Paula Slier

Founder and Owner: Newshound Media International

Founder and Owner: Newshound Academy

Polonius: What do you read, my lord?

Hamlet: Words, words, words

(William Shakespeare, ‘Hamlet’)

Paula Slier is an award-winning international journalist and professional speaker specialising in disinformation, information warfare, and psychological and digital manipulation, with more than two decades of frontline reporting experience across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe - especially Eastern Europe.

After years spent reporting from conflict zones and operating inside high-pressure international newsrooms, her work now focuses on how information is shaped and distorted through framing, omission, and narrative control - and how deliberately false information is created and weaponised to influence public perception.

Through professional speaking engagements, media literacy training, and curated digital retreats and digital clean-up programmes, Paula works with international audiences to help them reset how they consume information, recognise manipulation, and rebuild critical thinking in an age of constant noise and information overload.

a tale of me

"I followed the war wherever I could reach it."

(Martha Gelhorn, pioneering war correspondent)

I didn’t set out to chase wars. I set out to understand people – and very quickly learned that conflict is where truth is most contested, distorted, and weaponised.

I began my career in South Africa as a young journalist, drawn less by headlines than by what sits beneath them. Over time, I found myself moving across borders and front lines – often into places where information is as dangerous as the fighting itself.

I have worked in cities under siege, cities emptied of certainty, and cities struggling to hold themselves together. I have spent long hours listening to people whose stories were being simplified, distorted, or stripped of context long before they reached an audience. It was there that I learned how rarely what we see is the full picture – and how often it is not even the true one.

JOURNALISM IN AN AGE OF NOISE

Facts do not speak for themeslves. They are spoken for.

As my career unfolded, so did a deeper question: how stories are shaped, framed, and manipulated before they ever reach the public. I began to see how omission can be as powerful as lies, how emotion is engineered, and how modern conflict is fought not only with weapons, but through narratives, images, and information.

Today, my work sits at the intersection of journalism, disinformation, information warfare, and psychological and digital manipulation. Through professional speaking and media literacy training, I work with audiences to break down how narratives are built, why false or misleading information spreads so easily, and how to recognise when we are being nudged, provoked, or steered rather than informed.

FROM HEADLINES
TO MEANING

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed.

If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed."

(Mark Twain)

At the heart of this work is a simple, human question: how do we know what’s real, what’s true, and what to believe – especially when “fake news” is no longer obvious, and credibility itself is under attack?

Through international keynote talks, in-depth workshops, and guided digital reset programmes, I help people step back from the noise. My work focuses on how we consume information, how constant exposure reshapes our thinking, and how to rebuild clarity, perspective, and critical judgement in an age of permanent connection.

The question is no longer simply “Is this true?”
It is: Why am I seeing this? Why now? And what’s missing?

Articles

PROFESSIONAL SPEAKING

"People may forget what you said or what you did,

but they will never forget how you made them feel."

(Maya Angelou)

WHAT I SPEAK ABOUT

* Media, misinformation, and how narratives are built

* Reporting from conflict zones and what it teaches about truth under pressure

* Decision-making when facts are contested

* Journalism in an age of noise, speed, and outrage

WHO THESE TALKS ARE FOR

* Conferences and festivals

* Universities and journalism schools

* Corporate leadership teams

* Policy, education, and civic organisations

FORMATS

* Keynote talks

* Moderated conversations

* Panels and fireside chats

* Custom talks for specific audiences

* Master of Ceremonies (select events)

Professional Memberships

Associate Member, Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa (PSASA)

Associate Member, National Speakers Association (NSA), USA

TRAININg &media literacy

"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes."
(Mark Twain ..... or not)

I design and deliver training programmes to help audiences understand how information shapes perception, behaviour, and decision-making. I focus on media literacy, disinformation, digital manipulation, and psychological influence - not as abstract theory, but as lived reality.

The sessions are practical, rigorous, and grounded in real-world case studies, equipping participants with tools they can immediately apply to news consumption, online environments, and professional decision-making.

⁠Training areas include:

* Media and information literacy

* Disinformation and narrative manipulation

* Digital influence and psychological framing

* Critical thinking under pressure

* Understanding bias, emotion, and outrage in news consumption

RETREATS

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary

so that the necessary may speak."

(Hans Hofmann, artist and teacher)

These retreats are designed as intentional pauses from constant information flow.

Away from breaking news, social media, and digital noise, these "digital resets" offer space to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with clear thinking.

Drawing on decades of frontline reporting and media analysis, I combine conversation, guided reflection, and structured downtime - creating an environment where insight can surface without pressure.

Retreats are small, carefully curated, and focused on restoring clarity rather than productivity.