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Branko Brkic - Founder Project Kontinuum Branko Brkic, Founder, Project Kontinuum and co-founder of Daily Maverick Branko started Daily Maverick in 2009 with five people and turned it into one of South Africa’s most important newsrooms. In this session he argues that what happened to South African media in the 2010s is now happening everywhere. The big legacy players are still powerful, but slow. The platforms can switch publishers off overnight. And there has been no collect

Helen Philpot - Managing Editor - The Sun Ask a newsroom what 2030 looks like and you'll get a polite silence. Helen Philpot, Managing Editor of The Sun, thinks that's the right answer. In this session of the Emerging Tech Network she makes the case for timing over strategy, explains why adoption is the real barrier to new tech, and gives vendors some fairly direct feedback on how they turn up.

Lucy Alexander - Director Insight and Analytics at the FT Lucy Alexander has spent ten years at the FT doing exactly that. In this session of the Emerging Tech Network she gets into why the metrics that used to matter probably don't anymore, how the FT built a framework that the whole business could actually use, and what happens to the reader relationship when AI starts mediating it for you. This is one of those conversations that sounds like it's about data but is really ab

Louise Ioannou - Publisher Nat Geo Kids & Little Kids What does trust actually mean when your audience is eight years old and their parents are watching everything you do? Louise Ioannou, Publisher of National Geographic Kids, joined the Emerging Tech Network to talk about building a brand that families genuinely believe in, and what that means for every technology decision she makes. This is a rare perspective for tech companies working in media. A publisher who knows exactl

Stephen Jones, Founder of Maro in conversation with Andrew Webb Stephen Jones spent nearly two decades as a working journalist before anyone gave him the data to properly understand whether his work was landing. That experience, building PA Media's analytics function from scratch and learning first-hand how hard it is to make data meaningful to a newsroom, is exactly what Maro is built on. In this session of Stack Sessions, Stephen gets into why publishers are flying blind ac

Robin Booth - Leadership in the Age of AI In this session of the Emerging Tech Network, Robin Booth, outgoing MD of EMAP and incoming CEO of Hemming Group, shares what he's actually learned from leading AI transformation in B2B publishing rather than what sounds good on a slide. The conversation gets into the questions publishers are wrestling with right now. How do you lead change when nobody has a reliable roadmap? When do you build and when do you buy? And what happens to

How do you stay focussed on SEO in the age of AI? Harry Clarkson-Bennett - SEO Director - The Telegraph There's a conversation happening across every newsroom, every boardroom and every publishing leadership team right now. And it sounds something like this: what are we doing about AI? It's a fair question. But Harry Clarkson-Bennett, SEO Director at The Telegraph, thinks we might be asking the wrong one. In this session of the Emerging Tech Network, Harry makes a quietly com

Stack Session - Ludovic Blecher, Partner at WhiteBeard Ludo Blecher has spent 25 years at the sharp end of journalism and media technology from reporter to editor-in-chief at Libération to deploying innovation funding at Google to joining Whitebeard as a Partner. In this first Stack Sessions we get into why publishers can lose the technology battle before they've started, cobbling together disconnected tools that drain budget and create silos. Ludo's answer is an all-in-one

In our recent Emerging Tech Network session, we were joined by Monica Sarkar to explore one of the most pressing questions facing modern newsrooms: how do you earn the attention and trust of the next generation of news consumers? Sarkar, who leads audience strategy work at CNN, shared insight into how news consumption is rapidly shifting away from traditional destinations such as homepages and towards off-platform environments including social media, messaging apps and short-

An interview with Fergus Bell, CEO of Fathm, for the Emerging Tech Network As 2026 unfolds, AI in newsrooms is shifting from shiny experiment to quietly essential infrastructure. In this wide-ranging conversation, Fergus maps how publishers are moving past prompts and pilots towards real integration, harder ROI questions, and uncomfortable business-model truths. Efficiency gains matter, but they’re no longer the endgame. The real opportunity lies in trust, original reporting,

In episode 13, the Emerging Tech Network explores the fast moving world of data, attention, and audience insight with Samantha Eales, Head of Commercial Audience Data and Insight at Mail Metro Media. Sam talks openly about managing insight across more than 60 advertising channels from print to digital to a rapidly growing social ecosystem and why truly understanding reader behavior now sits at the heart of modern media. She explains how engagement builds attention, how attent

In this episode, Andrew Webb introduces the Network to Ben and Fiona from Reach to unpack the build-or-buy dilemma behind the creation of Mantis, the AI-powered brand safety and contextual platform built by publishers, for publishers. They reveal how Reach turned frustration with ad-tech middlemen into innovation — helping news brands reclaim revenue lost to keyword blocking and outdated tech. Expect sharp insights on AI’s role in media, publisher survival in the open web, an

In this episode, Sue Macmillan, CEO of Mumsnet, shares her journey from politics to leading one of the UK’s most influential parenting communities. She reveals how trust and user-first values have shaped Mumsnet’s success, how rapid advances in technology and artificial intelligence are transforming the platform, and why agility and experimentation are key to staying ahead in the digital world. Sue also lifts the lid on the future of online communities, audience engagement, a

In our latest episode of the Emerging Tech Network podcast, I had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Linda Broughton, co-founder and CTO of Contribly. Linda’s story is such an inspiring one — from her days at The Guardian to launching a company that’s all about bringing people and tech together in the world of publishing. We talked about everything from the human side of tech innovation to how Contribly is helping publishers build real, meaningful relationships with their

In an era of disruption, how do you pace change, set development priorities, and choose the technologies that deliver impact? Join us for a compelling conversation with CEO, Mark Beard, the driving force behind the transformation at Prospect Publishing—one of the UK’s boldest and most innovative independent publishers. Home to Prospect magazine and the award-winning Media Confidential podcast (hosted by editor, Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber), Prospect has developed into a

For technology companies to successfully navigate the path from MVP to RFP and adoption, it's essential to understand the key figures making the critical decisions in the process. So far on the Network we have featured a CTO, CPO, two heads of SEO, the brilliant CEO’s from Candr and Mumsnet, and the exceptional editorial innovation lead that is Nadine Forshaw from The Sun. In this session, we welcomed Chris Duncan, former CEO of Bauer Media to share his insights into the inte

What does it mean to lead editorial innovation for one of the UK's biggest news brands. In this age of unprecedented disruption of the normal. Newsbrands are having to not just adjust and adapt, they need to innovate and lead. Nadine Forshaw joined us on the Network to share her insights.

Startups in UK publishing are constantly figuring out how to build the right mix of talent—balancing the adaptability of generalists with...

In an era of digital disruption, National World's Joe Cawthorn and Jade Power are rewriting the playbook for modern journalism. Bridging...