Media reform in Lebanon

Marius Dragomir is an award-winning media scholar and journalist, serving as the director of the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC). He is also a researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain and has served as a visiting professor at Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, where he taught courses on journalism, research design, advocacy, and policy engagement.

Mihaela Groza works as the Communications Manager at MJRC supervising social media activities as well as managing both internal and external communications. Prior to this role, Mihaela served at CMDS (at CEU), where she took on diverse responsibilities including administration, project management, and research.

Theodore Southgate is a writer and editor based in Barcelona. He has been working with MJRC for several years now as a content editor, mainly on ESL pieces including articles, reports, essays and all manner of other publications related to the field of global journalism. He is now working as a project coordinator for the Media Reform in Lebanon project.

Minna Aslama Horowitz is a Docent at the University of Helsinki, a researcher at the Nordic Observatory for Digital Media and Information Disorder (NORDIS), and a Fellow at St. John’s University, New York. She is also a member of the Think Tank of the Nordic Council of Ministers to address platformization in the Nordics. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki and has taken part in several international research activities in the past decade.

Tanja Kerševan is a Research Fellow and Assistant Professor at the University of Ljubljana. As a former media regulator and State Secretary for culture, media and film, her research focuses on media, audiovisual and digital platform policies and regulation. She currently serves as an independent member and co-drafting rapporteur of the Committee of Experts on Media Regulators in a Platform-Based Environment (MSI-eREG). Previously, she chaired the ERGA Subgroup on the Digital European Toolkit and contributed to Council of Europe expert committees on Internet intermediaries (MSI-NET) and artificial intelligence (MSI-AUT) as a member.

Aleksandar Manasiev is an award-winning journalist and founder of NarativAI–Center for Media Innovation in the Balkans, based in Skopje, North Macedonia. With more than 20 years of experience across print, TV and digital media, his work today centers on supporting newsrooms in adapting to AI-driven transformation, with a strong emphasis on transparency, trust, and editorial responsibility. Through NarativAI, he develops practical frameworks, research, and training programs that help media organizations integrate AI into their workflows.

Attila Mong is a Hungarian-born journalist, radio broadcaster and columnist with more than 20 years of experience in news and investigative reporting. Now based in Berlin, Attila works as Europe representative of the global press freedom organization, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and a consultant on digital innovation projects with the DW Akademie, Germany’s leading media development organization. He is a supervisory board member of Atlatszo, a crowdfunded investigative journalism platform in Hungary.

Adriana Mutu is a University Professor in the Departments of Humanities and Market Research at ESIC Business & Marketing School in Barcelona, where she also serves as the Head of Academic Quality. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a MA in Journalism and Communication Sciences from the University Alexandru Ioan Cuza of Iasi, Romania. She has conducted research at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Helsinki. Adriana is founding member of MEDEA (Mediterranean Europe and Africa) and provides expertise to the Council of Europe and the European Commission.

Robert has a 15-year-long career in journalism, with diverse roles at different Hungarian TV stations and online media outlets, ranging from journalist to senior editor and news producer. He was also guest lecturer at the Department of Media and Communication at Eötvös Lóránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, Hungary. He actively participates in various research projects, including leading the MJRC’s collaborative project with Philea on producing the Journalism Funders Forum newsletter.

Judith Pies holds a PhD in communication science from the University of Erfurt. Her academic work since 2015 has included professorial roles in digital and international journalism at Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart, the University of Dortmund and Bundeswehr University Munich. She has long-standing experience in academic research, teaching, journalism and management of international media projects. In 2018, she founded the organization Media | Competence | International, which offers international media consultancy and training in media literacy.

Andrei Richter is Research Professor at Comenius University in Bratislava and Adjunct Professor of the Webster University in Vienna. In 2011-22 he served as Director and a Senior Adviser at the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. An Austrian citizen, Richter holds university degrees in law, journalism and foreign languages, a doctorate of philology in Russia and a habilitated professorship in media studies from Slovakia.

Dr Krisztina Rozgonyi is Senior Scientist at the Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies (CMC) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and a senior international media, telecommunication and IP legal and policy expert. She works with international and European organizations (such as the ITU/UN, UNESCO, Council of Europe, European Commission, World Bank InfoDev, OSCE and BBC MA), with national governments, and regulators as an adviser on media freedom, spectrum policy and digital platform governance.

Photo: Monika Saulich.