Marina Walker Guevara led the collaborations behind the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers. At Media Party Buenos Aires 2026, she explained how investigative journalism works in the age of agents. She also shared why journalists need to work together more than ever.
A network to investigate a network
“Just like with the Panama Papers, we believe it takes a network to investigate a network,” she said. For that reason, the Pulitzer Center launched the AI Accountability Network in 2022. According to Walker Guevara, it now brings together 4,000 journalists in more than 100 countries.
Walker Guevara is executive editor of the Pulitzer Center. This nonprofit organization, based in Washington, D.C., started in 2006. Today, it offers journalists financial and editorial support, training and collaborative networks. In her role, she explores the relationship between AI and power. She also studies how that relationship affects democratic systems.
How technology helps journalists confront power
“Technology, then as now, did what it always has to do,” she said. “It augmented human work and created shortcuts through that maze of data. Then journalists could do what no machine could do for them: report on the ground, confront the powerful and shine a light on the victims of multiple crimes.”
At every stage of an investigation, the key questions stay the same. First, what are the relevant issues? Second, who are the main actors? And finally, who are the people affected? That is why collaboration is essential. In her words: “This agenda of rigorous investigation of concentrated technological power is not just optional. It is existential for journalism.”
In addition, Walker Guevara proposed a shift in focus. Instead of letting agents do the investigating, journalists should investigate AI itself. In other words, they need to find out who builds it, who funds it and for what purposes.
The new owners of global power
Walker Guevara also traced a timeline of technological development. Along the way, she showed how a very small group of corporations and superpowers now concentrates the power of AI. As a result, democratic states are losing sovereignty. Her warning speaks to this edition’s central theme, cognitive sovereignty: the ability to think, editorialize and decide without handing our judgment over to a machine.
She also warned about the biases built into automated algorithms. These systems decide on subsidies, social assistance and school support. Consequently, they affect communities all over the world.
When journalism is the only check
When regulatory frameworks are missing, investigative networks and innovative journalism are often the only accountability mechanism for the AI industry and its political partners. In fact, AI regulation is one of the topics of this edition’s Policy and Regulation sandbox.
Even so, there is reason for hope. “The good news is that impact is possible,” she said. “We have been surprised by how much these issues resonate with people, and sometimes with decision-makers too.” Media Party shares that commitment to collaboration through its Regional AI and Data Training Program. The program supports data investigations in several countries across the region.
Curiosity and independence: what doesn’t change
Finally, Walker Guevara called on news organizations and content creators to stay critical. She urged them to distrust techno-utopian narratives. At the same time, she encouraged a radical kind of collaboration, one that crosses scientific and journalistic disciplines. “We cultivate the two things that never change in journalism,” she said. “Curiosity and, hopefully always, independence from all kinds of power.”
That defense of independence also runs through the talk by Sevgil Musaieva of Ukrainska Pravda, another keynote speaker at this edition. Want to keep exploring the topic? Read more articles on data journalism and fact-checking.
The network keeps growing at Konex
The conversation does not end here. On Friday, October 30, Media Party continues at Ciudad Cultural Konex with the sandboxes, lightning talks and workshops. Then, on Saturday, October 31, the hackathon turns ideas into prototypes.
Join us at Konex (Sarmiento 3131) on Friday 30 and Saturday 31. Admission is free: register here and become part of the global network transforming the media.
