Five Takeaways
There are countless impressions of the b° future festival to share, and the photos speak for themselves. These five takeaways have really stayed with us:
- There’s no single path to making journalism more human-centered – there are countless ways. The b° future festival showed that many media organizations are already working on aligning themselves more with the needs of their audiences.
- Inspiration, as with so many transformation processes, comes from the fringes: Successful entrepreneurs, “news influencers,” and independent projects are paving the way, showing how journalism can evolve through genuine community engagement, making it truly relevant, valuable and helpful for people.
- To make this happen, journalists need to step out of their bubble. Bonn made clear just how many questions our audience has for us. Half of all the b° future sessions were admission free, and there was huge interest in topics like climate and war reporting, podcast recording and how to have difficult conversations in a constructive way. Family-friendly events and programs for young people were also extremely popular. Media trust, media literacy, and media usage – these are all closely interconnected.
- We also explored AI and realized that its real value in journalism is when it helps us discover new perspectives and better serve the informational needs of our audiences. Big thanks to the tech startups and newsroom leaders that shared inspiring examples on this.
- And then there’s the focus on us, the people who publish, consume, or sometimes avoid journalism altogether: What makes us tick? How do we shape our view of the world, and what kind of impact do journalistic products have on both creators and consumers? There were loads of great insights from sessions on mental health and the psychology behind journalism.
The festival gave us the opportunity to celebrate the people doing the hard, and often lonely, work to build the journalism and the societies we need.