Conference Program: Novel Directions In Media Innovation And Funding 

Venue: Gladstone House, 1214 Queen St West, Toronto, Ontario, M6J 1J6

All times: Eastern Daylight Time

Conference program

Monday, May 29

6:00 – 8:30: Opening reception

  • 6:00 – 6:30 pm: Welcome and opening remarks by Mary Lynn Young and Alfred Hermida, University of British Columbia
  • 6:30 – 7:30 pm: In conversation with Rick Harp, MediaIndigena, hosted by Camila Castaneda and Alfred Hermida, University of British Columbia
  • 7:30 – 8:30 pm: Mixer

Tuesday, May 30

8:30 – 9:45: Research breakfast

Chair and welcome: Kamal Al-Solaylee, University of British Columbia, Canada

  • Johanna Burger, Fachhochschule Graubünden, Switzerland. “Innovations in local media (funding) in Switzerland and neighboring countries”
  • Claire Darling, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. “Towards platform autonomy: Lessons in infrastructure innovation from digital news start-ups”
  • Mikko Grönlund, University of Turku, Finland, Marko Ala-Fossi, Tampere University, Finland, & Mikko Villi, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. “Newspaper Markets and Funding of Journalism in Nordic Media Welfare States”
  • Shirley Roburn, York University, Canada + Tai Huynh, The Local / Open Lab, Canada. “Tackling structural inequalities through data journalism”
  • Benjamin Piorgah Tetteh, Syracuse University, USA. “Covering audience to contributors: Public radio membership ads and listener support”

10:00 – 11:00: Keynote

Vinita Srivastava, Executive Producer + Host, Don’t Call Me Resilient, and Senior Editor, Culture and Society, The Conversation Canada with a special introduction by Stephen Khan, Global Executive Editor, at The Conversation Media Group.


11:15 – 12:30: Panel: What is quality journalism?

Chair: Ori Tenenboim, University of British Columbia, Canada

  • Hanan Badr, Universität Salzburg, Austria. “Quality Journalism at the Peripheries? Dilemmas for sustainable independent journalism in Egypt”
  • Diana Bossio, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. “Journalism in the public interest: How the Australian News Media Bargaining Code decided which organizations produced quality news”
  • Daniel Graesser & Matthias Kuenzler, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, “Beyond direct/indirect: Reconceptualizing Media Subsidies in the 21st century”
  • Aske Kammer, Roskilde University, Denmark. “Public subsidies for private news media innovation: The case of Denmark, 2014-2022”
  • Hadiya Roderique, University of Toronto, Canada. “Debiasing Journalism”


12:30 – 1:45: Lunch session: Global journalism futures

Chair: Charles Davis, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), Canada

  • Hossein Derakhshan, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, UK
  • Manuel Puppis, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Courtney Radsch, UCLA, USA


2:00 – 3:15: Table talks

Table Talks are a series of open conversations on the themes of journalism, funding, innovation, education and policy. Think of the list of table talks topics as a menu. Feel free to move around to learn more and stay as long as you need on each table.

  • George Abraham, New Canadian Media. “Micro-credential in Inclusive Journalism: Fair representation in media.”
  • Trish Audette-Longo, Carleton University, Canada. “Start-Up Journalism and climate futures: A case study of pipeline narratives in Canada”
  • Sherine Conyers, University of Leeds, UK. “We need to talk about the numbers: Why metric-drivers won’t be enough to fund news”
  • Terry Flew, University of Sydney, Australia. Valuing News: Aligning consumer preferences and social value – implications for public policy
  • Magda Konieczna, Concordia University, Canada. “The Local Journalism Initiative: The evolving role of government funding in Canadian journalism.
  • Dwayne Winseck, Carleton University, Canada. “Regulating platform power in Canada: The promises and perils of the Online News Act & the emerging journalism policy toolkit”
  • Charis Papaevangelou, University of Toulouse. “Regulating dependency: The political stakes of online platforms’ deals with French publishers

3:30 – 4:30: Closing interactive session

Facilitated by Alfred Hermida and Mary Lynn Young, University of British Columbia, with discussant Rodney Benson, New York University.


Questions? Get in touch with us at journalisminnovationlab@gmail.com

This conference is supported in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, as well as the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the University of British Columbia.

This schedule is subject to change.

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