Hay Festival Segovia 2023

The ongoing technological revolution, spurred on by the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), has forever changed journalism. The screen has established itself as the primary medium for providing audiences with a massive, unceasing flow of news. Newsrooms have become veritable operations centers where information arriving through every conceivable medium is monitored, processed, and distributed. But in this dense forest of information, threatened by algorithmic stimuli, memes, and fake news, there is a greater need than ever for the kind of transparency that only a human presence can provide: journalists with names and surnames who appear before the public to explain themselves.

That is why, for the second year in a row, the fictional newspaper Europa Tribune will open its newsroom to offer a live look at how a news outlet’s front page is decided.

Building on these, we will undertake a journalistic forecasting exercise to explore which of them could shape the future of the continent.

The guests joining this editorial roundtable are: Martin Dahms, correspondent for the Frankfurter Rundschau and the Stuttgarter Zeitung; Helena de Bertodano, reporter for The Sunday Times; Richard Hogenkamp, a Dutch journalist and correspondent for RTL4, Het Financieele Dagblad and De Tijd in Spain; David Sharrock, a contributor to The Times; and Miquel Molina, deputy editor of La Vanguardia, will gather at the Fundación Telefónica Space in Madrid to discuss which stories deserve to appear on the front pages of the print and online editions of this utopian European newspaper. What will be the most relevant news story of the day? What photo should accompany it? Nuria García Arenas, design editor-in-chief at La Vanguardia, will be responsible for capturing this debate on paper. This exercise in journalistic striptease will be presented by Sheila Cremaschi, director of the Hay Festival Spain, member of the jury for the 2026 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature, and recipient of the 2026 British Council UK-Spain Award for Lifetime Achievement in Bridging Cultures, and Sonia Mulero, general director of the Banco Sabadell Foundation and one of Spain’s top 100 women leaders.

Event in Spanish

The Stringer, the acclaimed documentary directed by Bao Nguyen and produced by award-winning photojournalist Gary Knight, explores the hidden world behind some of the most influential images in modern war journalism. Through a fascinating investigation into the origins of a photograph that helped shape the world’s perception of one of the most defining events of the late 20th century, the Vietnam War, the film raises unsettling questions about authorship, truth, recognition and the ethics of journalism.

The screening will be introduced by Gary Knight and Borja Santos Porras, Vice-Dean of the IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs, who will provide context for the film and its relevance in an era of controversial narratives, information warfare and rapidly evolving media ecosystems.

A thought-provoking film aimed not only at aspiring journalists, but also at students and professionals in international relations, politics, diplomacy and global governance.

Event in English

What happens when an image we thought we knew reveals a different story? How are the narratives that shape our understanding of international conflicts constructed? And what does it mean to pursue truth in an age of disinformation, competing narratives and information warfare?

Inspired by the questions raised in The Stringer, the acclaimed Netflix documentary produced by Gary Knight, this conversation brings together Knight, one of the world’s leading photojournalists, and veteran international correspondent Anna Bosch to explore the power of images, frontline reporting and the responsibility of those who document history as it unfolds.

Moderated by Borja Santos Porras, Vice Dean of IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs, the discussion broadens the conversation beyond journalism to examine how international narratives are shaped—and challenged. Bringing together the perspectives of a photojournalist, a foreign correspondent and a scholar of global affairs, the panel will explore who gets to tell the stories that define our understanding of the world, why those stories matter, and why the search for truth begins with the willingness to look again.

Event in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish

In the book The Newspaper of Democracy, Javier Cercas offers a personal view on the fifty years of El País and, at the same time, on the construction of democratic Spain. Far from being an institutional chronicle, the writer traces the story of a reader who has followed the newspaper since its origins and who is also part of it as a contributor to El País Semanal magazine.

On the occasion of the newspaper’s 50th anniversary, Cercas revisits a collective adventure marked by the defense of freedoms, the vocation for independence, and the conviction that journalism remains an essential tool for understanding reality. The author will talk with El País journalist Margaryta Yakovenko, who is also the author of the novels Desencajada and Ocupación. The meeting will be an opportunity to explore not only the history of a newspaper that shaped Spanish public life, but also to reflect on how the story of a democracy is built and what the role of journalism is today.

At the end of the event, the author will be signing copies of his books

Event in Spanish

Facts stripped of artifice, reduced to the very power of reality, exude a formidable power of seduction. In the naked truth there beats a singular beauty and an inexhaustible sense of wonder. Although it is practised across various disciplines and genres, it is in journalism that it has found its finest expression. Is this now a dying concept? The reporting of facts, rooted in simplicity and clarity, has become an essential demand of our times, seduced by post-truth and narcissistic narratives. Three high-flying journalists offering three distinct or alternative perspectives, yet always complementary and enriching: Manuel Jabois, Ketty Garat and David Mejía. Leading the discussion is the writer and journalist Teodoro León Gross.

At the end of the event, the authors will be signing copies of their books

Event in Spanish

Africa roars, dances, rebels, breathes life; within it beat all the Africas that make up the continent. The same is true of Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, Colombia, and Haiti. These are places rich in stories, yet too often their histories have been told through outside voices that reduce them to stereotypes and relegate them to the margins. International relations expert Sani Ladan and journalist Jacobo García challenge that narrow perspective through their latest books. El latir de un continente explores ancient civilizations, anti-colonial resistance movements, and ancestral knowledge, placing Africa at the center of its own story. Años luz, winner of the Anagrama Chronicle Prize/Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, revisits some of the defining episodes of recent Latin American history through more than two decades of reporting across the region.