More than 180 MDIF clients, media partners, team and board members met in Cape Town for the 2026 Media Forum.
Over two days, some of the world’s leading independent media – from traditional news outlets to platforms and tools connecting people and information – examined key business issues.
Media leaders shared strategies to address some of the industry’s most pressing topics, like how to build resilient revenues and a balanced business in a volatile market, and the foundational importance of producing excellent content that meets audience needs. A recurrent theme was how media can better understand and connect with audiences by developing new formats and approaches to data. Similarly, AI appeared in different contexts with users sharing approaches to using it effectively in the newsroom and business processes in an ethical and transparent way.
The Media Forum provided opportunities for media leaders – many of whom work as small islands of integrity in hostile surroundings – to network and build relations with peers from other parts of the world. There is commonality in the challenges they face, both in running a sustainable business and in facing political pressure and threats. Participants regretted the absence of journalists Jose Ruben Zamora from Guatemala and Mzia Amoglobeli from Georgia, who are both enduring long-term detention for their work.
As the last session closed, despite the challenges, there was a feeling of positivity in tackling the ongoing business disruption, as well as an unbending commitment to serving communities and shining a light on the New World Order.