The LATAM Media Leaders Summit 2026 is the main annual meeting point for leaders who are defining the direction of the media in Latin America. The event is organized by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, which is a non-governmental nonprofit organization composed of 76 national newspaper associations, 12 news agencies, 10 regional press organizations, and many individual newspaper executives in 100 countries.
The leaders present at the event will share real experiences, strategic learnings, and high-level conversations about the present and future of the media, in a space designed to exchange ideas.
During the two days of presentations, various topics on AI, new revenue models, leadership, among others, will be addressed. Below we share the complete list of topics and speakers for each of the sessions.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
- THE FUTURE OF NEWS COMPANIES IS NOT JUST JOURNALISM, IT IS LEADERSHIP
Speaker: Juanita León – Founder and Director, La Silla Vacía, Colombia.
- LEADING NEWS COMPANIES IN AN ERA OF UNCERTAINTY AND POWER REDISTRIBUTION
Speaker: Gabriel Escobar – Editor and Senior Vice President, The Philadelphia Inquirer, United States.
- GOOGLE AND THE NEWS INDUSTRY: COLLABORATION AND CO-INNOVATION IN THE NEW ERA OF SEARCH
Speaker: Juan Manuel Lucero – Head of News Partnerships, South SPLA, Google, Argentina.
Speaker: Connie Niebuhr – News Partner Manager for Chile and Peru, Google, Argentina.
- WHAT BUSINESS ARE WE REALLY IN?
Speaker: Mijal Iastrebner – Co-founder SembraMedia and Consultant, Argentina.
- FROM EXPERIMENTATION TO EXECUTION: WHAT WE LEARNED BRINGING AI TO THE HEART OF THE NEWSROOM
Speaker: Belén Jódar – COO, Hiberus Media Labs, Spain.
Speaker: David Sancha – CEO, Hiberus Media Labs, Spain.
- PERÚCHECK: PROFITABLE AND MASSIVE-SCALE FACT-CHECKING
Speaker: Rodrigo Salazar Zimmermann – Executive Director, Peruvian Press Council, Peru.
- INFLUENCE WITHOUT DISTRIBUTION
Speaker: Nazifh Luna – General Director and Founder of Digital Room, Mexico.
Speaker: René Lankenau – Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Whitepaper, Mexico.
- STRUCTURAL REENGINEERING AND NEW REVENUE MODELS
Speaker: Ignacio Gimenez Zapiola – Strategic consultant for media and tech companies, Argentina.
- TRUST IN THE ALGORITHM: WHY SOCIAL NETWORKS REMAIN KEY FOR INFORMING
Speaker: Diego Neyra – LATAM and Spain Regional Director, Echobox, United Kingdom.
Speaker: Juan Sebastián Quintero – Product and Innovation Manager Pulzo, Colombia.
- THE MEDIA’S INVISIBLE CAPITAL: TALENT, MEMORY, AND ENERGY AS STRATEGY
Speaker: Lluís Cucarella – CEO, Next Idea Media and Editorial Director Journalism Laboratory, Luca de Tena Foundation, Spain.
- NARRATIVE WITH PURPOSE: CONTENT THAT CONNECTS, RETAINS, AND CONVERTS
Speaker: Branko Brkic – Co-founder Daily Maverick, Founder and Leader of Project Kontinuum, South Africa.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
- THE CEO’S AGENDA FOR THE NEXT 24 MONTHS
Speaker: Paulo Samia – CEO, UOL, Brazil.
- MEDIA “IN/ON THE LOOP”
Speaker: Pepe Cerezo – Director of Digital Journey and Partner of Programmatic Spain, Spain.
- BEYOND THE PILOT: HOW REUTERS TURNED AI EXPERIMENTATION INTO NEWSROOM TRANSFORMATION
Speaker: Peter Henderson – Americas Editor of Breaking News Business, Reuters, USA.
Speaker: Daina Beth Solomon – Correspondent in the Mexico City office, Reuters, Mexico.
- GOVERNING AI AT SCALE
Speaker: Claudia Báez – Regional Director for Latin America, Fathm, Colombia.
Speaker: Christophe Israël – Founder – AI and digital strategy consultant, OK Lab, Switzerland.
Speaker: Gisella Salmón – Head of Innovation at MediaLab, El Comercio Group, Peru.
- THE MEDIA ORGANIZATION WE REALLY NEED
Speaker: Naimid Cirelli – Chief Operating Officer, SembraMedia, Argentina.
Speaker: Charo Henríquez – Deputy Editor of Strategy and Editorial Operations at The New York Times, Washington Bureau, United States.
- WHEN TRAFFIC STOPS GROWING: HOW TO BUILD THE NEXT BUSINESS MODEL
Speaker: Beatriz Hernandez – Executive Director, IAB Peru, Peru.
Speaker: José Manuel Jurado Gómez – General Manager, El Comercio Group, Peru.
It should be noted that the LATAM Media Leaders Summit 2026 will take place on Tuesday, September 15 and Wednesday, September 16 at the Costa del Sol Wyndham, located in the Magdalena del Mar district.
El Comercio will provide special coverage of the LATAM Media Leaders Summit 2026. The main incidents, statements, interviews, and conclusions of the two days can be followed through elcomercio.pe and the newspaper’s social networks.
