diff --git a/app/Models/Foundation/Summit/Events/Presentations/Presentation.php b/app/Models/Foundation/Summit/Events/Presentations/Presentation.php
index 9641ede5f..d2e5c9c78 100644
--- a/app/Models/Foundation/Summit/Events/Presentations/Presentation.php
+++ b/app/Models/Foundation/Summit/Events/Presentations/Presentation.php
@@ -994,7 +994,7 @@ public function getAttendingMedia()
     /**
      * @param bool $attending_media
      */
-    public function setAttendingMedia($attending_media)
+    public function setAttendingMedia(bool $attending_media): void
     {
         $this->attending_media = $attending_media;
     }
diff --git a/app/Models/Foundation/Summit/Factories/PresentationFactory.php b/app/Models/Foundation/Summit/Factories/PresentationFactory.php
index 973b8b822..ecb24f75e 100644
--- a/app/Models/Foundation/Summit/Factories/PresentationFactory.php
+++ b/app/Models/Foundation/Summit/Factories/PresentationFactory.php
@@ -108,8 +108,8 @@ public static function populate(Presentation $presentation, array $payload, $onl
         if (isset($payload['attendees_expected_learnt']))
             $presentation->setAttendeesExpectedLearnt(html_entity_decode($payload['attendees_expected_learnt']));
 
-        $presentation->setAttendingMedia(isset($payload['attending_media']) ?
-            filter_var($payload['attending_media'], FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN) : 0);
+        if (isset($payload['attending_media']))
+            $presentation->setAttendingMedia(filter_var($payload['attending_media'], FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN));
 
         if (isset($payload['to_record']))
             $presentation->setToRecord(boolval($payload['to_record']));
diff --git a/tests/Unit/Entities/PresentationFactoryTest.php b/tests/Unit/Entities/PresentationFactoryTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..18f543856
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Unit/Entities/PresentationFactoryTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Tests\Unit\Entities;
+
+/**
+ * Copyright 2026 OpenStack Foundation
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ **/
+
+use App\Models\Foundation\Summit\Factories\PresentationFactory;
+use models\summit\Presentation;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\DataProvider;
+use Tests\TestCase;
+
+/**
+ * attending_media is a boolean column. The payload may omit it (summit-admin strips it
+ * and SelectionPlan::curatePayloadByPresentationAllowedQuestions() drops it when the
+ * selection plan does not allow that question), in which case the stored value must be
+ * left alone; when present it must land as a strict bool, never as int 0 / 1.
+ */
+class PresentationFactoryTest extends TestCase
+{
+    public function testPayloadWithoutAttendingMediaLeavesNewPresentationAsBoolFalse(): void
+    {
+        $presentation = new Presentation();
+
+        PresentationFactory::populate($presentation, []);
+
+        $this->assertSame(false, $presentation->getAttendingMedia());
+    }
+
+    public function testPayloadWithoutAttendingMediaKeepsCurrentValue(): void
+    {
+        $presentation = new Presentation();
+        $presentation->setAttendingMedia(true);
+
+        PresentationFactory::populate($presentation, ['title' => 'Edited title']);
+
+        $this->assertSame(true, $presentation->getAttendingMedia());
+    }
+
+    public static function attendingMediaPayloadProvider(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            'bool true'    => [true, true],
+            'string true'  => ['true', true],
+            'string 1'     => ['1', true],
+            'int 1'        => [1, true],
+            'bool false'   => [false, false],
+            'string false' => ['false', false],
+            'string 0'     => ['0', false],
+            'int 0'        => [0, false],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    #[DataProvider('attendingMediaPayloadProvider')]
+    public function testAttendingMediaPayloadIsStoredAsStrictBool($payload_value, bool $expected): void
+    {
+        $presentation = new Presentation();
+        $presentation->setAttendingMedia(!$expected);
+
+        PresentationFactory::populate($presentation, ['attending_media' => $payload_value]);
+
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $presentation->getAttendingMedia());
+    }
+}