In the past year, as part of a project I have been leading, funded by the Ford Foundation and hosted by IMS, I’ve had the great privilege of being able to observe and participate in a range of excellent media festivals across the Global South – Splice Media‘s Splice Beta in Chiang Mai in Thailand, Baraza Media Lab‘s Africa Media Festival in Nairobi, Kenya, AJOR‘s Festival 3i in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and HHBA‘s Media Party in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy.
This new briefing / discussion paper looks at the rise and characteristics of such media festivals (as distinct from other kinds of media conferences), distils three hypotheses about what they’re bringing to the journalism ecosystem (domestically and internationally), and puts forward a range of recommendations for those running, participating in, and supporting media festivals like these around the world.
Download ‘The role of media festivals in strengthening independent media’ (PDF)
Macroscope 