2026 Media Freedom Forum: Five Key Takeaways

This year’s Media Freedom Forum raised an important question: how do we increase reporting on the Sudan conflict without stripping communities of their dignity and agency?

A clear theme ran through the discussions. It is not just about increasing the amount of coverage, but about how stories are told, who gets to tell them, and who holds influence over the narrative.

1. Centre local voices and shared editorial power

Work with journalists and communities on the ground who are living through the conflict. Reporting should not rely only on a distant external perspective. It needs to include local perspectives in a meaningful way.

This also means going beyond treating local journalists as sources. They should be part of the storytelling process itself. When they are involved editorially, coverage becomes more accurate and less dependent on familiar external framing about the Global South.

2. Use formats that reach beyond traditional news audiences

These stories should not only live on news websites or in newspapers. Those spaces can be hard to access and often do not reach younger audiences.

News organisations should experiment more with vertical video, social platforms, audio storytelling, and collaborations with citizen journalists. The point is not to simplify the journalism, but to make it more accessible without losing rigour.

3. Make Sudan a consistent editorial priority

International media can help close the gap in coverage of Sudan, but only if it actively chooses to.

That means more than general intent. It requires structural commitment from editors. Dedicated commissioning routes, long-running series rather than isolated stories, and deeper collaboration with Sudanese journalists and regional media would all help.

Without that kind of focus, Sudan risks dropping out of coverage between moments of crisis.

4. Do not reduce Sudan to a single story of suffering

It is important to reflect the complexity of the conflict and the people living through it. Sudan is not only defined by war and famine. It is also made up of students, activists, parents, journalists, and community organisers.

Reporting should avoid presenting people only as passive victims. It should also reflect agency, including how individuals and communities respond, survive, and organise within extremely difficult conditions.

5. Build newsroom cultures that support sustained coverage

Ultimately, this comes down to editorial decisions. Newsrooms need to do more than ask whether Sudan is newsworthy at a given moment. They need to treat it as an ongoing story that deserves consistent attention.

That means actively encouraging pitches, supporting collaboration across borders, and creating clearer pathways for sustained coverage rather than one-off reporting spikes.

Without that internal commitment, better reporting practices will remain occasional rather than standard.