How does journalism work, now that old media is in disarray?

Come and find out about the future of journalism at the Fifth conference on Innovation Journalism at Stanford University on May 21-23. The conference focuses on both the “journalism driving innovation” and the “innovation driving journalism.”

Participants include Matt Marshall, founder of VentureBeat, who will present VentureBeat’s journalism model on Thursday, May 22. He’ll also participate on a panel about the news industry’s challenges in the innovation economy. Read the full conference program at the Innovation Journalism web site, together with speaker bios and presentations.

The conference will also highlight how innovation journalism has become a new startup sector.

Apart from bringing together leaders from the news industry, the conference will this year bring in Zafar Siddiqi (pictured right), Chairman of CNBC Arabiya and CNBC Africa and President of CNBC Pakistan. He will talk about intellectual freedom and the Internet’s affect on global media organizations.

The annual conference is hosted by the Stanford University’s Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL) and the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova). As one of the Swedish fellows involved in the program (I and co-fellow Tanja Aitamurto are both working for VentureBeat short-term as a part of the fellowship), I’ll also be hosting a panel about the role of foreign correspondents in the Bay Area.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is also forming a new Global Agenda Council on the Future of Media, which will be looking into media’s role in society. David Nordfors, conference chair and Senior Research Scholar at (SCIL), will be a member of the council, which is being inaugurated in Dubai in November.

The innovation journalism conference is free of charge. You have to provide a credit card number when you register online, but the deposit is returned when you check in to the conference, or if you cancel before the conference starts. You’ll only be charged if you register but don’t turn up for the conference. Refreshments and drinks are provided.