How technology favours the rise of populist movements in journalism
10 OCT | 19:00

Group in white shirts with obscured faces, tinted yellow, illustrating the relationship between journalism and populism. Design: Napperon

10.10 | 7 pm | Auditorium

Simultaneous Translation DE/PT

The digitization of journalism is a never-ending process, with new challenges arising constantly. With this movement, we have witnessed the consolidation of large transnational media groups, new opportunities for collaboration, and new audiences. But has this explosion of communication made journalism more precarious? Is there any turning back? From social media and news aggregators to AI, what challenges does technology pose to journalism today and how can we respond to them?

The panel discussion is organized in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Portugal, with the participation of Joana Gorjão Henriques (PÚBLICO), Marc Engelhardt (Correctiv) and Vania Baldi (OberCom), moderated by João Ribeiro (Shifter).

Speakers

Journalist at Jornal Público since 1999. She was a one-year fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, USA, and studied Sociology at the London School of Economics in London. She covers topics related to human rights, namely racism and Portuguese post-colonialism and immigration. She is the author of the series Racismo em Português, about racism during the colonial system, Racismo à Portuguesa , a portrait of racial inequalities in Portugal, and Colonos em Angola e Moçambique, Retornados em Portugal . In 2018, she was awarded the gold medal of the Human Rights Prize by the Portuguese Parliament. She has received several awards for her work, including the AMI Prize - Journalism Against Indifference, twice, the UNESCO National Commission's Prize for Journalism in the Written Press on Human Rights and Integration, twice, the Communication for Cultural Diversity Award from the High Commissioner for Migration, also twice, the Gazeta de Imprensa Award, the Corações com Coroa journalism award twice, the Children's Rights in the News award, and a nomination for the Iberian-Latin Gabriel García Marquez awards.
Marc Engelhardtis a journalist and the managing director of Correctiv in Switzerland. He leads the CrowdNewsroom, Correctiv’s platform for digital investigations. Marc began his journalism career at ARD Tagesschau, Germany’s most prominent television news program. Later, he joined Weltreporter, a network of international journalists, and worked as a freelancer for radio, television, news agencies, and newspapers, reporting from places such asNairobiandGeneva. Marc is attending MediaCon for the first time and is excited to discuss authentic investigative journalism in the age of artificial intelligence.
With a PhD in Ethics and Anthropology from Italy, Vania Baldi is a professor at the School of Sociology and Public Policy at ISCTE in Lisbon, coordinating the Communication Observatory (OberCom) and a researcher at the Center for Research in Studies and Sociology (CIES-IUL). Among his latest published books are Otimizados e Desencontrados. Ética e Crítica na Era da Inconsciência Artificial (Ed. Húmus, 2024) and O Direito de não ser Desinformado. Media, Fact-Checking e Literacias em Portugal (Ed. Almedina, 2025).
João Gabriel Ribeiro is the co-founder and director of Shifter.pt. Driven by curiosity and raised in the digital age, he is a natural autodidact who has grown accustomed to exploring a wide range of topics — from technology to philosophy — and uncovering meaningful connections between them. In recent years, he has specialized in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.