Three tracks across as many days see more than 40 speakers address a couple of dozen sessions in this year’s WAN-Ifra World News Media Congress.

Programme for the event in Krakow, Poland, continues to expand and now includes a social excursion to a salt mine.

Speakers come from all over the world, including AFP, Amedia, BBC News, CNN, the Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Gazeta Wyborcza, Globe and Mail, Helsingin Sanomat, Le Monde, Manorama Online, Mediahuis, JP/Politikens, Ringier, Schibsted, the South China Morning Post, The Independent (UK), the New York Times and Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Among highlights is Gazeta Wyborcza editor Roman Imielski’s warning that ‘disinformation is demolishing democracy and civil society’. Imielski will also moderate an editors' session on rethinking your future newsroom.

Organisers emphasise the link between Poland’s democratic resurgence and the robust journalism of its independent news media, “making it an ideal host for the 76th World News Media Congress”. Through three specialist tracks and hands-on workshops, leaders of newsrooms and news organisations can explore the evolving strategies needed to build competitive and innovative spaces where essential journalism can thrive.

An annual highlight is the Golden Pen of Freedom announcement and award, which follows the opening.

Delegates get straight to business with a session presenting lessons from WAN-Ifra’s Newsroom AI Catalyst, with takeaways from the first 50 teams. Speakers are Stéphanie Barsch and Fergus Bell.

A global panel discussion on strategy brings together Bartosz Hojka (Agora Group, Poland), Mariam Mammen Mathew (Manorama Online, India), Styli Charalambous (Daily Maverick, South Africa), and Andrew Saunders (Globe and Mail, Canada).

A guided visit to the extraordinary Wieliczka Salt Mine (pictured), one of Krakow’s most interesting sites, has been added for delegates.

More speakers, organisations, and exhibitors are still being announced, so check the website for an update.