Dealing with police, corrupt city officials, legal intimidation and online harassment – the day’s newsroom challenge
With a variety of national, cultural and press freedom backgrounds, journalism students yesterday (November 11, 2026) were immersed in real-world threats to newsgathering and news publishing.
Following a day with high-level speakers at the Palais de l’Europe, in Strasbourg, they were back in a class-room setting to identify how they would respond to the sort of challenges dealt with by reporters, including video journalists, and news outlet owners and representative journalism organisations.
They were asked what they would do if:
- Police ordered the deletion of footage of violence towards an innocent protester
- There was a concerted disinformation campaign against a verified story
- A reporter or news outlet risked being censored by legal measures in the form of ‘SLAPPs’
- A woman journalist was targeted online including sexist abuse, the posting of her home address and the creation of fake social account profiles
The workshops were part of the two-day conference, Youth Facing Disinformation – Why Journalists Matter, a joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the Monegasque Presidency of the Committee of Ministers. The NMC covered the first day event in a dedicated blog post available at this link.
Students, focusing on journalism or on related democracy and human rights issues, had applied for E6,000 grants to develop projects aimed at addressing disinformation and the value of journalism in societies – in particular for younger and future generations.
