EUROPEAN PRESS PRIZE 2026
The six winners that showcase the very best of independent journalism
INTERVIEW
As audiences scatter across social platforms and AI-powered search tools, Lisa Gibbs, president and chief executive of the Pulitzer Center, is betting that accountability reporting can remain essential –if journalists stay relentlessly curious, keep asking difficult questions, and find new ways to ensure their stories break through the noise.
STORIES
Keeping the lights on: independent journalism under siege in Georgia
Representatives of four independent media outlets talk about the challenges facing journalism in the country: imprisonments, attacks, “foreign agent” laws, and the struggle for survival.
INTERVIEW
Surveillance capitalism, counterintelligence for civil society, and journalism: a conversation with Citizen Lab’s founder
ALL STORIES
The founder and director of the University of Toronto’s renowned Citizen Lab sat down with iMEdD in Athens to talk about the crisis he perceives in liberal democracy and the future of digital spyware.
DATA
STORIES
Tools, news and practices from the data journalism community, useful for everyone
We’ve created dozens of charts that update automatically every day without any intervention on our end, thanks to a few lines of Python code and the Datawrapper API.
Using the RSS feed of Αthens Water Supply and Sewerage Company, we collect the latest data on extractable water reserves in Attica on a daily basis. The data is visualized in charts that update automatically, allowing the water reserves in the basin's reservoirs to be monitored.
It takes a lot of drudgery out of data cleaning and web development, but you still need an editor’s eye — and some software engineering skills — to get things ready for publication.
An application developed by data journalist Thanasis Troboukis visualizes public contracts of the central government and local authorities in Greece, as well as the data behind wildfires.
PRESS FORWARD
Features and analyses about the present and future of journalism
PODCAST
Today, well-coiffed podcasters – increasingly, celebrities – with gleaming smiles chat with their guests in set-designed studios. Funded by Big Tech, which has snapped up the formerly independent studios that used to produce podcasts, now most successful podcasts have some sort of video component.
Journalists worldwide navigate internet shutdowns, using risky workarounds to report news, exposing censorship, infrastructure failures, and personal, professional costs.
INTERVIEW
While collaborating on the writing of Virginia Giuffre’s autobiography, journalist Amy Wallace used meticulous journalistic research to document the trauma, the abuse, and Epstein’s secret network.
The nexus point where AI slop and propaganda meet is journalism’s latest challenge. When institutions are posting deepfakes of regular citizens and journalists themselves are being targeted, how can the public know what is real?
Τhree women who run Afghan newsrooms explain the challenges of practicing journalism under Taliban rule, managing editorial work remotely, and the ongoing struggle to keep their outlets operating.
After Maduro's ouster, Venezuela's journalists face a harsh reality: the struggle to report truth continues, both at home and in exile.
Speaking to iMEdD, Louis Jacobson of PolitiFact, described a profession constantly adapting to a fractured and fast-moving information ecosystem.
From “seggs” to “unalive,” online language is evolving to bypass automated moderation. What started as a workaround for content creators is now changing journalism itself. This is the story of algospeak.
EDITOR’S
PICKS
Curated stories and reports from the iMEdD journalism team.
1
Feature
A visual essay of U.S. local newsrooms: humor and survival
Photographer Ann Hermes has spent six years capturing the fading world of U.S. local news. She spoke with us about the current state and the future of local journalism.
2
Interview
Eliot Higgins: Algorithms, spies and Trump in the mix
The founder of the investigative platform Bellingcat speaks about algorithms and democracy in the 21st century, the world of intelligence services, and how investigative journalism is funded in the era of Trump.
3
Feature
Gaza’s storyline: the coverage and the silence
With the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas being a reality, five journalists and media professionals share their perspectives on covering a war that has resulted in the highest number of journalist casualties in history. They assess the experience of the last two years and comment on the prospect of the next day –which has yet to come.
4
Stories
MATRIX: A murdered journalist and the mafia’s crypto-phones
How the murder of a journalist in Amsterdam is linked to the investigation of organized crime in Athens.
UNPACKING THE STORY
A video series about investigations that shed light into systemic problems and social injustices
OPINIONS
Showcasing insights that challenge perspectives
