Stronger Together: A Strong Start to 2026
At the start of 2026, WAN‑IFRA reviewed 124 new applications and 40 Year‑1 reports, confirming 22 Ukrainian media outlets for capacity support and 18 for investigative grants. An intensive Investigative Bootcamp in March trained nearly 40 journalists from 18 regional newsrooms in data‑driven reporting, aiming for at least six investigations per outlet this year. A Norwegian Partnerships Programme was launched, pairing four Ukrainian with four Norwegian regional newsrooms for a year‑long exchange on digital transformation and revenue models. A new handbook, featuring 12 case studies from 105 investigations, showcases the impact of regional journalism during wartime.
When a Global Story Happens in Your Local Community: Steering The Minnesota Star Tribune Through Unprecedented Times
In December 2023 ICE launched Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, sparking intense global attention. The Minnesota Star Tribune mobilized 50 reporters and leveraged community‑generated footage to deliver the most documented local crisis in U.S. history. A revamped digital platform, live‑blogging,...
How Sakal Is Using AI to Turn Print Ads Into Revenue Data
Sakal Media Group has deployed an OCR‑driven AI platform that scans every print advertisement in its newspapers and converts the images into searchable, structured datasets. The system automatically tags brands, categories, placement and size, turning daily print data into real‑time...
‘Ukraine’s Voice in the World’: How the Kyiv Independent Keeps Ongoing War in the Headlines
The Kyiv Independent, Ukraine’s premier English‑language newsroom, has expanded from 19 staff in 2021 to 85 employees in 2026 while operating under full‑scale war. It sustains itself financially through a reader‑driven model—70% of revenue comes from a 28,000‑strong global subscriber...
WAN-IFRA Announces Finalists for the Digital Media Awards 2026
WAN-IFRA unveiled the finalists for its 2026 Digital Media Awards, selecting 278 projects from 811 submissions across 78 countries. The finalists compete in 12 categories, including new AI‑driven and Emerging News Provider awards, with winners to be announced at the...
Future Newsrooms Now: Your Input Needed to Set the Standard for Transformation
WAN-IFRA, FT Strategies and Arc XP have launched the Future Newsroom Study, a global survey aimed at establishing a benchmark for newsroom transformation. The research will probe how editorial leaders are redefining strategy, integrating AI and automation, reshaping organisational structures,...
New 6-Month Programme From WAN-IFRA and OpenAI Supports AI-Native Product Development
WAN-IFRA and OpenAI have launched the AI Futures Lab, a six‑month accelerator for 24 news organizations across Asia‑Pacific and Latin America. Building on the earlier Newsroom AI Catalyst, the programme moves publishers from AI experimentation to fully‑scaled, AI‑native editorial and...
Bonnier News Notches Another Strong Business Result, and CEO Is Bullish on 2026
Bonnier News reported 2025 EBITA of SEK 1.08 billion, a 29% YoY increase, on revenue of SEK 10.9 billion, up 3%. Digital subscription revenue surged 14% with the +Allt bundle reaching nearly 500,000 digital subscribers and over 1.1 million total users. Reader revenue...
How The Hindu Is Embedding AI Into Its Data Journalism
The Hindu’s data journalism team leveraged large language models to process 22 million voter‑record PDFs, automatically generate SQL queries, and build a searchable database that informed court and parliamentary debates. Using prompts in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, reporters assembled a full‑scale...
Children Get Help to Cope with the News of Latest Middle East Bombings
Children’s news outlets across Europe and the U.S. are redesigning coverage of the latest Middle East bombings to suit young audiences. They pair hard facts and historical context with transparent source‑selection guidance, while framing the story in hopeful, distance‑focused language....
Four Years On: Strengthening Independent Media in Ukraine
Four years into Russia's invasion, WAN‑IFRA’s Stronger Together programme continues bolstering Ukraine’s regional media with grants, investigative‑journalism training, and digital‑transformation support. The initiative has helped newsrooms publish over 90 investigative pieces while improving business models and leadership capacity. A new...
WAN-IFRA Introduces the NextGen AI Leaders Programme to Equip Emerging News Executives with Practical AI and Leadership Skills
WAN-IFRA has launched the NextGen AI Leaders Programme, a tuition‑free 12‑week initiative aimed at equipping 24 emerging news executives aged 25‑40 from Europe, the Middle East and Africa with practical AI and leadership skills. Backed by the Google News Initiative,...
Risk Intelligence: Futureproofing Print Through People
Risk Intelligence, the ability to perceive and act on risk, is being highlighted as a critical capability for the print and distribution sector facing disruption. Dr. Aarti Anhal explains that everyone possesses risk intelligence, which balances threat and opportunity, and...
Distinctive and Engaging – Zetland Hoping to Hit the Right Tone with Its Expansion Strategy
Zetland, Denmark’s audio‑first news publisher with over 40,000 paying members, is scaling its mission‑driven, ambassador‑campaign model across Europe. After a successful Finnish launch, Uusi Juttu, the company reached 20,000 members and is now rolling out Demo in Norway, hitting its...
France’s La Provence Seeks Young Audiences and Fights News Fatigue with AI-Powered Audio
French regional daily La Provence has rolled out La Provence Audio, an AI‑driven suite of four audio products that convert written stories into immersive, personalized listening experiences. The platform uses voice‑cloned actors from French AI lab Kyutai and Mistral’s personalization...