The State of Journalism: Perspectives from Greece, Italy, Germany

Traditional journalism is facing a historic transformation. Across Europe, the media landscape is being reshaped by the rise of digital platforms, artificial intelligence, and social media which are redefining how news is produced, distributed, and consumed. At the same time, journalists and media institutions are contending with political pressures, economic uncertainty, and growing public skepticism.

This panel, brought to you by the European Club brings together experts from Greece, Italy, and Germany to explore how European countries are navigating these challenges and what they mean for the future of press freedom and democratic discourse. The conversation will delve into the role of technology in shaping media ecosystems, the resilience of independent journalism, and national responses to the evolving information environment.

By examining case studies from across Southern and Central Europe, the event will highlight both shared struggles and innovative approaches to sustaining trustworthy journalism in an age of rapid change.

Andrea Marinelli

Andrea Marinelli is deputy editor of the foreign affairs desk at Corriere della Sera, Italy’s leading newspaper, where he writes about U.S. politics and society and has co-written a daily military briefing on the war in Ukraine. He is currently a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, class of 2026, where he is exploring how coverage of the U.S. and its foreign policy is evolving alongside shifts in American politics and society.

Sanaz Saleh-Ebrahimi

Sanaz is an award-winning science journalist, news-anchor, documentary producer and content creator. Over the last few years, she has been working for big media organisations and broadcasters in Germany, among them ZDF, WDR, rbb, n-tv and Zeit Online. She has taught how to work on-camera and worked as a host for panel discussions and events. She also produces videos for her Social Media channels on nutrition, health and lies of the food industry. You can find her and her more than 200k followers on Instagram and on TikTok.

Sotiris Sideris

Sotiris is also the data editor of Reporters United and co-founder of AthensLive. In addition, he serves as a lecturer of digital media at Macromedia University of Applied Sciences in Berlin and as a research associate in the NTLab at the University of Athens.

Previously, he worked with the Greek NGO Network for Children’s Rights as the coordinator and chief editor of the multilingual newspaper Migratory Birds, featuring stories written by young migrants and refugees in Arabic, English, Farsi, Greek, and Urdu, and as a researcher and producer for the Greek national TV documentary series 28 Europe.

His work has been published in numerous Greek and European publications, including Investigate Europe, Mediapart, and Tagesspiegel. In 2017, he was a Stavros Niarchos Foundation fellow at Columbia University, where he studied programming and data journalism. In 2019 he participated in the Bertha Challenge, a global fellowship program for investigative journalists and activists by Bertha Foundation.