🗓️ 19–23 October 2026
📍Washington, D.C. · Philadelphia · New York
The forces reshaping journalism are not arriving one at a time.
Artificial intelligence is changing newsroom operations and raising new questions about editorial guardrails and governance. Video is becoming central to how publishers reach audiences. Local news organisations are testing new models for sustainability and community engagement. And political newsrooms in the United States are preparing for another major election cycle in an increasingly fragmented media environment.
From 19 to 23 October, just two weeks before the U.S. midterm elections, WAN-IFRA’s U.S. Newsrooms Study Tour will bring senior media executives to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York for five days of newsroom visits, direct conversations and peer exchange.
Five days, three cities, different perspectives on newsroom change
The programme follows the Northeast Corridor, bringing participants inside organisations operating at very different scales. Rather than looking for a single model for the future of journalism, the tour compares approaches — and asks what can be adapted to other newsrooms and markets.
Washington, D.C.: strategy, politics and the changing newsroom
The Study Tour begins in Washington, where the political context will be impossible to ignore.
At The Washington Post, the discussion is expected to cover how the newsroom is rebuilding after a period of significant change, alongside AI tools, audience engagement and the political landscape weeks before the vote. Hearst Newspapers offers a different vantage point: how innovation and AI can be introduced across a large network of local titles.
The American Press Institute, which works with publishers across North America, will broaden the conversation to emerging newsroom practices, audience trust and leadership. And POLITICO brings a fourth model — specialist political journalism combined with subscriptions, digital products and a growing focus on AI.
Inside the POLITICO newsroom in Washington, D.C.
Philadelphia: rethinking local journalism
In Philadelphia, the programme turns to metropolitan and local news. The Philadelphia Inquirer is expanding digital storytelling in search of a sustainable future for city journalism, while the Lenfest Institute for Journalism helps publishers build AI capabilities, strengthen community relationships and work with creators.
Together, the sessions address a question facing publishers around the world: how can local journalism remain relevant and sustainable while audience habits and platforms continue to change?
New York: video, sports, audiences and newsroom transformation
New York closes the week.
At The New York Times, video is a central theme: the organisation has signalled its ambition to become as much a destination for watching the news as it is for reading and listening, alongside wider work in AI, product and visual journalism.
The Athletic brings sports journalism and lessons from the World Cup. The Wall Street Journal opens up newsroom and cultural transformation, and how it is widening the reach of its journalism. The New York Post offers a different model again: speed, social reach, video and breaking-news workflows.
The developing programme also includes The Atlantic and a session bringing perspectives from Semafor and CUNY on AI and newsroom operations.
Seven questions running through the week
- Artificial intelligence — How are newsrooms moving from experimentation to implementation?
- Video and storytelling — Where are publishers investing at speed?
- Audience and community — How are publishers building loyalty, participation and stronger community ties?
- Newsroom strategy — How are structures, workflows and leadership priorities changing?
- Covering the U.S. midterm elections — How are political newsrooms approaching reporting and mistrust?
- Sports innovation — What can publishers learn from the World Cup and from changing sports audiences?
- City papers and local journalism — How are metropolitan publishers competing for local audiences?
Study Tour participants exchange directly with media teams during newsroom visits.
Learning directly from the people doing the work
A Study Tour is different from hearing a case study on a conference stage. Participants go into the newsroom, hear the context behind strategic decisions and put their questions directly to the teams responsible for carrying them out.
The conversations also continue between visits: WAN-IFRA Study Tours bring together media executives from different countries and markets, making it easier to compare approaches and test how an idea from one newsroom might travel to another.
WAN-IFRA Study Tours bring together media leaders from different countries and markets.
The five days are designed to send participants home with a clearer understanding of how U.S. publishers are responding to change, and with ideas they can test in their own markets.