The first-ever international conference on live journalism was held in Helsinki, Finland, in May 2022. Over 50 practitioners, journalists, and academics interested in live journalism discussed and shared insights about the new genre of storytelling. We also shared the groundbreaking research results on live journalism. 

In a panel discussion, live journalism practitioners from Europe, USA, and Canada analysed the best tips for planning, editing, producing, and coaching a high-quality show. We also looked into the future and asked: Can we scale live journalism? What’s the value of a live encounter in our digital age?  

Please find our detailed conference program below the speaker list.

Guest speakers 

India Bouquerel

India Bouquerel is the editor-in-chief of Live Magazine, a journalism show in 6 countries and 18 cities in Europe, labelled Press Innovation of the Year by the 2015 Assises Internationales du Journalisme. Since its creation, Live Magazine has reached an audience of 90,000 and has produced special editions with the Financial Times, Le Monde, Le Temps and Les Echos as well as book publishers, tech companies and major festivals. Live Magazine's government-sponsored outreach and media literacy program trains teachers and vocational school students all over France. Previously, India was a screenwriter for television and spent many years on the English-speaking staff of the public television channel France 24 as an international news coordinator. She studied public administration, but finally chose journalism – the other civil service.

Glenda Cooper

Dr Glenda Cooper is the deputy head of the journalism department at City, University of London, author of Reporting Humanitarian Disasters in a Social Media Age (Routledge, 2018) and co-editor of Humanitarianism, Communications and Change  (Peter Lang, 2015). As co-founder of News on Stage, and co-director of Contemporary Narratives Lab, her work looks at how to bring journalists, theatremakers and the public together. Projects include the 2021 HOME/CARE event working with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Coney. Prior to City, she was the Guardian Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.  

derek fagerstrom

Derek Fagerstrom is Pop-Up Magazine's co-founder, Executive Editor, and Director of Special Projects. He previously worked at Esquire, Interview, and Francis Ford Coppola's literary journal Zoetrope: All-Story. He lives in Northern California, US, with his family. 

Sonya Fatah is the director of stitched! a live journalism lab that is housed at the Catalyst in the Creative School at the Toronto Metropolitan University in Canada. She teaches at the university's School of Journalism and has led several media criticism and feature development publications such as the Review of Journalism and J-Source. She is currently on the editorial board of J-Source, as well one of the leads on J-Source's Canada Press Freedom Project. Sonya's creative practice includes supporting live journalism projects for students in the Master's program, as well as her live journalism work, soon to be performed at the Aquarius Theatre in Hamilton. In Winter 2023 Sonya will lead a live journalism course in partnership with stitched! and the Climate Disaster Group project at University of Victoria, which will result in a climate crisis show in theatres in Toronto and Victoria. Her reporting career was focused on international journalism, covering India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well, briefly, South Africa, for publications in the U.S. and Canada. 

cristian lupșa

Cristian Lupșa is one of the co-founding editors of DoR, a digital and print magazine in Romania that believes well-crafted narrative journalism can connect people, heal wounds, inspire, lead, and create change. His career in journalism began in 2000, and has taken him from Romania to the U.S., and back. He started DoR in 2009, and since 2011 is also the host of The Power of Storytelling, an international storytelling conference in Bucharest. Cristian is a 2014 Nieman Fellow, and alongside his team is one of the European Press Prize winners of the 2017 Special Award and the 2020 Innovation Award. DoR Live had its first pilot show in 2013. After two digital versions in 2021, it’s coming back to the stage this year.

Jochen Markett

Jochen Markett is a media trainer, moderator and show organizer. He lives in the beautiful Potsdam, Germany. In 2016, he discovered a gap in the German event industry and started the Reporter Slams. In this entertainment show, which he moderates, reporters have 10 minutes on stage to talk about their own research in the most entertaining way possible. At the end of the competition, the audience chooses the Slampion. Each January, a show with all the Slampions from the previous year takes place in Berlin.
The Reporter Slams have become a success: there have already been more than 40 slams, with more than 150 slammers. The show has been on stage in 10 German cities–and now also abroad. A Slam in English was presented in Skopje in 2021, and this summer it will be Bucharest's turn.
Starting probably in autumn 2022, Reporter Slams will also be shown in schools. Recently, Jochen Markett and his company started another stage format: a show for constructive journalism.

Florence Martin-Kessler

Florence Martin-Kessler is the founder and CEO of Live Magazine, a journalism show in 6 countries and 18 cities in Europe. Since its creation in 2014, Live Magazine has reached an audience of 90,000 and produced special editions with the Financial Times, Le Monde, Le Temps and Les Echos as well as book publishers and major festivals such as les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles and the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Live Magazine's government-sponsored outreach and media literacy program trains teachers and vocational-schools students all over France.

Florence Martin-Kessler was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in 2010–2011. She sits on the board of the CFJ (French Journalism School). In 2019, she was listed amongst the 'Fifty who make Paris' and in 2021 amongst '100 Women of Culture'.

François Musseau

François Musseau is the founder of Diario Vivo, which was started in June of 2017, as a way of bringing journalism to the theater stages. Since 1999, when Musseau settled down in Madrid, he has been the correspondent for French media outlets such as Libération, Le Point, Geo, XXI. He also has done many audio documentaries for radio broadcasters such as RFI (France) and RTS (Switzerland). During the last decade, in addition to Diario Vivo, Musseau has founded also other «direct communication medias», such as a Philosophic Café and a Literary Cabaret. 

Ingerid Salvesen

Ingerid Salvesen is a journalist based in Oslo. She has worked for several of Norway's biggest newspapers and media companies, covering mainly climate and environmental issues. Together with Heidi Taksdal Skjeseth, she organized Norway's first live journalism show in 2019. 

Heidi Taksdal Skjeseth

Heidi Taksdal Skjeseth is a journalist currently based in Oslo. She works for the NRK, Norway’s public broadcast, covering international news. She was a US Correspondent for the Norwegian daily Dagsavisen from 2010 to 2017. Together with Ingerid Salvesen, she organized Norway’s first Live Journalism Show in 2019.