FESTIVAL 2024: Garage Journalism
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FESTIVAL 2024: Garage Journalism
Our focus was on independent media projects and community journalism, ranging from small magazines and podcasts to regional newsrooms combatting news deserts. We explored how to fund, sustain and grow journalism outside of the mainstream media.
What happened
The fourth edition brought together publishers, founders of small media outlets, and regional editors to discuss survival strategies. Nine small media projects from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Nigeria presented their work in a fast-paced session. Publishers of major Slovak outlets debated press freedom, and regional newsrooms discussed the disappearance of local coverage.
The workshops covered practical topics such as how to pitch to international outlets, report from conflict zones, conduct sensitive interviews and use AI tools without compromising the integrity of your newsroom. During the breaks, journalists discussed funding models, audience pushback and how to report on Gaza without perpetuating one-sided narratives. At the networking event held at Café Comeniana, editors answered questions from students about editorial dilemmas and political pressures, turning the event into an impromptu consultation clinic.
The festival in numbers
MOMENTS THAT STAYED
Lessons from Independent Journalism
Nine independent media projects have shown that quality journalism does not require a corporate publisher. From Voxpot's investigations to Kurník magazine's gender coverage and Romano Fórum's community reporting, not to mention Nigerian grassroots initiatives, these small-scale operations demonstrated how to achieve great things and shared their funding secrets.
Funding Small Media Projects
Liza Bezushko from the Global Forum for Media Development demonstrated how independent journalism can survive without corporate backing. This involves finding donors, crafting grant proposals and building sustainable funding models. This is the practical toolkit that garage media founders actually need, because great journalism dies without the money to pay for it.
The News Desert Problem
Regional media outlets are dying out across Central Europe. Editors from the Korzár and MY newspapers discussed ways to maintain local journalism when advertisers leave and readers move online. Researchers from Slovakia and the Czech Republic mapped areas where information deserts are already forming, and considered the consequences for democracy when nobody is watching local governments.
Between Power and Independence
Four Slovak publishers sat down for an uncomfortable conversation. When does critical journalism become activism? How independent are editors really from their owners? Can the media unite when they are accusing each other of being either government lapdogs or political players? There were no easy answers, but at least they showed up to discuss the issues.
Covering Gaza Without Taking Sides
Can balanced coverage be achieved when one side controls most access? Islamic studies scholar Attila Kovács and journalists debated how the Slovak media report the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and why historical context continues to be omitted from the coverage.
Journalism in the Era of Disinformation
Film screening and debate with András Földes and Lucie Čejková about the differences between professional journalism and disinformation sites and influencers. In an age when anyone can publish online, what defines a journalist? Issues such as the loss of trust, media fragmentation and the deprofessionalisation of the field will be discussed.
WHO JOINED US
From garage media founders to major publishers, from fact-checkers to war reporters. Journalists working in basements and those running newsrooms with hundreds of employees.
Featured participants:
Beata Balogová (SME, Slovakia)
András Földes (HVG, Hungary)
Jakub Gornicki (The Outriders, Poland)
Natasha Khular Relph (Freelancer, India)
Vojtěch Boháč (Voxpot, Czech Republic)
Lukáš Fila (N Press, Slovakia)
Philip Jackpor (Renevlyn Development Initiative, Nigeria)
Lenka Waschková Císařová (Masaryk University, Czech Republic)
+ 20 more journalists, editors, publishers, and media researchers
Also joined by:
Michal Teplica (News and Media Holding), Alexej Fulmek (Petit Press), Zuzana Martináková (TA3), Kristína Červeňáková (Čierna labuť), Pavol Lacko (Romano Fórum), Tomáš Hučko (Kapitál), Michaela Kučová (Kurník), Laura Bilíková (Hmota), Katarína Gécziová (Korzár), Erik Stopka (MY), Peter Kravčák (Catholic University), Liza Bezushko (GFMD), Attila Kovács (Comenius University), Lukáš Diko (ICJK), Ria Geherová (Denník N), Marta Jančkárová (RTVS), Laura Kellöová (Aktuality.sk), Lucie Čejková (MUNI), Karol Sudor (Denník N)
