Aegean Summit • June 30 - July 1 2016 • Athens, GR
Creating an Annual Meeting Point for Independent Media Startups & Journalists: Europe, Mediterranean & MENA Cross-Border CollaborationsSarajevo • Athens • Rome • Istanbul • Beirut • Cairo • Tehran • Amman • Kuwait
Confirmed Speakers
Gelareh Kiazand
Filmmaker - Tehran, Iran
Nick Malkoutzis
Editor, MacroPolis- Athens
Maha ElNabawi
Co-founder - Mada Masr
Preethi Nallu
Managing Editor, Refugeesdeeply
Iason Athanasiadis
Freelance Journalist - Middle East
Alireza Jozi
Media Entrepreneur - Tehran
Ibrahim Nehme
Publisher - Beirut, Lebanon
Lina Attalah
Editor, Mada Masr - Cairo
Enrico De Angelis
Syria Untold
Sotiris Sideris
Co-founder, Athens Live
Chrysovalantis Stamelos
Filmmaker- Izmir, Turkey
Ayman Mhanna
Director, GFMD - Brussels
Yavuz Baydar
Journalist, Platform24 - Istanbul
Doa Ali
Journalist, 7iber - Amman
Spyros Ladeas
Director, Aegean Summit
Marta Ottaviani
Journalist, La Stampa - Milan
Teun Gautier
Publisher, The Cooperation - Amst
Chris Elliott
Guardian, Ethical Journalism EJN
Hamoud Almahmoud
Arab Reporters Investigative Jour
Thodoris Georgakopoulos
Journalist - Athens
Laura Silvia Battaglia
Freelance Journalist, Yemen-Italy
AGENDA
DAY 1
8:00AM Registration & Coffee
9:00AM Defining Objectives of Aegean Summit 2016
- Spyros Ladeas, Director, Aegean Summit
What is the role of independent media?
9:20AM Moderator: Ayman Mhanna (GFMD Brussels)
- Access to information and fundamental freedoms and involvement of media organizations in this process
9:30AM Yavuz Baydar (Platform24 Istanbul)
- Independent media: pluralism, ownership, freedom of expression
9:40AM Thodoris Georgakopoulos (Dianeosis Athens)
- Philanthropy as a business model and media as a public good
9:50AM Ibrahim Nehme (Outpost Magazine Beirut)
- Indie media as laboratories of social activism
10:00AM-10:45AM Panel discussion and Q&A from participants
10:45AM Networking Coffee Break
Examples of progressive media narratives & audience development strategies
11:15AM Moderator Lina Attalah(Mada Masr Cairo)
- Editorial production as a site for progressive discourse between afflicting narratives and mediation for wider outreach
- Audience building for sustainability and to engage other communities outside of our conventional readership
11:25AM Doa Ali (7iber Amman)
- Audience building through editorial choices: Bringing the focus back to the story.
11:35AM Nick Malkoutzis (Macropolis Athens)
- Confronting the editorial narratives of speculation and inaccuracy
- How media narratives develop and evolve
11:45AM-12:45PM Panel Discussion, Examples and Q&A from participants
12:45PM LUNCH BREAK
What are new sustainable business models, funding models and how do we monetize?
2:00PM Teun Gautier (The Cooperation Amsterdam)
- The new journalistic business model evolves around freelance collectives
- Summaries from report 52 ways to monetize journalism
2:35PM Maha ElNabawi (Mada Masr Cairo)
- Revenue generation within knowledge based media economy of journalism
3:05-3:50PM Moderator: Michael Irving Jensen (International Media Support Copenhagen)
- Panel Discussion and Q&A from participants
- Sustainability and surviving in a fragmented and challenging financial & political media landscape
3:50PM Networking Coffee Break
The evolution of the career of the freelance journalist
4:20PM Marta Ottaviani (La Stampa Milan)
- Challenges and bureaucracy as a freelancer: in home country and experiences as Greece & Turkey correspondent
4:30PM Laura Silvia Battaglia (Frontline Freelancer Register Milan)
- Establishing independent freelancer network in MENA region and improving production standards
- Local knowledge vs parachute journalists; addressing safety, training; instability not being a full-time team
4:40PM Iason Athanasiadis (freelancer Istanbul)
- Career evolution of the freelancer: traditional & new media and experiences in MENA region
4:50PM-5:30PM Panel Discussion Q&A from participants
5:30PM Conclusions and Summaries from Day 1 from Moderators & Crowd-Sourcing Reports
DAY 2
8:15AM Morning Coffee
8:50AM Intro to Day 2
How do we create cross-border & cross-platform collaborations?
9:00AM Moderator: Enrico De Angelis (Syria Untold Cairo)
- Different approaches to collaboration: content, guest contributors, link-sharing, translations to native-language; overcoming the isolation of indie media in local markets
9:10AM Hamoud Almahmoud(Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism Amman)
- Having the right partners that can decipher local context of local data
9:20AM Alireza Jozi (TechRasa Tehran)
- Media as a platform to connect and facilitate cross-border entrepreneurship and innovation
9:30AM Sotiris Sideris (Athens Live Greece)
- Video and social media and building a community
9:40AM-10:45PM Panel Discussion and Q&A from participants
10:45AM Networking Coffee Break
Migration is Europe’s moment of truth & the challenge for journalism
11:15AM Preethi Nallu (www.refugeesdeeply.org Beirut)
- Collaborative vs. Competitive – New Approaches to Journalism
- Nurturing long term partnerships with journalists and media outlets
- Crowd-sourcing expertise from the pool of academics, humanitarian agencies and policy makers working on migration.
- Finding new ways of telling the story, while creating “relatability” and forming links between migration trends.
11:35AM Moderator – Discussion: Chris Elliott (Ethical Journalism Network & The Guardian London)
- Migration is Europe’s moment of truth & the challenge for journalism
- Politically driven-agendas, media literacy, sensationalism, missed opportunities, falling standards, hate speech, self-regulation of indie media
11:45AM-12:45PM Panel Discussion and Q&A from participants
12:45PM LUNCH BREAK
Diverse editorial narratives through filmmaking & video
2:00PM Gelareh Kiazand (filmmaker Tehran)
- How to address the careful balance of story-telling through fiction and documentaries without influencing the authenticity of story and characters
2:15PM Valantis Stamelos (filmmaker Izmir)
- Sharing stories in English to international audiences as a cultural bridge to those exploring the depth of perspectives in the region
2:30-3:00PM Discussion and Q&A
3:00PM Networking Coffee Break
3:30-4:30PM Summaries & Conclusions from Moderators & Crowd-Sourcing Reports:
- What are the main takeaways and outputs from each conference session
- Next steps for creating an annual meeting point between Europe & MENA for independent media & journalists
- How will we enact and create on-going new synergies, processes and collaborations between journalists and indie media from Europe & MENA?
Sharing Knowledge
The format of the program and panel discussions is to analyze timely commercial & creative themes of the media industry through lively panel discussions with mixed-perspectivesPitching Media Projects
Media start-ups will have an opportunity to pitch their projects to the audience and investors to seek partners and funding in the ‘pitch your media start-up’ sessionMedia Incubator
The aim of the conference is to encourage on-going commercial and creative synergies amongst publishers, media startups, filmmakers, journalists and advertisers within the East Med and internationallyEast Med Media Nexus
We aim to invigorate the media ecosystem in the East Med and use media as a tool for social progress, innovation and cultural extroversionAgenda Committee
- Ayman Mhanna & Caroline Giraud: GFMD – Brussels
- Aidan White: Ethical Journalism Network – London
- Yavuz Baydar: journalist Platform24 – Istanbul
- Ibrahim Nehme: The Outpost – Beirut
- Iason Athanasiadis: journalist & film-maker Middle East – Istanbul
- Alireza Jozi: TechRasa – Tehran
- Spyros Ladeas: director Aegean Summit – London/Athens
- Nikos Kakavoulis: digital media entrepreneur– Athens
- Michael Irving Jensen: International Media Support – Copenhagen
- Tassos Morfis: Athens Live – Athens
Mission of Aegean Summit
Why a Mediterranean & MENA Independent Media Summit?
The cities of Athens, Istanbul, Beirut, Cairo, Tunis, Amman and Tehran are seeing a wave of under-the-radar talent in media startups, publishing, bloggers, filmmaking, journalism and our goal is:
- To create an annual forum for media talent from the region to meet under one roof
- Create cross-border & cross-platform collaborations among independent media
- Engage international media and change the narrative with local perspectives from MENA & MED
- Panel discussions on monetizing, distribution models and diversifying revenue streams
- Long-term media incubator: pitch new projects, find partners and funders for startup media projects