Journalism Under Pressure: Impressions from the b° future festival 2025 in Bonn
Image: https://www.b-future.org
The b° future festival for journalism and constructive dialogue, held from October 2-4, 2025 in Bonn, offered three days of intensive engagement with the most pressing questions facing the media landscape. Among the key themes was a development that the No SLAPP Contact Point encounters daily in its work: the increasing pressure on critical reporting in Europe.
On the first day of the festival, the director of the No SLAPP Contact Point had the opportunity to participate in the Deep Dive Workshop "Reporting Europe: Journalism, Democracy, and the Authoritarian Challenge." The four-hour session addressed an existential question: How can journalism continue to function as a pillar of democracy in the face of growing authoritarian tendencies in parts of Europe? The discussion made clear that the challenges are multifaceted – ranging from legal threats and shrinking financial resources to direct intimidation. Particularly valuable was the exchange about concrete strategies that media organizations across Europe are developing to counter these attacks. The European Commission also presented an overview of funding instruments available to journalists.
The festival offered numerous additional sessions addressing related themes. Particularly striking was the panel "From Newsroom to Courtroom: Repression of Georgian Journalists," which concretely demonstrated how quickly press freedom standards can erode. Within just six months, Georgian media professionals faced attacks, repression, and political imprisonment – an example of how independent media must fight for press freedom against all odds.
The session "America's Free Press in Shackles" turned attention to the United States, where public media are currently losing funding, critical newsrooms are being silenced, and journalist protections are being rolled back. The discussion posed the unsettling question: Will democracy's guardrails hold?
The role of digital platforms and the power of tech corporations were also focal points of several events. The panel "Game over, Democracy? Wie wir uns das Netz zurückholen" (How we reclaim the internet) with Prof. Martin Andree, as well as the discussion "Facebook & Co: Should I Stay or Should I Go?" addressed the increasing dependence on algorithm-driven platforms and searched for alternatives.
The festival also constructively engaged with the question of how journalism should deal with extremism and populism. The session "Stresstest für den Journalismus: Wie umgehen mit Extremisten und Populisten?" (Stress test for journalism: How to deal with extremists and populists) developed strategies for how reporting can remain trustworthy, relevant, and democracy-strengthening when confronted with "professionals of polarization."
A practical approach was offered by the session "Demokratie retten jetzt – Zeit für einen Masterplan" (Save democracy now – Time for a master plan), which focused on concrete approaches to regulating Big Tech, developing European platforms, AI competence, and rebuilding media trust.
The festival made clear: The challenges facing free journalism in Europe are real and multifaceted. At the same time, the intensive exchange between media professionals from different countries showed that strategies, networks, and support structures exist. The work of the No SLAPP Contact Point fits into this larger context – as a concrete resource for those in Germany who are being silenced through abusive lawsuits.
The constructive dialogue that the festival enabled is itself part of the solution: Only through networking, exchange of experiences, and joint strategy development can the space for critical, independent journalism be defended and expanded.
This article first appeared on www.noslapp.de