Journalism in the polarised world: reaching audiences beyond the bubble

Voicing different views is the basis of any democracy. But growing divisions, enhanced by social media algorithms, are increasingly weaponised by populist and authoritarian politicians. Polarisation has become one of the core tools authoritarians use to sow confusion, spread conspiracy theories and propaganda, and essentially divide societies. This leads to a loss of common ground and can result in political violence. How do we talk to each other? Where can we talk? And how can media— as platforms for public discussion—reach diverse audiences beyond their usual political or commercial audiences?
Since its inception, the Public Interest Journalism Lab (PIJL) has been working, experimenting, and researching how to address polarisation and reach audiences outside one’s own bubble. This includes questioning the independent media model itself, which is often built on monetising the development of a like-minded community—where polarisation may even be helpful for crowdfunding and donations. Natalya Gumenyuk and Angelina Kariakina will address this. We will also discuss the role of public broadcasting and legacy media as institutions of trust, drawing on Angelina’s experience at Suspilne, the Ukrainian Public Broadcaster, and the EBU.
PIJL’s work focuses on how to engage with sensitive topics. Over time, we have seen that disinformation and polarization have become critical challenges for journalism, driven in part by the technological model of social media. That is why we want to address this issue now, while acknowledging that it continues to evolve. From our early COVID-era research to later work on sensitive issues related to the war, we have observed how polarization affects not only political journalism but also investigative journalism (when facts are denied) and foreign reporting—whether it is covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for global audiences or reporting on Gaza and other wars.
During this panel, we will discuss how polarization can be overcome across different domains. This includes human rights reporting—such as the work PIJL does while covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—as well as technological approaches explored by Natalia Antelava through her work on models and tools at Coda, a media organization that combines investigative journalism, technology, and cross-border collaboration to challenge dominant narratives, build new editorial models, and develop tools that help newsrooms report complex global stories beyond binary framings. Patricia Campos Mello, a Brazilian reporter, can speak both about working with heavily polarized domestic audiences in Brazil and about foreign reporting from Ukraine for audiences in the so-called Global South.
We will focus not only on diagnosing the problem but also on solutions: approaches grounded in editorial values, content strategies, newsroom philosophy, and the role of digital algorithms in reinforcing or mitigating polarization. We will also examine what editors and newsrooms can do in practice, recognizing that responsibility is shared among individual journalists, editorial teams, and broader technological, structural, and commercial systems—with the latter addressed by Natalya Antelava.
Moderated by Nataliya Gumenyuk.
Organised in association with the Public Interest Journalism Lab.