First Keynote Speakers
Peter Bale, Vice President Digital, CNN International Peter recently joined CNN in the newly created role of vice president and general manager of CNN International Digital. Previously, Bale was Executive Producer of MSN UK, the largest commercial portal in Britain. He was also a former Reuters correspondent and editor, and was a founder of FTMarketWatch.com and Online Editorial Director of Times Online for News Corporation.
Krishna Bharat, Founder, Google News (USA) Krishna is a Distinguished Scientist at Google. He's the founder of Google News, an automated news service with 72 editions in over 30 languages. Google News won the 2003 Webby Award in the news category, and Krishna received the 2003 World Technology Award for Media & Journalism. In 2004 he founded Google's R&D operations in India and served as the center's first director until 2006. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Jim Brady, Editor-in-Chief, Digital First Media, USA
Jim is the Editor-in-Chief of Digital First Media, working along CEO John Paton. Digital First Media jointly manages Journal Register Company and MediaNews Group, with more than 800 print and online products serving 57 million Americans each month. Jim Brady is overseeing the launch of Project Thunderdome, which will redefine how JRC produces journalism for the digital age by creating a centralized team that produces high-quality non-local journalism for all JRC properties on all platforms. Before joining JRC, Mr. Brady served as general manager of TBD, and Executive Editor of washingtonpost.com. He was recently named President of the ONA for a term of one year.
Leonard Brody, President, Clarity Digital Group (Canada / USA)
Leonard is a highly respected entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and best-selling author. In 2004, Brody co-founded, and was CEO of, NowPublic.com which is a pioneer in the field of citizen journalism. Currently he sits as the President of the Clarity Digital Group, which is responsible for overseeing one of the largest online news conglomerates in the world including Examiner.com – a highly successful hyperlocal website. He is also one of the co-founders of GrowLab, a Vancouver & San Francisco based accelerator backed by such venture capital funds as Mohr Davidow, Innovia and Rho.
Juan Luis Cebrián, CEO and Chairman, Prisa – Chairman, El País (Spain)
A journalist and author, Juan Luis is the CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Spanish Media Group Prisa, as well as Vice President of Prisa TV and Chairman of El País. He was Managing Editor and Deputy Editor-in-chief of Madrid dailies Pueblo and Informaciones, and later Head of the News Services of the Spanish Public Television. In 1976, he became the founding Editor of El País. From 1986 to1988, he was also President of the IPI.
Jim Chisholm, Media Consultant (UK)
Jim advises many of the world’s leading news media organisations on strategy and development in business and practice. His clients include publishers, broadcasters, governments, trade associations and suppliers. He has undertaken over thirty international studies on the future of the media industry. His work with leading media companies, and other organisations, in over 40 countries, includes strategic development, digital, traditional and diversification projects, structural reorganisation,  and value realisation through corporate sale, or targeted acquisition.
Phil Fearnley, General Manager, News & Knowledge, BBC (UK)
Phil has responsibility for the Homepage, News, Weather, 2012, Knowledge & Learning, Sport, Children’s, Search and World Service products on web, mobile, Red Button and IPTV for the BBC. Previously, Phil was Programme Director for the launch of iPlayer. Phil has an MBA from London Business School and is a serial entrepreneur founding and running SmashedAtom (an interactive TV services company), iRights (a digital rights exploitation business) and Huge Entertainment (a digital consultancy). Previously Phil was a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand, Ernst & Young and European Director of StanforResearch Institute.
Per Mikael Jensen, President & CEO, Metro International (Denmark)
Per has been the Chief Executive Officer and President of Metro International since November 2007. He holds a degree in journalism from the Denmark School of Journalism. He has had a 21-year career in the media industry including management positions with the Danish newspapers Politiken, Jyllandsposten and MetroXpress (subsidiary of Metro International), as well as Global Editor-in-Chief of Metro International, managing director of Metro New York and CEO ofTV2 Denmark.
Bruno Patino, Head of the Digital Strategy, France Télévisions (France)
Bruno is Senior Executive Vice President, Strategy & Digital of France Télévisions Group, and Director of France 5. He was previously Program Officer for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), foreign correspondent for Le Monde in Chile, Chairman of Le Monde interactif from 2000 to 2008 and Publisher and CEO of Telerama from 2003 to 2008. From October 2008 to September 2010, Bruno has been Director of France Culture and Strategy & Digital Advisor of Radio France. He’s also Dean of the School of Journalism of Sciences Po.
Jim Roberts, Assistant Managing Editor, New York Times (USA)
Jim is Assistant Managing Editor of the New York Times since January 2011. He works with the Masthead on the daily news report as well as he works with the makers of Web news. He joined The Times in 1987 as a copy editor and held a variety of editing jobs on the national, sports and metropolitan desks. He served as deputy metropolitan editor for regional news; national political editor, coordinating coverage of the 2000 presidential campaign, the election and the 36-day aftermath; and national editor. In 2006, he became director of continuous news and was later promoted to editor of digital news.
Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-Chief, Guardian News & Media (UK)
Alan has been editor of the Guardian since 1995. He began his career on the Cambridge Evening News, where he trained as a reporter before first joining the Guardian in 1979. He moved from writing to editing in 1988, launching Guardian Weekend magazine and the paper's G2 section. He was made deputy editor in 1994, when he first started working on the paper's initial forays into digital publishing. He oversaw the integration of the paper and digital operations, helping to build a website which today attracts more than 30 million unique visitors a month. The paper was nominated newspaper of the year five times between 1996 and 2006. Alas has been named editor of the year three times.
Paul Steiger, Editor-in-Chief, CEO, and President, ProPublica (USA)
Steiger served as the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal from 1991 to 2007. During his tenure, members of the Journal’s newsroom staff were awarded 16 Pulitzer Prizes. In addition, ProPublica reporters received Pulitzer Prizes in May 2010 and 2011. He is a member of the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, based in Arlington, Va., which provides free legal assistance to journalists. He is a trustee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, based in Miami, that funds efforts to enhance journalism and the functioning of American communities. From 1999 to 2007, he was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, serving as its chairman in his final year. For six years, from June 2005 to June 2011, Steiger was the chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based nonprofit that advocates for press freedom around the globe.
First Speakers and moderators
Douglas Arellanes, Director, Sourcefabric (Czech Republic)
Douglas Arellanes is an American expatriate who has lived in the Czech Republic since 1992. He is currently Director of Clients and Services at Sourcefabric. Previous roles have included new media consultant for the Media Development Loan Fund, special projects director at Contactel, (a subsidiary of TeleDanmark) and co-founder of First Tuesday Praha.
Justin Arenstein, CEO, African News Innovation Challenge (South Africa)
Justin Arenstein is Publisher and CEO of African Eye News Service (AENS) and HomeGrown Magazines in Nelspruit, South Africa. He holds a Knight International Journalism Fellowship and has recently been appointed project manager of the African News Innovation Challenge, a competition which awards 1 million USD in start-up grants to African news organisations. Arenstein is on the Boards of the Press Council of South Africa, the Open Democracy Advice Center and a number of other media industry bodies.
Meredith Artley, Vice President & Managing Editor, CNN Digital (USA)
Meredith is vice president and managing editor of CNN Digital, where she oversees the editorial initiatives for CNN.com and CNN Mobile. She joined CNN in October 2009 and is based in Atlanta. Before coming to CNN, Artley was a managing editor for the Los Angeles Times and the executive editor of LATimes.com. Prior to joining the Los Angeles Times, she served as the editor and digital development director for the International Herald Tribune’s web operation in Paris.
Felix Bellinger, Managing Director Mobile & Apps, Axel Springer (Germany)
Felix is responsible for the innovative and economic development of apps for tablet-pcs and smartphones, within the newspaper group Hamburg of Axel springer. In his former position as Managing Editor he developed the multimedia Newsroom for the Hamburger Abendblatt – one of the most modern newsrooms in Europe. Furthermore he managed projects like "Mein Quartier" (my area) – a hyperlocal online platform where up to 20 local journalists report daily from districts where they live. Since May 2011 "Mein Quartier" is also available as an app for iPhone.
Wolfgang Blau, Editor-in-Chief, Zeit Online (Germany)
Wolfgang is the Editor-in-Chief of Zeit Online, the sister publication of Germany's newspaper Die Zeit. From 1999 to 2007, he worked in Silicon Valley, in San Francisco and Washington D.C. as a freelance reporter for Germany's broadcaster ZDF, the German newspaper Die Welt and the radio news syndicator BLR-Radiodienst. During his time in the US, he initiated the founding of Audible.de, which is now part of Amazon Inc. In the three years since Wolfgang joined Zeit Online as Editor-in-Chief in March 2008, Zeit Online has been repositioned, its website rebuilt from the ground up and its unique visits have grown by more than 270 percent. In January 2012, Wolfgang was named Germany's "Chief Editor of the Year".
Pierre Boucaud, Editor-in-Chief, Mars Actu (France)
Pierre is the founder and editor-in-chief of Marsactu, a local news website based in Marseille. Previously Pierre was co-founder and managing director of LCM/La Chaîne Marseille, and CEO of Télétoulouse.
Liliana Bounegru, Project Manager, European Journalism Centre (Romania)
Liliana is the Data Journalism Awards Coordinator for the European Journalism Centre (EJC). She also runs DataDrivenJournalism.net, along with events and workshops on data journalism. Liliana was recently the co-editor of the Data Journalism Handbook, and is conducting research in the Media Studies department at the University of Amsterdam.
François Bourboulon, Editor-in-Chief, lesechos.fr (France)
François received his degree from Centre de Formation des Journalistes in 1984. He worked for numerous publications, including La Tribune, Le Journal du Net, Metro France, and Paris-Match.com. He joined Les Echos in 2009 as Editor in Chief.
Madhav Chinnappa, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Google EMEA (UK)
Madhav joined Google in 2010 to focus on Google News and Magazines working in the Partnerships team. Madhav has worked in the news industry since 1994 – first in the launch team of Associated Press Television (APTV), a year in M&A at United News & Media and spent over 9 years at BBC News, most recently as Head of Business Development & Rights. Madhav is leading the international rollout of Google Currents, an innovative multi-platform media consumption experience.
Tanya Cordrey, Director of Digital Development, The Guardian (UK)
Tanya has 13 years' experience within digital businesses. In 2008 she joined Guardian News and Media as General Manager, environment, building a portfolio of digital products and services around environment and sustainability, including the launch of environmentguardian.co.uk. Tanya has recently been appointed the Director of Digital Development and now oversees the newly formed digital development team, which is responsible for developing and launching a wide range of products including iPhone, Android and iPad apps, Kindle editions, as well as new features and digital projects within guardian.co.uk.
John Daniszewski, Vice President & Senior Managing Editor, Associated Press (USA)
John rejoined the AP in New York as International Editor in 2006 after 19 years abroad for both the AP and the Los Angeles Times. As a correspondent, he had been based in Warsaw, Johannesburg, Cairo, Moscow, Baghdad and London, covering such stories as the fall of Communism in eastern Europe, the wars of the former Yugoslavia and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He leads a team of more than 600 reporters, editors and other staff with bureaus in approximately 100 countries. Named Managing Editor-International in November 2007, he engaged in a reorganization of the AP's global structure designed to speed the flow of copy from regional centers to the entire world.
Luc de Barochez, Editor-in-Chief, lefigaro.fr / Le Figaro, France
Luc de Barochez worked as a Correspondent at the Agence France Presse for sixteen year from 1983 to 1999. In 2004, he joined Le Figaro as a Foreign Editor, and was promoted in 2008 to Editor in Chief of the publication. Luc is also responsible for being the Web Managing Editor for lefigaro.fr.
Torsten de Riese, Managing Director, International Operations, NewsCred (Germany)
Torsten is a leading digital media expert with a strong track record in global business development and revenue generation, and currently leads international operations for NewsCred. In 2004 Torsten joined The Guardian as Business Development Manager. After setting up a highly profitable digital syndication business he went on to launching the Guardian and Observer digital archive, the first online newspaper archive in the UK. As Mobile Business Manager he helped to develop and launch Guardian's award-winning mobile products for iPhones and iPads.
Yves Eudes, Senior Reporter, Le Monde (France)
Yves has his PhD in Political Science from the Université Panthéon Sorbonne (Paris I), and has been a reporter for Le Monde for over fifteen years. He taught political science and journalism at several universities in both France and the United States. He was a field reporter during the war in Iraq, which led to his interest in how digital technologies impact political and economic conflicts.
Kate Fairhurst, Vice President – International, ScribbleLive (UK)
Kate is VP International at ScribbleLive and runs the European bureau based in London. ScribbleLive is the platform for real-time journalism which is used by media companies worldwide to live report on breaking news. ScribbleLive also works with news agencies such as The Associated Press, the Press Association and Agencia EFE to syndicate live reporting across the globe. Before her time at ScribbleLive, Kate was Business Development Director of the Press Association, the national news agency of the UK and Ireland.
Howard Finberg, Director of Interactive Learning, Poynter Institute (USA)
Howard is Director of Interactive Learning at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida. Finberg guides Poynter’s e-learning project, News University (www.newsu.org), which reaches more than 225,000 registered uses in more than 200 countries. In addition, he teaches, writes and does research around e-learning and digital publishing issues. Previously he was the Institute’s Presidential Scholar, where he examined technology’s impact on media and how new technologies might be integrated into Poynter's teaching and publishing.
Vasily Gatov, Head of the MediaLab, RIA Novosti (Russia)
Vasily started his career in 1985 as a newspaper journalist, in 90's turned to television and publishing business. Vice-President of Russian Publisher's Guild (GIPP). WAN-IFRA Board Member. Vasily's job at the leading Russian national multimedia agency RIA Novosti is to foster innovation and develop a future models of media. His scientific and business scope is with new forms of editorial models, advances in communication and new media interfaces.
Joanna Geary, Digital Development Editor, The Guardian (UK)
Joanna is Digital Development editor for The Guardian, tasked with the developing new ways for journalists to use digital tools to better understand, reach and work with readers. She began her career on The Birmingham Post as a business reporter, and then moved to The Times of London to oversee community and social media strategy before joining The Guardian in December 2011. She is also the founder of the London chapter of the international Hacks/Hackers movement, which aims to bring technologists and journalists together and develop the future of the news industry.
Joshua Hatch, Online Content Manager, The Sunlight Foundation (USA)
Joshua has spent nearly two decades at the nexus of journalism and technology. As the online content manager for the Sunlight Foundation, Josh works to develop tools for journalists working to unite data and stories. Prior to joining Sunlight, Josh was the Interactives Director at USA TODAY where he teamed up designers, programmers and journalists of all media stripes to tell stories through video, photos, audio, graphics, text and data. As a member of the board of directors for the Online News Association, he chairs the legal committee and is organizing the Online Journalism Awards at this year's conference in San Francisco.
Mary Hockaday, Head of the BBC newsroom, BBC (UK)
Mary became Head of the BBC Newsroom in April 2009 and was part of the team that created the multimedia newsroom in 2007, bringing together radio, television and digital services. Mary was Editor of BBC World Service News and Current Affairs from 2001 to 2006 covering 9/11, Afghanistan and the Invasion of Iraq. She has also been Deputy Head of BBC Radio News, and early in her career worked as a reporter in Prague from 1990-1992 for the BBC and The Independent. She is currently preparing for the move to a new multimedia domestic and global Newsroom in central London.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, Spokesperson, Wikileaks (Iceland)
Kristinn is an Icelandic investigative journalist and is currently the frontman for the WikiLeaks organisation. He previously worked at various newspapers in Iceland and hosted the television programme Kompás on the Icelandic channel Stöð 2, where he and his team often exposed criminal activity and corruption in high places. Kristinn has been named Icelandic journalist of the year three times, in 2004, 2007 and 2010.
Arne Jensen, Assistant Secretary General, Association of Editors (Norway)
Arne has been the Assistant Secretary General for the Association of Norwegian Editors since 2003. He previously worked for The Norwegian Press Association concerning ethics and access to information from 1995 to 1999, and was the former head of the Access to Information Council. He is co-editor of “How to get the good ladies,” a handbook in how to recruit female editorial leaders.
Sylvie Kauffmann, Editor-in-Chief, Le Monde (France)
Sylvie is an Editorial Director at Le Monde. She was the Editor-in-Chief in 2010-2011. She started her career at Agence France-Presse and joined Le Monde in 1987 as Moscow correspondent. She covered Eastern Europe from 1988 to 1993. She then moved to the United States, first as Washington correspondent and then, from 1996 to 2001, as New York Bureau Chief. Back in Paris, she headed the in-depth reporting section of Le Monde. From 2004 to 2006, she was deputy editor, before leaving for Asia as reporter-at-large from 2006 to 2009.
Wadah Khanfar, former Director General, Al Jazeera Network (Qatar)
Wadah started his career with Al Jazeera in 1997 covering some of the world's key political zones.  He became Managing Director of the Al Jazeera Channel in 2003 and Director General of the Al Jazeera Network in 2006. During his tenure Al Jazeera went from a single channel to a media network with multiple properties including the Internet and specialty TV channels as well as Al Jazeera Media Training and Development Center, the Al Jazeera Center for Studies and Al Jazeera Mobile. He has addressed leading political and media think tanks including the Middle East Institute, New America Foundation, Council on Foreign Relations, and George Washington University.He resigned from his position mid-september 2011.
Cécile Leveaux, Chief Technical Officer, Euronews (France)
Before working at Euronews, Cécile was the Project Director at Netia from 2004 to 2006, where she managed the software development team. She later became the Internet Director at France 24, and was responsible for launching the organization’s website. In 2007 she took her current position at Euronews.
Michel Lévy-Provençal, CEO, Joshfire (France)
Michel is the CEO of Joshfire, an Internet of Things Company. HE also co-founded Rue89 (the first french proam news website), and managed the digital department of France 24 for four years. He founded the TEDxParis conference in 2009. He blogs in french on mikiane.com since 2003.
David Levy, Director, Reuters Institute, University of Oxford (UK)
David Levy is Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) at Oxford University. The RISJ runs an international programme for mid career journalists, contributes to the debate on the future of journalism through publications and events, and undertakes research on journalism worldwide. He was previously at the BBC where as Controller, Public Policy he led the BBC's policy for the Charter Review and also worked as a BBC reporter and Editor. In 2008 he was a member of a Parliamentary Commission reviewing the future of France Télévisions.  He is currently a member of the Content Board of the UK Regulator Ofcom and the Board of France 24.
Paul Lewis, Special Projects Editor, The Guardian (UK)
Paul is Special Projects Editor for the Guardian. He was named Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards 2010 and won the 2009 Bevins Prize for outstanding investigative journalism. He previously worked at the Washington Post as the Stern Fellow.
Mathieu Llorens, CEO, AT Internet (France)
Mathieu joined AT Internet – the European leader in online intelligence – in 2000 and is currently the CEO. He was also an associate professor in Digital Analytics at the University of Bordeaux III for 6 years. AT Internet’s solutions measure and analyse the web audience of all online channels including the web, mobile, Intranet and social networks. With more than 350,000 sites measured, AT Internet audits nearly all French press websites as well as many other different media groups throughout Europe.
Niklas Lysvag, News Editor, TV2, Norway
Niklas received his degree in politics and economics from the University of Oslo 1992, and continued to his studies at the Norwegian School of Journalism from 1992 to 1994. He was a desk assistant and reporter at the daily newspaper Verdens Gang from 1990 to 1995. Since then, he has been employed at TV 2 News Oslo and Bergen as a reporter, desk editor, evening news editor, news editor and deputy head of news.
Johan Malmsten, Co-Founder and CEO, The European Daily (Netherlands)
Johan is co-founder and CEO of the European Daily, the first daily newspaper created for Europeans, due to launch in the autumn. A management consultant turned media entrepreneur, he was missing a European perspective on news and a forum for pan-European debate, and went on to start the project in 2008. Johan is currently responsible for the development of a complete news organisation, fit for 2012, that includes both a strong digital presence and a print edition available across Europe.
Clare Margetson, Network Editor, The Guardian (UK)
Clare completed a post-graduate course in journalism at the London College of Printing, before joining the Guardian. She worked on the arts pages, news desk as deputy news editor and the website where she set up the arts blog. Following this she was seconded to edit Weekend magazine briefly and then in 2008 was made features editor She currently is network editor at the Guardian.
Mathieu Mathelin, Development Manager, SPQR (France)
Mathieu received his Masters in Political Science and Communications from the Université Panthéon Sorbonne (Paris I). From 2000 to 2005 he was responsible for communications at ESJ Paris. He later become a media analyst for the Information Sector for the French government, and held that position from 2005 to the end of 2007. For the last four years, Mathieu has been at SPQR. The company develops new technologies for the French local newspapers, and they created the first daily newspaper store on iPad with more than 300 local editions each day (App:Presse Régionale).
Dennis R. Mortensen, Founder and CEO, Visual Revenue (USA)
Dennis is a pioneer and expert in the Analytics industry. He is an accredited Associate Web Analytics Instructor at the University of British Columbia, the Author of data driven insights from Wiley, and a frequent speaker on the subject of Analytics, Media. Mortensen is an Entrepreneur and was COO at IndexTools when it was acquired by Yahoo! Inc. subsequently their Director of Data Insights. Today he is Founder and CEO of Visual Revenue Inc. (Predictive Analytics for Media), sits on the Board of the Digital Analytics Association, and maintains the highly popular analytics and media blog, VisualRevenue.com/blog.
Sharon Moshavi, Vice President, New Initiatives, International Center for Journalists (USA)
Sharon oversees new project development with an emphasis on developing innovative digital media projects at ICFJ. Previously, she worked as communications manager at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. She has written for The Boston Globe, Newsday, BusinessWeek, Forbes, The New Republic and U.S. News & World Report, among others. She also produced radio documentaries and essays for NPR, BBC and CBC.
Nic Newman, Digital Strategist and Consultant; former BBC Future Media Director (UK)
Nic is a journalist, digital strategist and commentator on the future of news. He played a key role in shaping the BBC’s internet services over more than a decade. He was a founding member of the BBC News Website, leading international coverage as World Editor (1997-2001). As Head of Product Development for BBC News, he helped introduce innovations such as blogs, on-demand video, and news applications for mobile phones and tablets. Nic works with leading publishers and technology companies across Europe helping with digital, mobile and social strategies and implemetations.
Robert G. Picard, Research Director, Reuters Institute, University of Oxford (USA)
Robert G. Picard is Director of Research at the Reuters Institute at University of Oxford. A specialist in media economics and management, he is the author and editor of 27 books, including Value Creation and the Future of News Organizations and The Economics and Financing of Media Companies, and editor of the Journal of Media Business Studies. He has consulted and carried out assignments for leading media companies and governments worldwide.
Edwy Plenel, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Mediapart, France
Plenel studied at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, and his career began in 1976 as a journalist for Rouge, the newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR – Ligue communiste révolutionnaire). He briefly worked for Le Matin de Paris in 1980, before moving to the French newspaper Le Monde, where he worked as the paper's education editor (1980–82), legal columnist (1982–90), a reporter (1991), head of the legal department (1992–94), chief editor (1994–95), assistant editorial director (1995–96), editor (1996–2000), and editor-in-chief (2000–04). Plenel left Le Monde in 2004, and is currently the editor-in-chief of Mediapart, an Internet-based subscription journal which he founded in 2008.
Jacques Rosselin, VP for Development and Strategy, La Tribune (France)
Jacques was previously the managing editor of the French business daily La Tribune. Co-founder of the weekly Courrier International in 1990, he has also contributed to a range of newspapers, news websites and online TV.
Bob Satchwell, Executive Director, Society of Editors (UK)
Bob, director of the Society of Editors since its foundation in 1999, campaigns on a wide range of issues that affect all sectors of the media, freedom of expression and the public’s right to know. A former Journalist of the Year, he was associate editor of the Lancashire Evening Post, assistant editor of the News of the World and an award-winning editor of the Cambridge Evening News. He is a non executive director of the National Council for the Training of Journalists and a member of the Defence Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee.
Margarita Simonyan, Editor-in-Chief, Russia Today (Russia)
Margarita has received several awards for journalism, and in 2005 she was named Editor-in-Chief of RT, the first Russian around-the-clock English-language news channel. Following the launch of RT in Arabic and Spanish, she was named Editor-in-Chief of the global multilingual television news network RT, broadcasting from studios in Moscow and Washington to audiences all over the world. Margarita is also the first Vice-President of the National Association of TV and Radio Broadcasters (NAT) and a member of The Public Chamber of Russia.
Martha Stone, CEO, World Newsmedia Network (USA)
Martha is a newspaper industry author, speaker and consultant. Prior to leading World Newsmedia Network, Ms. Stone was Director of the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project for the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany. SFN was a partnership with newspaper industry partners Atex, Norske Skog, Telenor and manroland, and produced seven strategic reports for publishers each year. In the capacity of SFN Director, she led media conferences, study tours and projects around the world, and managed the SFN Consultancy, which has provided training and advisory services to some of the most prominent media companies in the world.
Aidan White, Managing Consultant, GEN (Belgium)
Aidan is a journalist and specialist in media policy. He is the former General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists which he led for 24 years until March 2011. He formerly worked for The Guardian in London. He is an active campaigner for the rights of journalists worldwide and is the founder of global networks of media organisations and press freedom groups dealing with free expression and safety in news reporting. He is the author of many texts on journalism and rights including recently: The Ethical Journalism Initiative (2008) and Ethical Journalism and Human Rights (2011) for the Council of Europe.
Amanda Wilson, Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Amanda is one of Australia’s most experienced and respected newspaper journalists. Her career has spanned almost 40 years in Australia, the UK, Hong Kong and China. Amanda was appointed Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald in January 2011, the first woman to hold the position in the paper’s 180 years of continuous publication. Amanda has worked at The Sydney Morning Herald since 1995, and has played a pivotal role in consolidating the newspaper’s status as the city’s most authoritative print, online and digital news outlet. She has held a variety of senior positions at the paper including Foreign editor, Features editor, Weekend editor, and immediately prior to her latest appointment, Editor.
Dean Wright, President, Connell Wright Media (USA)
Dean is a consultant and veteran editor who works with media organizations and other clients. Before forming Connell Wright Media in 2011, he was Global Ethics and Standards editor for Thomson Reuters. There he developed and managed policies and practices for editorial quality, transparency, social media and compliance with international anti-bribery/corruption laws. Earlier, as Managing Editor for Consumer Services, Dean developed Reuters websites in Japan, China, India, the UK and US that reached more than 25 million daily users. He joined the editorial staff of MSNBC.com in 1996, and later became Vice President and Editor-in-Chief in 2003. During his tenure, MSNBC.com earned numerous awards for journalistic excellence.