shared mission to show how journalism can open its doors to build trust and connection in surprising ways. Among the speakers is IJ4EU grantee Daniel Wizenberg, director of Revista Late magazine.
Seven speakers, one shared mission — to show how journalism opens its doors. From citizen investigations to newsrooms that double as cultural hubs, these stories reveal how journalists are building trust, connection, and community in surprising ways. Fresh ideas, global voices, five minutes each. Prepare to be inspired.
Meanwhile, Lightning round: Tales of resilience brings together people on the frontlines of the battle for press freedom, including Lydia Emmanouilidou, an investigative journalist at Solomon, and IPI’s Javier Luque, who has led workshops for IJ4EU grantees on how to tackle online harassment and smear campaigns against journalists.
Eight speakers, countless battles for press freedom. Hear how journalists and their allies push back against repression, stand tall in the face of threats, and train the next generation to carry the torch. Grit, courage, and determination — all in five minutes or less.
IJ4EU jury chair Carlos Dada, an award-winning Salvadoran journalist, will moderate a panel unpacking exactly what we mean by the oft-cited word “resilience” in journalism.
Beyond buzzwords: The reality of resilience.
Resilience isn’t a buzzword. It’s a matter of survival for journalists and news outlets facing autocracy, repression, financial collapse, and geopolitical upheaval. Behind the headlines are extraordinary stories of commitment to public-interest reporting. Here’s what resilience looks like in practice — and how the global community can provide the support it takes to keep independent journalism alive.
And former IJ4EU grantee Laurent Richard, founder and executive director of Forbidden Stories and a winner of this year’s IJ4EU Impact Award for The Gaza Project, will take part in a session titled After the ceasefire: Ending impunity in Gaza:
The journalist safety crisis has reached a breaking point in Gaza. Reporters there have endured violence, displacement, starvation, and a humanitarian catastrophe. More than 200 journalists have been killed, many in targeted Israeli airstrikes for which no one has been held accountable. As the world looks to turn a fragile ceasefire into lasting peace, how can we finally end the cycle of impunity for the killing of journalists and ensure that those in Gaza can rebuild, recover, and continue their vital work?
Finally, IJ4EU grantee Stanislau Ivashkevich, founder of the Belarusian Investigative Center, will join Beyond survival: Supporting impactful journalism in exile:
A growing number of journalists are being forced into exile by threats, violence, and repression. While flight can bring safety, it also means new hurdles: legal and financial uncertainty, isolation, and the risk of losing links with audiences. How can exiled media continue to inform the public across borders while resisting transnational repression? And how can host countries and support organizations provide meaningful protection and professional opportunities?
For more information on these and other sessions, visit 2025 IPI World Congress and Media Innovation Festival.