Our global journalism seminar series, chaired by Meera Selva, will be held online

The Reuters Institute’s series of weekly seminars on the business and practice of journalism will be held online from October to December 2020. Among the speakers will be Safiya Noble from UCLA, Luke Harding from The Guardian, Shirish Kulkarni from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Mia Malan from Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, and Emily Ramshaw from The 19th. 

The seminar series is a centrepiece of the Journalist Fellowship Programme, which welcomes high-profile journalists from around the world to share their experiences, thoughts and findings on the big issues facing the profession right now. The seminars give our Journalist Fellows the chance to engage with reporters, editors and innovators who are driving the industry forward and addressing the many challenges it faces.

For years, the seminars have been held at Green Templeton College, part of the University of Oxford, every Wednesday afternoon during the university term. In light of the current restrictions, this term’s seminars will take place on video platform Zoom. As usual, the seminars are open to the public, and you are very much welcome to join us by signing up through our events pages. Every seminar will be held at 13:00 UK time, except the one on 14 October, which will be held at 16:00 UK time. 

Director of the Journalist Fellowship Programme Meera Selva, who hosts the series, said: “We are determined to carry on taking about journalism this fall and we have some of the clearest, most innovative voices from around joining in the conversation. Sign up to our weekly webinars with leading editors and  reporters to look at the challenges facing the media at this historic moment.” 

Registration is required. For full details of each seminar, see our events calendar. Here's the list: 

? On women and COVID-19. Luba Kassova, co-founder of AKAS, will speak about her recent report on the missing perspectives of women in the coverage of the pandemic, commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. More on the report below. | 7 October  

? On data bias. Professor Safiya Noble, author of the acclaimed book 'Algorithms of Oppression', will explain what data bias is and what can be done to fix it. This piece she wrote for Wired in 2018 is still relevant today. | 14 October 

✒️ On journalism under pressure. Meera Selva will chair a discussion on journalism under pressure around the world. She is the author of this report on press freedom in central and eastern Europe and of this piece on the threats to press freedom in the pandemic. | 21 October  

⚒ On storytelling tools. Shirish Kulkarni, Welsh community organiser for The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, will present his seven building blocks for more reflective journalism. His talk will be based on this compelling piece he published in June. | 28 October  

?? On Russian influence. Luke Harding, foreign correspondent for The Guardian, will speak about the Russian influence on global politics. Luke is the author of the book 'Shadow State'. You can find his recent work in this link. | 4 November   

? On public service media. Noel Curran, Director General of the European Broadcasting Association, will speak about the challenges and opportunities facing public service media. A year ago, we published this report on the audiences of these news outlets. In April we hosted this webinar on their challenges during the pandemic. | 11 November 

?️ On reporting the pandemic. Mia Malan, founding editor of Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, will speak about the unique challenges of covering COVID-19 in South Africa. She spoke about her outlet in this seminar we hosted last year. She also spoke about her work in this interview we published in April. | 18 November  

? On young voices in British media. Journalist Izin Akhabau will speak about her experience as the online editor of The Voice, the UK's only Afro-Caribbean newspaper. She spoke about her work in this short video. | 25 November 

♀️ On a promising new outlet. American journalist Emily Ramshaw will speak about her role as a co-founder of The 19th, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. This piece from Poynter is a good primer on the outlet, whose mission is explained here. | 2 December

?? On the BBC. Professor of media and marketing Patrick Barwise will discuss the subject of his new book The War Against the BBC. He was interviewed in this Wired article about the creation of partisan news networks to rival the public broadcaster.

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