Free Press Live 2026
On 3 February 2026, Free Press Unlimited invites you to Free Press Live 2026: an event exploring who decides which crises reach the global spotlight and which stories remain invisible.
UPDATE: This event is fully booked. Registering is not possible.
Please note that this is a live, in-person event. Unfortunately, online attendance or streaming is not available.
Who decides what becomes mainstream news? Agenda-setting is never neutral: it is shaped by access, political interest, editorial priorities, and public attention. This means that the attention a crisis receives does not always reflect its severity. Gaza has dominated headlines for years despite extremely limited access for journalists, while other crises, like Sudan, struggle to break through, even though the scale of suffering is no less urgent. These contrasts highlight a deeper question: how do media decide which stories need to be told?
Political pressure and public sentiment also influence which crises rise to the top of the agenda. Governments’ strategic interests, public fatigue with complex or seemingly intractable conflicts, and competition between major news events all shape editorial decisions. Meanwhile, large international outlets often set the pace, determining which regional crises reach global audiences, while smaller independent newsrooms must work harder to make their reporting heard. This raises a crucial question: how do local, regional, and international media shape the global news agenda, and why do some urgent stories never cross borders?
Free Press Live 2026 examines how these dynamics intersect: the media’s role as democratic gatekeepers, the political forces attempting to influence coverage, and the public whose attention can amplify or suppress stories. Together, we explore how journalists can navigate their agenda-setting power, ensure that critical stories are not silenced by lack of access or political pressure, and strengthen the democratic function of independent media.
Ceremony Free Press Awards 2025
As our ending spectacle, we will present the annual Free Press Awards 2025. In each of the two categories, Newcomer of the Year Award and the Most Resilient Journalist Award, one exceptional journalist will be crowned as winners. With these awards, we honour them for their commitment to their work.
For who is this event?
Free Press Live 2026 is for anyone engaged with media, global affairs, and the power of information:
- Journalists and editors: Discover how global news agendas are set, why some crises dominate headlines while others remain invisible, and how to make under-reported stories heard.
- Policymakers: Understand how media coverage shapes public perception and international attention, helping inform policy decisions.
- Students and academics: Explore real-world media dynamics and gain insight into how global stories are shaped and shared.
- Donors and supporters of press freedom: Learn where support is most needed to ensure critical stories reach global audiences.
- Coalition partners and NGOs: Share strategies and collaborate on strengthening independent media and advocacy.
- Media consumers: Gain insight into how news is chosen and why a free press matters.
For everyone: Connect with peers, international reporters, and key media stakeholders to exchange ideas and build your professional network.
Programme
Margo Smit
Margo Smit has been the ombudsman for the Dutch public broadcasters since 2017. She is President of the Organisation of News Ombudsmen and Standards and Public Editors (ONO) and Vice Chair of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN).
Smit has worked in journalism since 1989. Her career includes roles as a desk editor at both commercial and public broadcasters, parliamentary reporter for RTL News, investigative journalist at KRO Reporter, director of the Association of Investigative Journalists (VVOJ), and ombudsman at NOS. Until 2017, she also served as a practice-based lecturer in Television at the Master’s programme in Journalism at the University of Groningen. She regularly gives guest lectures and ethics training courses in the Netherlands and abroad.
Ruth Kronenburg
Ruth Kronenburg is the Executive Director of Free Press Unlimited, managing a team of more than 60 dedicated professionals. Free Press Unlimited is an international press freedom organisation working on both advocacy for the improvement of press freedom worldwide as well as a service organisation to support over 300 media partners in 55 countries.
Rana Ayyub
Rana Ayyub is an Indian investigative journalist and a Global Opinions columnist at The Washington Post. Over an eighteen-year career, she has worked as a reporter, editor, and columnist with leading publications in India and internationally. Her writing has appeared in TIME, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and Foreign Policy, and she has been featured on the cover of The New Yorker.
Her work focuses on amplifying the voices of the marginalised and oppressed, combating misinformation, and defending democratic values. For this reporting, she has faced sustained persecution by the Indian government, including multiple criminal cases, and is currently facing trial in India.
Carlos Dada
Carlos Dada is the co-founder and director of the Salvadoran digital news outlet El Faro (“The Lighthouse”), known as the first digital-only news site in Latin America. Dada is the winner of the ICFJ Knight Trailblazer Award for 2022 in recognition of his hard-hitting investigative reporting, lyrical writing and visionary leadership.
Nadia Moussaid is a versatile journalist, program maker, and presenter, known for her work on Op1 at broadcaster BNNVARA and Nieuws en Co at the NOS on NPO Radio 1. Her mission is to create in-depth journalistic series that go one step further and challenge the audience. At the same time, humor plays an important role in her work.
Klaas van Dijken
Klaas van Dijken is co-founder and director of Lighthouse Reports. As investigative journalist and editor, his works focusses on human rights violations and atrocity crimes and the involvement of governments and state-funded agencies. Before Lighthouse, Klaas worked as a conflict reporter and investigative journalist in Eastern and Central Africa and Afghanistan. His work has been published worldwide in print, online and tv.
Wendelmoet Boersema is editor-in-chief of Trouw. She is also a former Russia correspondent, Slavic studies specialist, lawyer, political junkie, and lover of true stories. She led several editorial teams before taking up her position in May 2024, together with co–editor-in-chief Karel Smouter.
In 2021, her book Gronings Goud was published and received several nominations, including a spot on the shortlist for Best Dutch-Language Journalistic Book (Brusse Prize). At the age of 25 (born in 1972), she received the Gouden Pennetje award, now known as the Tegel for young talent.
