As we gear up for Media Party NYC 2026, taking place May 8-10 at Columbia University’s Brown Institute, our global community of journalists, developers, and designers is once again preparing to hack the future of media.
To get into the “innovation mood” required for our New York gathering, there is no better exercise than revisiting the breakthroughs from our latest edition, Media Party Buenos Aires 2025. Among a stacked agenda, three specific sessions stand out as the perfect preamble to the themes that will dominate the conversation in NYC:
1. Maggie Farley: “Beyond the whim of the algorithm: Finding Real News in the Creator Economy”
In her Lightning Talk, Maggie Farley (ICFJ) breaks down the tension between the financial success of independent creators and the necessity of information integrity. This session introduces the International Center for Journalists and YouTube initiative to establish quality standards for digital communicators—a crucial framework for our “News Influencers & Vertical Video” core theme at Media Party NYC.
Watch Maggie Farley’s Talk here:
2. Laura Zommer: “ChatMigrante: Technological Innovation at the Service of the Community"
Laura Zommer, CEO of FactChequeado and our Keynote Speaker for NYC 2026, presented ChatMigrante, a hybrid AI model serving the Hispanic community in the U.S.
By combining generative AI with 500+ curated sources and expert supervision, ChatMigrante solves the “hallucination” problem while delivering 24/7 verified information. This case study is essential for understanding the Internal Tools & Workflows theme, showing how automation can empower newsrooms to serve vulnerable communities at scale.
Watch Laura Zommer’s Talk here:
3. Jim Haddadin “Meeting Monitor: Using AI to surface local news”
How can under-resourced newsrooms maintain civic accountability? Jim Haddadin (Connecticut Public) introduces “Meeting Monitor,” a pilot project that uses AI to fill gaps in municipal governance oversight.
From uncovering local corruption to spotting “rare dolphins” in meeting logs, this session proves that AI can surface critical stories that would otherwise go unnoticed. It is the ideal bridge to our “Local News & AI” track in NYC, showcasing an automated system that keeps journalists in the loop via Slack, in communities lacking reporters.
Watch Jim Haddadin’s Talk here:
Explore the Media Party NYC 2026 Agenda
Don’t wait for the event to start. The full programming for New York is now available, featuring keynotes, workshops, lightning talks, and networking sessions designed to hack the future of media.
