From April 9 to 13, 2025, the 19th International Journalism Festival (IJF), the largest annual media event in Europe, took place in Perugia, Italy. The festival brought together over 3,000 participants from around the world to discuss current challenges and emerging trends in journalism. Key topics included artificial intelligence, media innovation, freedom of speech, and gender equality.
This year, Women in Media was represented at the festival by its head, Liza Kuzmenko, and media lawyer Oksana Maksymeniuk. Media women actively contributed to discussions on gender equality in journalism. In particular, they attended the session “Why I told this story: reporting on gender for impact and to effect change,” which explored approaches to covering gender inequality and its broader impact on society.
The Ukrainian representatives also participated in the workshop “New angles: creating a richer, more inclusive news story,” which focused on using a gender lens in journalism to uncover new perspectives and provide deeper analysis of events.
One of the most talked-about events was the discussion “Running a feminist grassroots journalism network in India,” which explored the creation of feminist media networks through the example of the Indian organization Chambal Media. The main speaker was Priya Thuvassery, a documentary filmmaker from New Delhi and head of Chambal Media. The organization produces content in local languages in collaboration with rural communities, amplifying the voices of women from marginalized backgrounds.
“When Priya found out I was from Ukraine, she said, “Thank you for your work during the war. Can I give you a hug?” It was incredibly moving,” sharedLiza Kuzmenko.
Representatives of Women in Media also attended the session “Investigating and reporting on AI ‘nudifying’ sites and non-consensual intimate imagery”, which addressed the challenges posed by the use of artificial intelligence to create unauthorized intimate images, as well as methods for investigating and reporting on these crimes.
In addition to participating in panel discussions, Liza Kuzmenko held several working meetings with partners. These included Andreas Lamm, Managing Director of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF); Olha Syrotiuk, coordinator of the Voices of Ukraine program; and Gohar Khodjayan, Program Manager at International Media Support (IMS), a Danish media organization operating in Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia.
Participation in the festival was made possible with the support of IMS, which plays an important role in advancing independent journalism in Ukraine.