Voices — European Festival of Journalism and Media Freedom

Free tickets now available!

The first European Festival of Journalism and Media Freedom

We live in a world where information is in abundance, but accurate news is not always easy to find…

Voices emerges to bring citizens, journalists, and media professionals closer to each other.

We want to celebrate the pivotal roles journalism and the informed public play in societies while fostering critical thinking around disinformation.

For the upcoming third edition, Voices is about to return to Florence at Teatro del Maggio Musicale on 10–12 March 2026.

The second edition of the festival took place in Zagreb on 27 February - 1 March 2025. Over the course of three days, the festival explored crucial themes shaping our relationship with information and media nowadays through talks, interactive workshops, exhibitions, and networking opportunities.

Before Croatia, Voices kicked off in Florence back in March 2024. Over 1300 participants attended sessions tackling artificial intelligence and journalism, disinformation, safety of journalists, the challenges within media economic models, media literacy, elections' integrity, EU legislation on media, digital parenting, and digital well-being, among others.

The festival is an itinerant initiative that moves across different European cities to engage with different communities, while emphasising media freedom and media literacy as essential elements for the functioning of our societies.

Tomaso Montanari

Tomaso Montanari (Florence, 1971), a graduate of the Scuola Normale Superiore, is Full Professor of Early Modern Art History at the University for Foreigners of Siena, of which he

Francesca Albanese

Francesca Albanese is an international lawyer, specialised in human rights and the Middle East. Since May 2022, she has served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situa

Peter Gomez

Peter Gomez began his career in 1984 at the Verona-based daily newspaper L’Arena. In 1986 he joined Il Giornale, before following its founder Indro Montanelli to La Voce. From 19

Vera Gheno

Vera Gheno is a sociolinguist, who has collaborated with the Accademia della Crusca for 20 years. After 18 years as a contractor in various universities, since the end of 2021 she

Francesco Cancellato

Francesco Cancellato is editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Fanpage.it and a member of the board of directors of the European Journalism Centre. From December 2014 to September

Eman Alhaj Ali

Eman Alhaj Ali is a Palestinian freelance journalist, writer, translator, and storyteller who was forced to evacuate Gaza in April 2025. She is currently based in Ireland doing her

Valerio Nicolosi

Born in Rome in 1984. He covers foreign and domestic policy issues, with particular attention to crisis areas and migration routes. Every day he hosts the podcast “Scanner” for

Andrea Colamedici

Andrea Colamedici is a philosopher, publisher, and writer whose work explores how reality is constructed in the age of algorithmic consciousness. In 2014 he co-founded Tlon with

Věra Jourová

Věra Jourová currently serves as the Vice-Rector for the Development of Human Resources and New Technologies and is also in charge of managing the Public Relations agenda at Char

We drop new updates daily, so keep an eye on the schedule to catch all the news.

The programme is here!

Discover the full schedule of talks, workshops, conversations, and films that will shape this year’s festival. Voices goes beyond conversations: you will experience Living Stories, where journalists share their direct experiences of working under pressure; attend live podcast recordings; witness an original theatre piece… and much more.

All main sessions will have live interpretation (English ⇄ Italian), so everyone’s included.

Check out the programme