The 20th edition of the International Journalism Festival (IJF), the largest annual media event in Europe, will take place in the Italian city of Perugia, about 160 kilometres north of Rome, from April 15 to 18, 2026.
The Festival, which will take place over four full days, will feature workshops, meetings, and interviews about journalism, communication, and the media and will host several dozen different sessions. Over the years, the Festival has been known to have over 200 different sessions, covering all aspects of the media.
It brings together a mix of well-known media leaders, experts, celebrities, as well as journalism students and non-journalists, to discuss trends, news, and issues affecting journalism.
Founded in 2006 by Arianna Ciccone and Christopher Potter, the first edition of the Festival was held in 2007. Since its inception, it has grown into Europe’s largest annual media event, and the indications are that this year’s 20th anniversary edition will be its most significant yet, with a programme centred on the existential challenges and technological developments facing the industry.
Consistent with its “un-conference” origins, the 2026 festival will maintain its hallmark policy of free entry for all attendees, with no requirements for tickets or registration.
The organisers have indicated that the 20th edition will reflect on the evolution of the media landscape over the last two decades, from the rise of social media to the current era of generative AI.
Although the full speakers’ list is still being finalised, the early programming highlights from the organisers indicate that there will be three primary pillars for the 2026 discussions, namely the Post-AI Newsroom, Election Integrity and Global Democracy, and Safety and Impunity.
Following a year of rapid integration, the Post-AI Newsroom sessions will focus on the ethics of AI-generated content, copyright battles, and how newsrooms are using automation to combat “news avoidance.”
With the dust still settling from major global elections in 2024 and 2025, during the Election Integrity and Global Democracy sessions, journalists will analyse, among other things, the impact of deepfakes and disinformation on voter behaviour.
Building on widespread and pervasive reports on impunity for attacks against journalists, during the Safety and Impunity sessions, the festival will host high-level panels on the rising physical and legal threats against journalists in conflict zones and domestic “hotspots” of suppression.
Festival sessions will be live-streamed, and the live-streams will be available for viewing during the Festival on its website homepage.
All sessions are held in English or Italian, depending on the session speaker composition. For selected sessions, English-Italian simultaneous translation will be provided for participants.
The language of each session, and whether simultaneous translation will be provided for the session or not, will be indicated in the Festival programme and in the Festival brochure.
The Festival is put together and run every year by a large international team.
According to the organisers, all the Festival sessions will be free entry for all attendees, without tickets and without the need for registration, with a small number of exceptions where registration will be necessary, such as the clinics. The event is organised with corporate and institutional sponsorships.
For more information about the Festival, please contact: info@journalismfestival.com (in English) or info@festivaldelgiornalismo.com (in Italian).
