It's been an explosive start to 2026 (no, I don't mean like that), with two journalism events - in The Hague and in Perugia. Free Press Unlimited held their day's conference on a rainy day in February in a government building in The Hague. Inside - warmth, fervour, excitement, commitment, drive. Indian investigative journalist, Rana Ayyub, speaking off the cuff, talked about the toll opposing an oppressive government has on her mental health, about how 'courage' and 'bravery' are annoying epithets, and how the truth matters, how people's stories matter. Sudan's AlMigdad Hassan won Newcomer of the Year for his reporting from Khartoum during the bombardments (prior to which he'd been a pharmacist), and Ulviyya Guliyeva, from Azerbaijan, had a friend receive her award because she's in prison. She now reports on the injustices in prison, sneaking reports out via any means possible - nothing will stop her. Carlos Dada, editor of El Faro, El Salvador's newspaper in exile, was funny and charming while explaining that news agendas are set, essentially, by money.
Perugia in April! This was the twentieth anniversary of their international journalism festival, a massive affair that takes over the whole city and almost every building in it for talks, discussions, parties, panels, dinners, drinks, meetings, clinics, all over just four days. Events are mainly in English, but the Italian crowd was big and all the huge stars of Italian journalism were there (including Mario Calabresi and Francesca Mannocchi). Gaza's Al Jazeera bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh, silenced a vast auditorium (actually an old cathedral) as he told everyone about finding his family dead under rubble and how he returned to work. He got a standing ovation that seemed an odd reaction to me, though I did join them. Of course, it was support and solidarity, but somehow I can't imagine he could have wanted to be clapped after that story. Maybe he did. There was a panel that was supposed to be about how the desire to tell a good story can get in the way of good journalism, but actually turned out to be someone in a rage about AI harassing a fellow panelist who worked for Google. Hard to watch. Amy Wallace, who ghost wrote Virginia Roberts Giuffre's autobiography, talked devastatingly about Virginia, men, power, the world. Grim. The Russian Meduza founders (real Russian news in exile) were edgy, sharp, anxious, and I saw a great panel about cyber security at which I learnt that using Zoom for therapy with people who might be under threat is insane. Hello Jitsi. The lovely Fergal Keane talked with searing….warmth…about mental illness in the field and he did a great job of showing how completely normal it is. The sane reaction to insane horror is to go insane. Basically. At The Mind Field, we tell patients this all the time! It would be much weirder if you remained all zen. Philippe Sands, the author of East West Street (if you haven't read it, quick!) and an (the?) international human rights lawyer, was inspirationally optimistic about the world and the state it's in. Law is robust, he said, and getting more robust. Imperfect, yes, but it's there. This is not a moment to give up. He talked about an elderly lawyer he knew who'd been in a camp under 'the care' (he said this) of Dr. Mengele. If he'd known lawyers were fighting for him (they weren't as it was before the big treaties), it would have changed nothing material. But it would have given him hope. I'd just been to mass at the Duomo, so hope was on my mind and it was wonderful to hear it given a voice by someone who is cleverer than everyone. Can't wait for next year!