How funders are approaching safety and sustainability
Sat 18 April 2026
11:30
Free
Calculating distance...
Journalists reporting in conflict zones and high-risk environments face escalating threats, including physical danger, digital surveillance, legal risk and trauma. While safety is often framed as an individual or newsroom responsibility, funders play a critical and increasingly visible role in shaping what protection, support and sustainability look like in practice.
This session brings funders into a rare, open conversation about how philanthropic institutions approach journalist safety and security, and what obligations they believe they have to the journalists and media organizations they support. Panelists will discuss how decisions are made around risk, emergency response, trauma and mental-health support, and cross-border collaboration; where current models fall short; and how safety considerations intersect with long-term sustainability for independent journalism.
Attendees will gain insight into how funders are thinking about responsibility and accountability in some of the most challenging reporting environments in the world.
Moderated by Kayce Ataiyero.
Organised in association with Media Impact Funders.
Modified more than a month ago
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Kayce Ataiyero
Kayce Ataiyero is the Chief External Affairs Officer at the Joyce Foundation, where she oversees the Foundation's strategic communications, the Journalism Program and the Lend A Hand community grants fund. She is also a member of the Foundation's leadership team. Kayce has extensive experience in communications, journalism and politics. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2018, she served as director of external affairs for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, where she led communications and community engagement. She has also led communications for U.S. Congresswoman Robin Kelly, the Illinois Governor’s Office and the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office. As an award-winning journalist, Kayce previously worked as a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune, The Raleigh News and Observer, Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post. Kayce has a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland College Park. She is board chair of Media Impact Funders, a national organization that advances the work of a broad range of funders committed to supporting media in the public interest. She also serves on the board of Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, an organization committed to the unfinished business of our nation’s civil rights movement. She is a Leadership Greater Chicago Daniel Burnham Fellow, was named a Top 10 Empowering Women Leaders to Follow by CIO Views Magazine, a Chicago Titan 100, one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Illinois by Women We Admire, a Notable Black Leader and Executive by Crain’s Chicago Business and one of Chicago’s most influential Black leaders by The Chicago Tribune. She also at one time was general manager of the Chicago Steam, a minor-league basketball team.
Jodie Ginsberg
Jodie Ginsberg is CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal. Jodie joined CPJ in 2022, having started her career as a graduate trainee with Reuters news agency and worked as a foreign correspondent in South Africa; as Reuters’ chief correspondent in Ireland; and then as then bureau chief for the U.K. and Ireland. As bureau chief, Jodie managed coverage of the 2008 financial crisis, U.K. riots and 2010 general election, as well as overseeing the merger of the Thomson and Reuters U.K. newsrooms. In 2014, Jodie was appointed chief executive of London-based freedom of expression group Index on Censorship, which she led until 2020. An internationally respected campaigner on issues of media freedom and freedom of expression, Jodie is a regular speaker on journalist safety and issues involving access to information. Fro...
Marcia Parker
Marcia Parker is vice president, philanthropic partnerships at The New York Times. Prior to joining the Times in 2022, she was chief operating officer of Calmatters, a nonprofit journalism organization covering California politics, policies and personalities. More previously, she was executive director of content and audience engagement for Penton’s Technology news portfolio. She also served as editorial programming and audience development director at State.com, a global opinion platform, and was West Coast editorial director of Patch.com, AOL’s venture into hyperlocal journalism. Marcia is also the board chair of the Institute of Nonprofit News.
Jon Williams
Jon Williams is the Executive Director of the Rory Peck Trust. Jon spent two decades leading global news teams on both sides of the Atlantic. As the BBC’s World News Editor, he led the broadcaster’s coverage of the war in Afghanistan, awarded the International Emmy for News for the BBC’s reporting of Israel’s 2006 war against Hezbollah, and a second for its coverage of the Syrian Civil War. As Managing Editor of the US network ABC, he earned a third Emmy for its reporting of the Syrian refugee crisis. Most recently, he led the digital transformation of Ireland’s public broadcaster, taking it to market leadership online and on air as Managing Director of RTE News. Jon is now the Executive Director of the Rory Peck Trust, which works to protect independent journalism by funding training, crisis assistance and mental health support for freelance journalists around the world. He serves on the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists, as well as that of the UN Refugee Agency’s UK fundraising foundation. He is currently campaigning to build Britain’s first permanent memorial to those who have died while reporting from the world’s conflict zones, designed to be an enduring reminder of their sacrifice and the contribution of journalism to democracy.
Festival Internazionale del Giornalismo
Il Festival Internazionale del Giornalismo di Perugia è un evento annuale che riunisce professionisti dei media, esperti di comunicazione e appassionati di informazione da tutto il mondo. Si svolge nel centro storico di Perugia e offre conferenze, dibattiti, workshop e opportunità di networking sui temi più rilevanti del giornalismo contemporaneo.