40th Annual Conference 2024

Our 40th Annual Conference was held on 23rd and 24th May 2024 in Poznań, Poland, hosted by TVP, regional centar Poznań

Changes and Challenges
Conference Programme

Catalogue
#CIRCOM2024 #CIRCOMconference #ChangesAndChallenges

Photo Album
📸: Wojciech Szałata

May 23^rd, 2024 Conference day 1

Venue: Poznań Congress Center MPT - 1.C Hall
Głogowska 14, Poznań

8:30 Conference Registration

9:30 Opening Ceremony
Eivind Undrum Jacobsen, President CIRCOM Regional
Paweł Sosnowski, Deputy Director for Corporate Affairs, TVP

Session 1: Artificial Intelligence in Journalism

09:45 Re-inventing News Workflows and Products

Strategic and applied opportunities and challenges for reinventing news workflows and products for the emerging AI-mediated digital media ecosystem.

Speaker: Charlie Halford, Principal Research Engineer, BBC, UK
Charlie is an engineer, architect and researcher, whose interests focus on the application of new technology towards public and societal good. His career has meandered around content production, management and metadata, often from a data, platform or infrastructure angle. More recently, he has been a proud part of the BBC’s work in combatting disinformation (through Project Origin and the C2PA), and in protecting audience privacy (through Cornmarket and Solid)

10:20 AI as a Live Editorial Tool

The use of AI in headline testing. A tool giving us tips, hints and advice as we type our stories, generating headlines for us, live and on-the-go. Trying to answer the question of how we can bring our stories to our audience in an even better way. The easiest example is the use of A/B-testing our headlines, in that regard we’ve been using AI as a tool as well. But of course there are lots of other ways we try to get a better grasp on how we can best serve our audience.

Speaker: Janneke Bosch, data-journalist, a publishing editor. Focused mainly on the use of data in our daily process of making news at Omroep Brabant, The Netherlands.

10:40 Online AI Presenter

Experimenting online with an AI-presenter that reads out stories for people who don't want to read, those who like to watch video more than to read text.

Speaker: Rik Beekwilder, product-owner, responsible for the direction of website and apps and embracing innovation. Constantly looking for new ways to match our articles with our readers' behaviors and needs. The use of AI is therefore inevitable in this regard, Omroep Brabant, The Netherlands.

11:00 Coffee break

11:30 Generation Alpha as a Completely New Type of Audience Demography in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms

Generation Alpha, those born between 2010 and 2024, are growing up in a rapidly changing world. In her keynote speech, Satu Keto presented the Insights of the foresight and future vision project implemented at Yle, titled "Youth Future and Foresight 2023-2024." How does the age group born between 2010-2024, referred to as Generation Alpha, differ in their media consumption habits and media usage motives from previous generations? What are Skibidi Toilet, Sephora Kids, and Fanum Tax? Why is it necessary to talk about target individuals instead of target audiences? Is it possible for legacy media to create common experiences for future audiences?

Speaker: Satu Keto, Innovation Lead, Yle Technology & Development, Finland
Satu Keto is an award-winning Innovation Lead and a keynote speaker working at Yleisradio’s Technology & Development. Her main job is to develop, anticipate, experiment and pilot. The most recent experiments include synthetic media, future of audio and AI-assisted content. She is especially interested in synthetic characters, the future of voice clones, non-linear narration as well as future user interfaces and personalisation.

11:50 Deepfakes

Deepfakes and their impact on information.

Speaker: Andrea Gerli, news editor, head of Digital Information Unit, RAI TG1, Italy
Andrea is the editorial representative of the RAI’s committee on Artificial Intelligence.He has applied languages and products of digital journalism to television, from data journalism to immersive journalism, developing infographics, animations, and 3D maps while covering major news events. Online Journalism professor at RAI’s school of journalism in Perugia.

12:10: Are There Any Limits To Using AI in Journalism?

Technological development, as we can observe, increasingly surprises not only with its achievements, but also - and perhaps above all - with its pace. Information processing technologies undoubtedly occupy a special place here, and it seems that any news about artificial intelligence is firing up the public's imagination in a special way. For better - or worse - we seem to be pushing all boundaries. It seems that in this regard, the best journalism at last will have no limits. The astonishing speed of gathering the best information and the almost instantaneous transmission seem to open the door to an even bolder new world than we ever dreamed of. But is this really true? Perhaps, for some reasons, we are entering the time that is much more problematic in this regard for both journalists and the audience of their work?

Speaker: Łukasz Mścisławski, PhD, OP, lecturer in the Philosophy of Nature at the Faculty of Management of Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Poland
Philosopher, with special interest in philosophy of science and technology, philosophy of information as well as in history of philosophy. Lecturer at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. Born 1976, graduated in Physics in 2000 at Wrocław University, and in the same year entered the Dominican Order. Graduated in theology and ordained in 2007. PhD achieved in 2011 at The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków. Member of Commission on the Philosophy of Sciences of Polska Akademia Umiejętności.

12:30 Coffee break

Session 2: Storytelling

13:00 Screen Stories: How to Win Viewers in the Info-besity World

Technology has abolished all communication barriers. Due to the lack of technological limitations, we are "flooded" with information, so traditional methods of communication are losing their effectiveness. When used well, storytelling can positively increase audience engagement to maximize their attention and ensure that nothing distracts them.
The purpose of this lecture was to equip participants with two practical storytelling tools to move and engage audiences:
1. The structure of storytelling - a self-developed tool of Sykomor™, presented and analyzed using examples of storytelling virals.
2. The secret sauce of storytelling - three elements that turn an average story into an outstanding one.

Speaker: Monika Górska, PhD, known as Dr Story, trainer, owner of Story Factory
Documentary filmmaker, journalist, academic lecturer and an expert in business storytelling. Monika used to tell the other people stories on TVP. Then, as a trainer, she began to teach others how to tell their own. Among others the journalists from all over Ukraine. Now she also tells her own stories in her books. To make people better off. One of the pioneers and leading experts in storytelling in Poland. She founded the Academy of Video Storytelling. She teaches popular online courses and is the author of the manual Visual Storytelling. How to tell stories with the language of video. She is a respected lecturer and mentor and a three-time TEDx speaker, as well as a journalist, TV director and a scriptwriter of 160 films, broadcasted and awarded at festivals around the world, including the Golden Remi Award at Houston Film Festival and Grand Prix CIRCOM for Documentary. Her mission for more than 30 years has been to teach how to create compelling stories that amplify messages and change the world.

13:30 Lunch

Session 3: Threats and Trolling

14:30 Harassment Prevention. How to protect journalists and minimise the effects of social and online harassment and hatred against newsroom professionals.

Social and online harassment of journalists and other newsroom professionals is a growing phenomenon in many countries across the World today. Those who harass us wish to have an impact on our journalism, and they also have a negative impact on press freedom - they wish to push our journalism and journalists away from the ethics of journalism, more toward the direction of their choice. True journalistic criticism is valuable to us but sometimes the difference between actual journalistic criticism and political harassment is not that obvious. The less we as journalists are aware of the motives and prepare for the effects of harassment, the stronger their impact on us - and on democracy - can become.
The long term psychological effects of harassment are not easy to deal with. Do we take the risks relating to harassment phenomena seriously enough or do we tend to overlook the problems? Do we talk about these issues enough? How resilient we actually are?
With the help of some harassment case studies, Sami Koivisto led us to discuss the policies and support systems needed in the newsroom. What can journalists do in order to protect themselves from the effects of harassment and hate speech? How can we defend our targeted colleagues? What can we learn from each others’ experiences?

Speaker: Sami Koivisto, Senior Advisor on Harassment Prevention, Yle, Finland
Now positioned in Journalismin Akatemia, the Yle HR unit for in-house training, Sami Koivisto has worked for Yle since 2008. He started as a teletext journalist, switched to newsroom online social media journalism in 2014 and became Yle’s first Head of Audience Dialogue in 2017, focusing on developing transparency of journalism through audience engagement. He started in the new HR Senior Advisor position, focusing on Harassment Prevention, in 2024. When it comes to online harassment, Sami has several years of first hand experience of being targeted and he has become a sought after public speaker about this topic in Finland. His personal experience of a five year harassment and targeting process included a court case with a political activist, as well as face to face mediation experience with a person who stated online that Sami’s family would be killed. He has spoken about the importance of harassment prevention in numerous different institutions, including cities, schools, institutes of vocational education, universities, the health and well-being sector, labour unions, police, different media organisations and associations, Bank of Finland, ministries and the Finnish Parliament and supported numerous colleagues both in and outside of Yle when they have been targeted. Before Yle Sami worked in online journalism and audience dialogue for Finland’s biggest tabloid newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, and as a freelancer journalist. Sami has an educational background in both journalism and arts and therapy. Before training as a journalist in Helsinki at The Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in the 00’s, he studied Drama and Movement Therapy at The Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, graduating in 1999.

15:00 Hate Speech: How to Identify it and How to Fight it

In his speech, Dr. Trzaskowski explored the multifaceted issue of toxic speech, also known as 'hejt' in Polish, within journalistic practice. The exploration commenced with an examination of what constitutes toxic language and its various manifestations. Following this, an analysis of the motivations behind 'hejt' and the individuals involved ensued, scrutinizing who produces it, who the targets are, and why such behavior persists. Finally, Dr. Trzaskowski presented a range of strategies aimed at countering toxic language targeting journalists. The primary objective of this speech was to enable those involved, the journalists, to better understand the phenomenon of ‘hejt’ and equip them with skills to tackle this problem and deal with it more effectively.

Speaker: Paweł Trzskowski, PhD, Deputy Head of the Department of Analysis and Program Research at Polish Radio and Head of the Language Section at Polish Radio
Editor in the Language Section of Polish radio (2018-2022). Trainer at the Center for Media Education of Polish Radio (since 2020). Fellow in two cycles of the Global Research Initiative Dangerous Speech Project, a research team led by Prof. Susan Benesch from Harvard University (2020-2023). Member of the Onomastic and Orthographic Team of the Language Council of Polish Academy of Sciences (since 2023). Member and secretary of the Ethics of Speech Team of the Language Council of Polish Academy of Sciences (2015-2019). Lecturer at the Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw (2016-2018).

15:30 Coffee break

Session 4: Polish Revolution in Public Media

16:00 Restitution of public media system in Poland 2023/24

Changes introduced in the public media system by the Law and Justice party in power in Poland in 2015-2023, both at the political and personal level, led to the liquidation of public media in the country compliant with European standards. The thesis pushed by the ruling party at that time about the need to maintain external pluralism in the radio and television broadcasting market and thus provide a counterweight to the narrative offered by some commercial broadcasters in Poland seems to be totally incomprehensible and unacceptable in the context of applicable European public media standards. In consequence, the project of commercialising censorship and propaganda was introduced there. The speech presented a diagnosis of the current public radio and television situation in Poland and discussed actions to restore public media after 15 October 2023.

Speaker: Prof. Jędrzej Skrzypczak, lawyer and political scientist, Poland
Prof. Jędrzej Skrzypczak is the head of the Department of Media Systems and Media Law at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan ( Faculty of Political Sciences and Journalism) and the Chair of Research Committee 26 on Human Rights of the International Political Science Association. He is the author of numerous expert opinions. His academic interests focus on several research areas: freedom of expression, censorship, propaganda, and human rights.

16:40 End of Conference Day 1

19:00 - 21:00 Prix CIRCOM Regional 2024 Awards Ceremony

Venue: Poznań Congress Center - Earth Hall
Głogowska 14, Poznań

The ceremony celebrated the best productions in regional television broadcasting across Europe.

21:00 Dinner

May 24th, 2024 Conference day 2

Venue: Poznań Congress Center MPT - 1.C Hall
Głogowska 14, Poznań

8:30 Conference Registration

Session 5: Ukraine Still at War

09:30 How to Manage Teams Under Emotional and Physical Pressure During the War

Mariya shared her personal thoughts as a female leader and present Suspline’s experience as an independent media company. The presentation also included a simplified guide to help others effectively navigate the various complexities. Key points described understanding the media landscape, the importance of journalistic standards and ethical considerations, managing innovation and promoting resilience and adaptation.

Speaker: Mariya Frej, board member of the Suspline, only public TV station in Ukraine
Media manager with more than 10 years of experience leading small and large teams. Mariya Frej’s career began as a local reporter and eventually led her to a board position at a large independent media company in Ukraine. In her current position, Mariya oversees news and regional development initiatives across the country.

10:00 Experiences in Multimedia News Production During the War

During active hostilities in the north of Ukraine in February-March 2022, Chernihiv was completely surrounded. The Russians bombarded the city with artillery and aircraft and could reach any point on the map. We had to completely reschedule the editorial work, we did not stop for a day and increased our audience. We had to abandon traditional television broadcasts, because the inhabitants of the region often did not have electricity and the Internet to consume information this way. Most of the editorial staff had to be evacuated abroad and to safer regions. In Chernihiv itself, 2 correspondents and 2 cameramen remained, who filmed the most valuable video from the city, where no one else from the media was able to get until the liberation from the encirclement and the retreat of the Russian troops. We arranged for our groups to be supplied with gasoline, cash, and medicine by boat, which was the only way back then. And the filmed reports were transmitted to all public broadcasters in the world. During the period of active hostilities (February-March), our Telegram channel grew from 3 thousand to 160 thousand, unique users on the site from 400 thousand to 2 million. This is despite the fact that Chernihiv Oblast has a total of one million residents.

Speaker: Alla Skorik, Editor-in-Cheif, North East Hub, JSC PBC of Ukraine
Alla is responsible for the North East regional branch (Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava) which borders Russia and Republic of Belarus. Two regions experienced occupation and military actions, lots of war crimes. Alla’s team specializes on the topics of human rights, recovering, and investigation of war crimes.

10:30 Coffee break

11:00 Introducing Annual Conference 2025

3Cat, Catalonia, Spain is the host station of CIRCOM Regional Annual Conference in 2025.

Session 6: Climate Journalism

11:15 Journalism as the Key to Ecological Transition

Media must make a profound change to adapt to the climate emergency. We need to adapt journalistic practices, starting by training young journalists on these cross-disciplinary and complex subjects. We need a change of mindset. Why climate change coverage is special, why it is exciting and why journalists have -and will have more and more- a key role in the Anthropocena era transformation.

Speaker: Anne Tézenas du Montcel, climate expert, economic and climate journalist, France
Teacher at the Dauphine Practical Institute of Journalism, formerly working for the economy press. International Climate governance expert and economic journalist in Paris, ambassador of the French "Charter for a journalism to match the ecological emergency”, co-editor of the first book in France about Anthropocene era, journalism teacher and general delegate of the French journalism schools conference in 2022 and 2023, in charge of the first “Etats généraux” about journalism students training, working currently on new tools to facilitate climate change coverage.

11:45 NRK Climate Newsroom

Speaker: Milana Kneževic, journalist, NRK, Norway

12:15 Sharing Experiences: How we Cover Consequences of the Climate Changes

Devastating floods in Slovenia and Austria, drought and heat in Spain, tornado in the Czech Republic, to name a few - these events are stark reminder of the escalating climate-related disasters occurring worldwide. Journalists need to double their efforts in covering climate change and raise public awareness.

Covering Drought and Heat in Spain
Pere Bosch i Grané, reporter and anchor, TV3, Catalonia, Spain

Covering Tornado in the Czech Republic
Veronika Červinková, journalist, ČT Brno, Czech Republic

Covering Floods in Slovenia and Austria
Barbara Štor, journalist, RTV Slovenia

Session Meet Prix CIRCOM Regional Winners

(parallel to sessions 1 - 6)
An opportunity to get to know the creators of the award-winning programmes:

10:00 – 10:30 Music and arts
10:40 – 11:10 Documentary
11:20 – 11:50 Most original and innovative
12:00 – 12:30 Investigative journalis