Program

The 26th International Symposium on Online Journalism

Speakers
Registration

SPONSORS

Knight Foundation, Google News Initiative, IFPIM, American Press Institute, JSK Fellows, Texas Moody, Council on Foreign Relations

MEDIA AND ORGANIZATION PARTNERS

ISOJ 2025 Media and Organization Partners

All times are U.S. Central, CDT (UTC -5). Click here to see the time in your location. This schedule is subject to change. Come back to this page for updates. Unless noted otherwise, all sessions are in the Shirley Bird Perry Ballroom in the Texas Union.

Haga clic aquí para leer el programa en español.

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2025

Venue: Shirley Bird Perry Ballroom at the University of Texas at Austin (Texas Union)

7:30–8:30 a.m.—REGISTRATION AND BREAKFAST
8:30–8:45 a.m. —WELCOME SESSION

8:45–9:45 a.m.—KEYNOTE PANEL OPENING SESSION
Creating funds to finance journalism in the U.S. and around the world

  • Chair: Jim Brady, vice-president/journalism, Knight Foundation
  • Dale R. Anglin, director, Press Forward
  • Sarabeth Berman, CEO, American Journalism Project (AJP) 
  • Pierrick Judéaux, director of policy and ecosystem development, International Fund for Public Interest Media (France) 
  • Carolina Oms, director of partnerships and fundraising, Brazilian Journalism Support Fund (Brazil)
9:45–10:45 a.m.—PANEL
How to rebuild trust in journalism after years of attacks and declines in credibility

  • Chair and presenter: Michael Bolden, CEO and executive director, American Press Institute (API)
  • Sally Lehrman, founder and CEO, The Trust Project
  • Joy Mayer, founder and executive director, Trusting News 
  • Stephen Buckley, public editor, The Dallas Morning News 
10:45–11:00 a.m.—COFFEE BREAK
11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m.—PANEL
Beyond the hype: The real impact of AI on newsrooms

  • Chair and presenter:  Nikita Roy, founder, Newsroom Robots Lab
  • Juliana Castro Varón, senior design editor of AI initiatives, The New York Times 
  • Uli Köppen, chief AI officer, public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (Germany)
  • Tim O’Rourke, VP of editorial innovation + AI strategy, Hearst Newspapers
  • Brooke Siegel, vice president of content, Yahoo News
12:15–1:30 p.m.—LUNCH BREAK (located in the Santa Rita Room)
12:15–1:25 p.m.—LUNCH WORKSHOP
Get Started with AI Tools for News
Sign up here. Registration for workshops is required and seats are limited. Workshop is in English – there will be no interpretation.

1:30–2:15 p.m.—KEYNOTE SESSION

2:15–3:15 p.m.—PANEL
Fact-checking in journalism during times of platform-enabled mis/disinformation

  • Chair and presenter: Lucas Graves, professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Clara Jiménez Cruz, CEO and co-founder, Maldita.es,and chair of the European Fact-checking Standards Network (Spain) 
  • Glenn Kessler, editor and chief writer, The Fact Checker, Washington Post
  • Laura Zommer, CEO and co-founder, Factchequeado (Argentina/U.S.)
3:15–3:45 p.m.—COFFEE BREAK/MEET-UPS
3:45–5:00 p.m.—PANEL
Global roundup: Challenges to journalism around the world

  • Chair: Dawn Garcia, director, JSK Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University
  • Lina Chawaf, journalist and CEO, Radio Rozana (Syria)
  • Dieu-Nalio Chery, freelance photojournalist (Haiti)
  • Gregory Gondwe, managing and editorial director, Platform for Investigative Journalism (Malawi)
  • Luz Mely Reyes, co-founder and director, Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela) and fellow, ICFJ Knight
  • Mikhail Rubin, deputy editor in chief, Proekt (Russian site in exile)
5:00–6:00 p.m.—PANEL
Political satire for the digital era: From animated cartoons to memes

6:15–7:45 p.m.—THE MOODY PARTY
A welcome reception offered by the Moody College of Communication in the Texas Union. RSVP is required.

FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2025

Venue: Shirley Bird Perry Ballroom at the University of Texas at Austin (Texas Union)

8:00–9:00 a.m.—REGISTRATION AND BREAKFAST
8:00–8:50 a.m.—RESEARCH BREAKFAST
Agenda-setting and online journalism: A Tribute to Max McCombs
Registration is required and seats are limited. In English – there will be no interpretation.

9:00–9:45 a.m.—KEYNOTE SESSION

9:45–10:55 a.m.—PANEL
Doing journalism in countries with democracies on the decline

10:55–11:10 a.m.—COFFEE BREAK
11:10 a.m.–12:15 p.m.—PANEL
Covering Trump 2.0: Challenges facing journalists in Washington, DC

  • Chair: Evan Smith, co-founder, The Texas Tribune, and senior advisor, Emerson Collective
  • Michael C. Bender, political correspondent, The New York Times
  • Eugene Daniels, president, White House Correspondents’ Association, and chief Playbook correspondent & White House correspondent, Politico
  • Ashley Parker, staff writer, The Atlantic
12:15–1:15 p.m.—LUNCH BREAK
12:15–1:10 p.m.—LUNCH WORKSHOP
NotebookLM for Journalists and Pinpoint for Journalists
Sign up here. Registration for workshops is required and seats are limited. Workshop is in English – there will be no interpretation.

1:15–2:00 p.m.—KEYNOTE SESSION

  • Keynote speaker: Terry Tang, executive editor, Los Angeles Times
  • Chair: Evan Smith, co-founder, The Texas Tribune, and senior advisor, Emerson Collective
2:00–3:15 p.m.—PANEL
New understandings of “journalist” and “journalism” in the age of influencers

3:15–3:45 p.m.—COFFEE BREAK/MEET-UPS
3:45–4:45 p.m.—PANEL
How to avoid news avoidance and burnout of journalists and audiences

  • Chair: Kate West, assistant professor of instruction, UT Austin
  • Benjamin Toff, associate professor, University of Minnesota, and director, Minnesota Journalism Center
  • Sandra Vera Zambrano, associate professor, Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico)
  • Stephanie Edgerly, professor and associate dean of research, Northwestern University
4:45–6:00 p.m.—PANEL
Synthetic media and journalism: Avatars, image creation and manipulation

7:30–9:00 p.m.— SPECIAL EVENT
A Human Condition: A play about journalism
Experience the profound humanity of journalists through the power of storytelling.
Written and Directed by Luisa Ortiz Pérez.
Venue: The Rosette, 3908 Avenue B Ste 116, Austin, TX 78751
Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Register here. Event in English without interpretation.

SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2025

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.—POST-ISOJ CONFERENCE
18th Ibero-American Colloquium on Digital Journalism
Venue: Texas Union, UT Austin
Registration is free, but required. Sign up to attend in person or virtually.
Registrants of ISOJ 2025 from Latin America, Spain and Portugal will convene for this annual meeting on online journalism in the region. (Please note event is in Spanish without interpretation.)