Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/07/2026
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
This event is hosted by the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media.
The discussion will focus on the growing pressures facing independent journalism and democratic institutions around the world, including authoritarianism, misinformation, economic sustainability and the role of technology platforms.
Panel Participants:
Anuradha Bhasin
Anuradha Bhasin is managing editor of the Kashmir Times and a journalist with more than 35 years of experience reporting on the Kashmir conflict, human rights, militarization and geopolitics in South Asia. She is the author of A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir after Article 370 (Harper Collins India, 2022). Bhasin has been a prominent voice documenting press restrictions, legal challenges and communications shutdowns affecting journalists in Kashmir.
Irma Dimitradze
Irma Dimitradze is a Communications Manager and journalist at Gazeti Batumelebi LLC, an independent Georgian media organization that operates batumelebi.ge and netgazeti.ge. She is the author of a recent data investigation that exposed the abuse of personal data (https://batumelebi.netgazeti.ge/archevnebi/551385/), including special category data, affecting tens of thousands of voters by Georgia’s ruling party ahead of the country’s October 2024 elections. Dimitradze has a particular journalistic interest in China-Georgia relations and, in her role as Communications Manager, is actively engaged in independent media advocacy projects and programs. Irma Dimitradze is also a member of the International Press Institute (IPI), a Vienna-based global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists.
Faisal Karimi
Faisal Karimi is an Afghan journalist, media entrepreneur and journalism instructor at Ohlone College in California. Before the Taliban takeover, he served as an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Herat University and worked with Afghan media organizations. Now living in exile, Karimi focuses on supporting Afghan journalists and strengthening independent media networks operating outside the country.
José J. Nieves
José J. Nieves is editor-in-chief of the independent Cuban media platform El Toque and executive director of the Mas Voces Foundation. A Cuban journalist living in exile in Miami since 2019, he leads atransnational newsroom now operating across 10 countries after government pressure forced journalists to leave Cuba. As an ICFJ Knight Fellow, he is developing a sustainability playbook for exiled newsrooms focused on revenue diversification, operational resilience andlong-term viability for independent journalism serving communities inside authoritarian regimes.
It is part of UNC’s First Amendment Day and is free and open to the public. Students can earn Campus Life Experience (CLE) credit.
Tagged: 1ad2026
Comments are closed.