What’s new in audience, audio & voice, and data journalism? News Impact moves online to find out

In 30 editions over the past six years, the News Impact Summits have brought together communities of pioneers and practitioners to build the future of news together. This year, the Summits will move online and will be live-streamed to make sure you can join the discussion wherever you are.

Each News Impact Summit is an online conference designed to connect a network of journalists, editors, developers and designers to collaborate and innovate in journalism. It is a large gathering of leading experts, pioneers, and practitioners in a particular field in journalism. The programme features international speakers from Europe and beyond, who lead presentations, talks and practical workshops. While most sessions will be in English, we will offer specific workshops in other languages too.

In 2020, the Summits will focus on audience, audio & voice, and data journalism in order to help journalists improve their coverage and make the media industry move forward in these challenging times.

These are the topics and dates of our three upcoming News Impact Summit Online events in 2020:

“Innovative Storytelling: Audience First”Date: 6–8 October 2020

Who is your audience? How can newsrooms and journalists put their audience first and better engage with them? How can they reach new readers? Audience remains the number one priority for many newsrooms, especially with the shift towards reader revenue that many newsrooms are aiming for.

This Summit will be dedicated to finding ways for journalists to build a closer relationship with their readers. We will look into innovative storytelling tools and emerging technologies that don’t require large investments to attract new and more diverse audiences. We will also get inspiration from news organisations and journalists that have relied on closer relationships and the trust of their readers to survive the COVID-19 pandemic and plan their future.

“Newsroom Strategies: Audio & Voice”Date: 20–22 October

Audio has changed the way we consume the news. Podcast consumption has exploded and emerging audio tools for transcription and voice automation make news production more efficient.

Why and when do readers prefer audio over text? What strategies can newsrooms adopt to develop their audio products? What new storytelling skills are required to produce quality audio for journalism? At this Summit, we will explore new technological developments around audio & voice. This doesn’t just mean podcasts, but also text-to-speech, audio for AI assistants, and automated transcription. We will break down the challenges that accompany the rise of audio, such as the role of platforms in the podcast world, monetisation of audio products, and building newsroom strategies to integrate voice in the production workflow.

“Data Journalism: Build Trust in Media”Date: 3–5 November 2020

How can data be used to regain trust from readers? Fact-based journalism combined with great storytelling skills and backed up by data, has never been more in demand. While data journalism is not new, it has never been more important than in this misinformation age. But COVID-19 has eroded confidence in the media at the same time European news organisations have seen a decline in the trust of their audience for the past five years. Turning to data journalism is a crucial step in reversing these trends.

How can journalists combine data analysis with traditional reporting? How can data journalism counter misinformation? How can we lobby for better access to data? At this Summit, we’ll take you behind the scenes of some of the most successful data-driven stories out there. We will share the latest technology tools and resources to help advance your data skills, and showcase newsroom collaborations that are on the right path to advance data journalism.

Join the Summits & the conversation live, on YouTube

You may register for the event here. This year, the summits will happen live, on YouTube, for the first time, which means you are welcome to join the sessions from wherever you are. Each summit will happen over the course of three days, from Tuesday to Thursday, for three hours a day.

Rather than a passive speaking-listening approach, our events revolve around interactive sessions in a collegiate atmosphere. Every session includes Q&A time, which means you will have the opportunity to ask questions to the speakers and contribute to the discussions with other participants in the chat during the live streaming on YouTube.

Our conferences are always free of charge, and this year you may join the events and conversations from the comfort of your home. If you register you will be among the first to know about the workshops and receive regular updates on our 2020 speakers. This is also a great way of joining our EJC community.

Be part of the News Impact community

We build communities for journalists to expand their network and share expert insight with peers from other newsrooms. We believe that by driving innovation in journalism we are building resilience in the news industry in Europe.

The News Impact Summits are organised by the European Journalism Centre and powered by the Google News Initiative. Since 2014, we have organised 29 events together to train and connect journalists in Europe, to help drive innovation in journalism, and contributing to solving some of the most pressing issues in the news industry.

Whether you have joined one of our in-person events in the past or this is your first time at News Impact Summits, we’d love to celebrate our legacy with you. We thank our inspiring community of speakers, participants, and partners who have joined us along the way.

Join our community here and get in touch with us through info@newsimpact.io or visit newsimpact.io. We very much welcome your ideas for topics and speakers you’d like to see at upcoming Summits.