ORGANISATIONS

Reference is a self-organised network of independent European news publishers. The network fosters mutual support in addressing non-editorial organisational and business challenges, and collectively advocates for the wellbeing and financial sustainability of independent, public interest media.

Attending the Media Village will be:

Brigitte Alfter is a senior German-Danish journalist, founder and director for Arena for Journalism in Europe and lecturer at the University of Gothenburg. Having practiced journalism on local, national and European level, she realised the need for cross-border collaborative journalism structures.

Since 2003, she thus has developed European support- and infrastructures for cross-border journalism along her own journalism practice.

Today, she combines journalism practice including editorial advice and mentoring, entrepreneurial activities, teaching/training and academic research.

Johanna Pisco is a journalist and Project Manager, bringing extensive experience coordinating complex initiatives across media, civil society, and the private sector. With a background in journalism and content research, she has collaborated with leading media outlets and private companies as a reporter, community manager, bilingual copywriter, and multimedia coordinator.

Known for a strategic mindset and hands-on approach, Johanna excels in research, innovation, operations, and planning.

Her current work focuses on strengthening independent media through collaborative practices that drive impact, resilience, and sustainability.

Deborah Meibergen is a digital security trainer and IT coordinator at Arena for Journalism in Europe's, Collaborative Desk. Next to teaching people about digital security and coordinating IT or projects, she also has experience with writing and implementing information security policies and performing risk assessments.

Self-taught, Deborah has worked in the arts, digital rights, information security, cyber security, investigative journalism and the FOSS community for 20+ years. As an activist, she's vocal about defending human rights, inequality, digital security and privacy, especially important in this age of surveillance capitalism and authoritarianism.