2024-11-23 02:57:59
An experienced senior digital journalist is needed to join the Visual Journalism team to work on graphics, maps, charts and other visual assets for stories across BBC News. You’ll need to have a flair for writing concise and engaging copy, be at home with spreadsheets and be able to spot great ways of covering stories. You’ll need to have a strong visual sense and attention to detail, be familiar with the fundamentals of visual storytelling and keen to make the most of new digital formats. You might also have statistics and coding skills, video editing experience or ideas for social media storytelling.
2024-11-22 16:00:43
In early 2024, the Nairobi-based data studio Odipo Dev partnered with the data journalism collective Africa Data Hub to understand an ongoing epidemic of femicides inside Kenya. For the project, called Silencing Women, the two groups created a historical database that compiled the names and death circumstances of the more than 500 women who had been killed as a result of domestic violence across the country between 2016 and 2023.
“When we put out the database, we saw our findings demystifying many things people are saying about [those] women,” says Felix Kiprono, head of media at Odipo Dev. The data, he explains, was the first statistical evidence disproving the assumption that the victims were often putting themselves in dangerous situations. “We found that 75% [of the 500 cases] of women are getting killed by a husband or boyfriend.”
The project’s work had an almost immediate impact on the country’s judicial system. Just months after the project was launched, a Kenyan presiding judge cited the Silencing Women database during her sentencing of a man found guilty of the murder of a businesswoman who was killed in her home in 2018.
For Kiprono, this is just one of their many efforts to hold leaders accountable in Kenya. “Data opens up a lot of things,” he says. “It helps you to understand that story more clearly. It provides a reference point. When you put all that together, there’s something that happens. You begin to see the big picture of things.”
The Silencing Women project is by no means a singular phenomenon. Across the continent, data journalism is experiencing numerous successes, rapidly becoming a powerful tool for transparency, accountability, and social impact. But data journalism in Africa still faces numerous obstacles, including a lack of access to reliable information, particularly from repressive governments, a need for more training to increase the knowledge base among the current and next generation of reporters, and a dearth of financial support to grow the field.
The Silencing Women data project was the first to comprehensively study the data on femicide in Africa, and its information has since been used to inform prison sentences for those convicted of killing women. Image: Screenshot, Africa Data Hub
The COVID-19 pandemic was a turning point for many data journalism platforms across Africa. For The Outlier, a South Africa-based site, it marked the start of their data-driven reporting. “We had nothing else to do,” recalls Alastair Otter, co-founder of the project. So, he says they started creating dashboards to track the pandemic’s impact.
These dashboards became a crucial source of information for South Africans, providing weekly newsletters that contextualized the government’s figures, showing trends in hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccinations. They collected and interpreted data to show trends and patterns, as well as monitor government responses and implementations of relief programs.
This information was then made available freely for other news media to use in telling stories. Otter said they had about 40 charts covering the whole of South Africa at a national and provincial level and the team raised around 120,000 rand (US$6,700) in donations that covered the cost of storage. (The Outlier stopped updating the dashboard in 2022, but published a summary of two years of COVID-19 data visualizations in their article Two Years of Coronavirus in South Africa.)
“Data is a very empowering thing,” Otter says. “I’m not saying the data never lies, because data can be twisted, but data done well and responsibly can empower people to move things forward.” (Otter formerly worked for GIJN from 2018 to 2022.)
While the pandemic was the start for The Outlier, other data platforms across Africa were already using their ability to handle large data sets to help others make sense of their new world. In Nigeria, Datapyhte monitored relief funds and the distribution of relief materials across the country; Nukta Africa monitored the impact of the pandemic across sectors and how Tanzanians were responding to their changing reality; and through the Open Cities Lab, Africa Data Hub countered misinformation using data and developed tools to track cases and vaccination rates.
The Africa Women Journalism Project (AWJP), a women-led data journalism platform that reports issues across the continent, investigated COVID-19 public spending in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria. The project uncovered mismanagement of funds meant for health services. This data-driven reporting led to public outcry and discussions about how to improve transparency in government spending.
One of AWJP’s reports examined Kenyan counties’ preparedness to handle the virus as casualties climbed and the second wave hit Kenya. The report, published in partnership with The Star, a news website in Kenya, found that county governments were underprepared to deal with a resurgence of COVID-19 patients. The report interrogated data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) to draw projections and reconstruct scenarios at the county level.
There remains a big gap between raw data and digestible, actionable information that can shape opinions and inform decisions. In Nigeria, Dataphyte, a data hub founded by Joshua Olufemi, seeks to translate complex data into easily understandable stories, enabling Nigerians to make informed decisions. “Traditional journalism often fails to make complex issues accessible,” Olufemi said, adding that Dataphyte is changing that by using data as a communication tool, rather than as an afterthought.
This approach allows the organization to shape conversations and provide its audience with valuable data that can inform not just civic engagement, but also personal views. This was evident when the team used historical data to provide key insights about the outcome of the 2023 elections in Nigeria. Olufemi said the project was a response to the propaganda and manipulated polls used by politicians to sway people’s opinions ahead of the election.
“We’re not just telling stories; we’re creating evidence that can be used to demand accountability from those in power,” he says. “So decision science for us is a micro-level benefit that goes to our audience in making those livelihood, lifestyle, and living decisions.”
In Tanzania, Nukta Africa has also embraced data-driven storytelling. The platform, led by Nuzulack Dausen, uses data visualizations and infographics to make complex issues, such as public health and education, more accessible to Swahili-speaking communities.
“We wanted to create that society that would make decisions based on data,” Dausen explains. “Sometimes we design icons from scratch to help simplify data visualization in a way that our people will better understand. There are times when the icons available do not depict our realities either. We design our icons to show those realities.”
In other situations, data journalism sites in Africa are creating structures for ongoing accountability.
For example, Africa Data Hub has created a Chrome extension that highlights names linked to corruption scandals whenever they appear in news stories or web searches. Users can click on these names to access the corruption allegations against them, bolstering efforts to promote transparency.
The South Africa-based site The Outlier tracks data on school pit latrines and other infrastructure as part of its watchdog reporting. Image: Screenshot, The Outlier
The Outlier has done something similar around the long-running health problem of pit latrines in South Africa. After several high-profile deaths of children in these outdoor toilets, President Cyril Ramaphosa called for the phasing out of pit latrines in schools. The Ministry of Education was given three months to develop a plan, but the government’s response lagged behind its promises. By 2021, a South African court ordered the government to remove all pit toilets and replace them with modern facilities, with biannual progress reports required.
Using government data combined with fieldwork, The Outlier monitors the government’s progress in upgrading sanitation and other school infrastructure. Their findings are also used by Section27, a human rights law firm, as part of the necessary evidence to verify the government’s reports in court.
Despite these successes, data journalism in Africa still faces difficult obstacles. Access to reliable data is among the biggest challenges. “Governments often restrict access to data, making it difficult for journalists to get the information they need,” Olufemi explains. This lack of transparency is a common issue across the continent, where data is either unavailable, difficult to obtain, or lacking local integrity.
There is also the technical skills gap. Many journalists lack the training needed to analyze and interpret complex data sets. “We don’t have enough skilled data journalists,” Dausen says. “Sometimes we have to bring in contractors to help us with data analysis because the skills just aren’t there.”
Catherine Gicheru, director of AWJP, said government restrictions and a lack of technical skills make it difficult for journalists to tell data-driven stories. “Many women journalists simply don’t have the training or data literacy required to dive deep into analysis and make sense of the numbers,” she notes.
To overcome these barriers, AWJP — like many other data journalism platforms across Africa — incorporates training and mentorship as services besides just storytelling and news reporting. AWJP equips women journalists with the skills they need to analyze data, create visualizations, and tell compelling stories through workshops and one-on-one mentorship. In instances where data is difficult to access, AWJP journalists use alternative strategies, such as crowdsourcing data or gathering first-hand accounts from communities.
One example of this is the AWJP’s work on gender-based violence in Nigeria, where journalists faced difficulties accessing official data on reported cases, Gicheru says. Instead, they turned to grassroots efforts, collecting testimonies from women and crowdsourcing data to fill in the gaps left by government records.
“There are always creative ways to gather and use information,” she adds.
There are similar challenges in Francophone African countries, despite the “evolution of civic space,” explains Paul-Joël Kamtchang, publishing director of the new GIJN member Data Cameroon.
“Access to information and the opening up of data remain major challenges,” Kamtchang says. He notes that, as of 2024, eight of the 29 African countries with access to information laws on the books are French-speaking. “However, these laws have not adapted to the challenges of open data,” he notes.
As a result, data journalism is not yet flourishing in Francophone Africa. But Data Cameroon is persevering. They regularly organize scholarships for data journalism academies with the support of partners such as the Washington, DC-based Center for Advanced Defence Studies (C4ADS), a nonprofit focused on illicit global networks.
“We bring in C4ADS data analysts to build capacity at the start of the fellowship, and support our fellows in data collection and analysis,” Kamtchang explains. Stories that developed from these training initiatives include revealing the millions of dollars that Central African businessmen and politicians have invested in Dubai properties and tracing Boko Haram and other non-state armed groups’ involvement in the kidnapping business in the Lake Chad Basin.
Partnering with the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, Data Cameroon used data analysis to reveal the financial stakes of Central African businessmen in properties in Dubai. Image: Screenshot, Data Cameroon
Perhaps the biggest challenge data journalism newsrooms face is funding. While this is a common problem across the journalism industry, it is particularly difficult for data-focused outlets. Dataphyte’s Olufemi warns that there is not enough funding for data-driven stories.
Funding is always a persistent challenge, The Outlier’s Otter said, agreeing. Data journalism is resource-intensive, requiring expensive tools, software, and training. Data journalists rely heavily on grants and external funding to stay afloat.
“It’s not an easy business,” Otter said. “We have to find creative ways to generate revenue, whether through training, events, or collaborations with NGOs.”
Banjo Damilola is an investigative journalist from Nigeria. She has investigated corruption in the justice system, and documented malfeasance in the Nigerian Police Force, the courts, and the Prison Service. She received a commendation from the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism and was a runner-up for the 2019 Thompson Foundation Young Journalist Award.
2024-11-21 16:00:36
In September 2018, the veteran Cameroonian investigative journalist Christian Locka met Colombian journalist María Teresa Ronderos in London. They were both attending a training course on investigating illicit financial flows, held at City, University of London in Islington, just north of the Square Mile — the capital’s historic financial district.
Ronderos told Locka about a project she was setting up with friends and colleagues — a news organization focused on cross-border and collaborative investigations in Latin America, known as El CLIP, which went on to launch the following year, initially as a trio of seasoned journalists from Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica.
The meeting proved to be fateful — as an inspiration for Locka’s own ambitions and because he and Ronderos would later collaborate on cross-border investigations.
“At that time, I was looking everywhere in Cameroon or in Central Africa, and there were not enough journalists interested in investigations,” Locka remembers. “[Yet] it’s one of the regions where you find scandals, organized crime, corruption, and human rights abuses.”
In the Central African sub-region, journalists regularly work under threat. Many have been killed, harassed, jailed, or forced into exile. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Cameroon 130th out of 180 in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index; in its report, RSF noted that although Cameroon has one of the “richest media landscapes” in Africa — with more than 600 newspapers, around 200 radio stations, and more than 60 television channels — it is also one of the continent’s most dangerous countries for journalists. Three journalists were killed in Cameroon in 2023.
Cameroon ranked 130th worldwide, and lower than all its Central African neighbors, in Reporters Without Borders 2024 Press Freedom Index. Image: Screenshot, RSF
One notorious case was the assassination of Arsène Salomon Mbani Zogo. On January 22, 2023, the mutilated body of the popular 50-year-old radio host, known as ”Martinez Zogo,” was found in a neighborhood near Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital. He had also been tortured. Before his death, he had denounced government corruption. More than 15 suspects have since been arrested; among them are several members of Cameroon’s intelligence agency and a prominent businessman.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, “attacks on the press have escalated as Cameroon prepares for elections in 2025 that could see [Paul] Biya — one of the world’s longest-serving presidents — win another seven-year term.” Six Cameroonian journalists are currently in detention.
After his London trip, Christian Locka was convinced that building a landscape of trained investigative journalists working together throughout the region could help protect them. He started sharing his idea with colleagues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic who were interested in investigative journalism. In both countries, the press freedom situation is similarly difficult: journalists are regularly targeted by the government, armed groups, and wealthy businessmen.
In 2020, Locka launched The Museba Project as part of the MUSEBA Journalism Project — a nonprofit media organization that promotes investigative journalism in Central Africa and the Great Lakes, bringing together freelance journalists from the region. The MUSEBA Journalism Project has been a member of GIJN since 2021. (Museba is the word for “trumpet” in one of Cameroon’s coastal languages.)
Since the beginning, The Museba Project has had a double mission — first to train journalists, and then, after that, to encourage them to work together. “In this environment, the most important thing is not to start doing investigations,” says Locka, because “there is fear and lack of self-confidence.”
Before each training session, the team identifies journalists interested in investigative reporting by contacting editors or managers of media outlets in host countries. Above all, the organization asks each journalist to prepare at least two story ideas that they will review together — to push them to familiarize themselves with the practice.
During the training, the trainers with different backgrounds and from all over the world (Africans, Cameroonians, Americans, Europeans), share their knowledge and experiences with the journalists. They start from scratch, teaching them the basics of investigative journalism, such as how to protect themselves or their sources. The trainees also learn how to find stories, pitch them, and write an investigation.
“It’s been an enriching experience on every level, especially in terms of how to design an investigation to tell a good story,” says Saïbe Kabila, a Congolese investigative journalist who joined The Museba Project in June 2024, after a training season in Lubumbashi, the second largest city in the DRC.
“In my opinion, this media outlet is unique. It offers rigorous investigative journalism that tells the truth, often hidden in our regions, through interesting and captivating stories,” Kabila adds.
In four years, MUSEBA has trained more than 100 journalists from Cameroon, the DRC, and Central African Republic. After each training, the journalist attendees can apply to join the project.
The Museba Project’s most valuable advantage involves facilitating networks between journalists. “We show journalists that by collaborating, they gain time, have more protection, spend less money, and do more research,” Locka explains. “It didn’t exist before. It’s our biggest asset.”
The newsroom has already been a part of international and national collaborative projects with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and El CLIP. In 2020, The Museba Project contributed to Migrants from Another World, a cross-border investigation focusing on African and Asian people who, expelled from their countries, make the painful and dangerous journey across Latin America to reach the United States. The project brought together 18 media organizations in 14 different countries — including the OCCRP, El CLIP, and Bellingcat. The Museba Project told the story of the Cameroonians who died on this journey.
The Museba Project’s investigation into a lead-acid battery recycling plant and its health impact on nearby communities was nominated for a 2024 Online Journalism Award. Image: Screenshot, Online Journalism Awards
In 2023, The Museba Project worked with The Examination, a US-based nonprofit newsroom (and new GIJN member) to uncover how the recycling of lead batteries by Indian companies is destroying the health of local populations in Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville. The investigation was nominated for a 2024 Online Journalism Award in the Excellence in Social Justice Reporting category.
For Will Fitzgibbon, senior reporter and partnership coordinator at The Examination, who has worked with the newsroom as a partner and a trainer, The Museba project “is trying to create something new that doesn’t exist, and in a political and economic landscape that is a challenge.”
“It is vital to have something like the Museba Project that can act as a source and unifying factor for investigative reporting in the region, encouraging and training not only Cameroonian reporters but those from Chad, Congo, and other countries where freedom of the press is a challenge,” he explains.
One of The Museba Project’s biggest challenges is fear among journalists in the region. Due to the kidnapping, assassination, imprisonment, or harassment of their colleagues, many choose not to pursue investigative journalism. Several trained journalists have abandoned the field.
“We meet more and more journalists who desist,” Locka observes. “It’s a difficulty because these are talented young people who really want things to change, but they are facing a wall of insecurity.”
Those who keep going also face a lot of risks. Many Museba journalists have been harassed and one from DRC was forced into exile in Canada.
When he worked on his investigation How Rosewood is Stolen in Cameroon, Laundered in Nigeria, and Exported to China, Locka received various threats and even calls from one of Nigeria’s most notorious traffickers. After the investigation was published, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (known as “CITES”) suspended the trade of this species in Cameroon. Two years later, the government opened an investigation into rosewood trafficking between the two countries.
“The work of a good investigative journalist is to restore the truth,” says Fiacre Salabé, bureau chief for The Museba Project in the Central African Republic. Since he joined the organization in 2021, he has published stories about Chinese companies and forestry royalties. After publishing a story about a minister involved in corruption, he faced physical violence and persecution and received death threats. “I left the country to Cameroon for two years, between 2022 and 2024. Just long enough for the threat to drop a bit,” Salabé recalls.
Journalist safety, and the perennial problem of access to sources, are not the only obstacles to Museba’s development. Like many newsrooms around the world, the organization is struggling with funding. At the beginning, journalists used their personal funds to finance their work.
Over the years, the project has received grants from foundations and other organizations, such as the European Journalism Fund and the Pulitzer Center. In some cases, NGOs have approached The Museba Project to provide training for journalists.
However, the media company is currently at a crossroads — it’s hoping to diversify its revenue streams to become financially independent. According to Locka, it is planning, for example, to produce documentaries to sell in the future. “As a young organization, we need support. Those who want to support us can approach us,” he says.
“At a time when influencers and other whistleblowers have monopolized hot news, the country now needs journalism that gives itself time to investigate,” explains Professor Thomas Atenga, who teaches in the communications department at Cameroon’s University of Douala. “The Museba Project is an initiative to be encouraged.”
For Locka, despite these financial difficulties, one of The Museba Project’s ambitions is to train an army of investigative journalists who will be able to investigate corruption, human rights violations, illicit finance flows, and more.
The aim is not to get as many journalists as possible to join the news outlet, he says, but to promote investigative journalism, its fundamentals and techniques, and to make as many people as possible aware of the importance of the field, which is not yet very developed in the region.
“If you’ve got more investigative journalists in five or 10 years, it’s going to be hard to silence all those voices,” Locka explains. “We’re aware of the danger, but we’re doing it because it’s a choice and we’re taking the precautions we can. The most important thing is that we have sown the seed of investigation.”
Josiane Kouagheu is an award-winning investigative journalist and writer from Cameroon.
2024-11-20 21:00:41
GIJN and Malaysiakini are excited to announce that the registration page is now open for the 2025 Global Investigative Journalism Conference (#GIJC25). The 14th Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC25) will be held from Friday, November 21 through Monday, November 24, 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A pre-conference day will take place on Thursday, November 20.
Held once every two years, the GIJC is the world’s premier international gathering of watchdog and data journalists. The conference venue for GIJC25 will be the world-class Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) located in the heart of the nation’s capital, overlooking the iconic Petronas Twin Towers and the 50-acre KLCC Park, which provides visitors with a wide range of recreational, entertainment, dining and accommodation options within a 100-acre “city-within-a-city” development.
From November 20-24, the event will feature more than 150 expert-led sessions, panels, workshops and networking opportunities. The conference is a chance to learn from the best in the business — winners of the Pulitzer Prize and other top awards, pioneers of data journalism, and fearless investigators who have exposed corruption and abuses of power almost everywhere.
Our last in-person conference, GIJC23, in Gothenburg, Sweden, drew more than 2,100 journalists from 130 countries, making it the largest investigative journalism conference in history.
The conference site #GIJC25 offers easy links to fellowships, call for ideas, awards, and more. (Be sure to note the deadlines.)
You’ll also find on the new conference site: detailed FAQs, and a Getting Around section, featuring tips on visas, security, and navigating the host city. Stay tuned for further updates on GIJC2025.org, or subscribe to our e-newsletter, the GIJN Bulletin.
See you in Kuala Lumpur!
2024-11-20 16:00:52
Malawian investigative journalist Golden Matonga wears many journalism hats. He serves as the director of investigations at the Platform for Investigative Journalism – Malawi (PIJ) and is currently the organization’s interim executive director, while its founder, Gregory Gondwe, is on a sabbatical as a John S. Knight fellow at Stanford University in the United States.
Matonga further doubles as the vice chairperson of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA), a Namibia-headquartered nonprofit that promotes press freedom and the right to free expression, and as the chairperson of MISA’s Malawi Chapter.
A 2023 Hubert Humphrey fellow at Arizona State University in the US, Matonga is also a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), where he has participated in numerous high-impact stories, including the groundbreaking Pandora Papers and FinCEN Files investigations. In his home country, Matonga has been at the forefront of investigations into corruption and abuse of power.
Between May and June this year, Matonga traveled abroad to cover the US election for The Continent, a pan-African newspaper founded in 2020 and circulated to its audience mainly via WhatsApp. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Financial Times, and the Mail & Guardian.
In this interview, part of GIJN’s ongoing interview series with leading investigative journalists, Matonga shares his experience in collaborative investigations across Africa and beyond, along with some lessons he’s picked from a career spanning 17 years and tips he believes would improve investigative journalism in Africa.
GIJN: Of all the investigations you worked on, which has been your favorite and why?
Golden Matonga: Well, it’s an intriguing question. You get to love all the investigations just like your children, really, but one of the major investigations that we have done as the Platform for Investigative Journalism is a [series] of investigations related to one business entity or one businessman. There are several elements around the story, and it’s important to us because it has been one investigation that is often a reference point for our work. I wouldn’t say it is my favorite investigation, but I think it’s one investigation which really defines the work that we have done in Malawi so far. (The UK businessman at the heart of the investigation was arrested in October 2021 by the UK’s National Crime Agency. Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau subsequently discontinued bribery cases against the businessman’s alleged Malawian partners, but in August 2024, one of those decisions was challenged in court by a local anti-corruption group.)
Golden Matonga (center) accepting the 2022 MISA Malawi Award for Investigative Journalist of the Year, Electronic. Image: Screenshot, Facebook, US Embassy Lilongwe
GIJN: What are the biggest challenges you have faced as an investigative reporter in your country? And in your case, since you have also done collaborative investigations around the continent, what challenges have you seen that are pegging back investigative reporting on the continent?
GM: The biggest challenge in Malawi is still the scourge of secrecy, which journalists have to contend with whenever we are trying to deal with sources working in public offices. Even where the law has created an enabling framework for journalists to be able to access information, for example, in Malawi, there is an Access to Information Act, which is equivalent to the Freedom of Information [laws] in some of the Western countries, you still meet resistance from duty bearers to provide information, particularly when you’re doing investigative journalism. There’s a lot of resistance whenever people realize that they are talking to an investigative journalist who is looking for information, so that brings a lot of challenges.
In addition to this, we have seen that even in a country that has comparatively strong democratic values like Malawi, you still see investigative journalists being arrested. Our team has suffered from that fate. We have had one of our directors, [Gregory Gondwe], arrested, we have had physical threats on his life, he has had to jump to exile at one point because of threats on his life. So those are critical challenges that, as journalists, we still have to face.
In terms of the major stumbling blocks to investigative journalism in Africa at the moment, one of the critical aspects is the legal framework, the Cyber Security Act. Increasingly, in a number of African countries, there’s this law used to stifle investigative journalism, to stifle freedom of expression, and, generally, it also stifles people by increasing self-censorship, which means people who are supposed to be expressing themselves online are not able to express themselves the way they are supposed to because they are afraid of reprisals. That has a chilling effect on democracy, but also on investigative journalists because people who would be whistleblowers are afraid to come out. But also again, even those who have become whistleblowers, sometimes they can be arrested. We had a case in which the government wanted to force us, using the police, to divulge our whistleblowers who were the sources of our story. So, the Cyber Security Act has become one of the dangers to investigative journalism on the continent.
The Platform for Investigative Journalism – Malawi. Image: Screenshot, Platform for Investigative Journalism
GIJN: At the personal level, what was the greatest challenge that you faced during your time as an investigative journalist? How did you deal with it? And what lessons did you learn from that challenge?
GM: One of the biggest challenges that I have had to encounter as an investigative journalist is being able to publish, maybe at certain stages of my career, certain stories that the management of various newspapers that I worked for saw as a threat to the commercial interests of their newspapers. There have been challenges, again, in terms of the legal framework, obviously, where we have had to face threats of arrests in the past. Again, those were moments that could stop us from doing investigative journalism, but we have had to continue soldiering on by building coalitions, by creating platforms like PIJ, where there are no commercial interests, where we have the broader support of partners in the governance sector. So, that has been the experience in terms of the challenges and how to surmount them. I think the most critical aspect was to be able to build a coalition of allies both internally in Malawi to ensure that they support resources provided for investigative journalism work that we intended to do but also to build partners outside so that we could have the ability to even publish outside when stories were being suppressed back home.
One of the key allies, one of the key support structures for investigative journalism that has helped us to thrive in Malawi and me, personally, has been the IJ Hub, which is based in South Africa. They have been able to support us with resources to do the work, but also, crucially, whenever there were threats, they were able to come in handy and provide support. We have had support from the Media Institute of Southern Africa [MISA], which also has a chapter in Malawi and has also been very supportive of the work of journalists. I happen to be, currently, also part of the structures of MISA, so I’ve really been able to appreciate the role that they have played in terms of ensuring that when journalists are facing threats, they have someone to hold their hand. I think it’s very critical that we continue building these partnerships to ensure that investigative journalists feel safe and also have the right support to continue doing the critical role that they play in ensuring accountability.
Beyond the continent, we have had support from the Committee to Protect Journalists [CPJ]. Every time members of a media fraternity in Malawi were threatened, CPJ has come in handy to provide support to ensure that the journalists are safe. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has [also] done critical work supporting collaboration within the continent and beyond. The ICIJ model has ensured that African journalists can report on African affairs. Also, by helping them with critical technical support, we have been able to collaborate by drawing on each other’s strengths to ensure that there is good investigative journalism. So, both regionally and globally, ICIJ has played a very critical role, and centers like PIJ have benefited from doing investigative work with ICIJ.
Within the continent [Africa], I think one of the critical aspects that we need to review as journalists is how to collaborate regionally, but also continentally. I think there is more collaboration between African journalists and their colleagues in the West than among our regions, for example, West African journalists collaborating with Southern African journalists. So far, most of the [intra-African] collaborations that we have done have been under the umbrella of ICIJ; that’s when you see West African journalists collaborating with Southern African journalists. But I think that as a continent, we need to do more to ensure collaboration within our own ranks.
GIJN: You have done many interviews as a part of your investigative reporting. What is your best tip for interviewing?
GM: I think the critical aspect of a good interview is what you do before the interview starts, that is research. So, the most important tip is, make sure that you have done your research and you know the subject matter. A very good interview will always be the result of good research that happens before it.
GIJN: What is a favorite reporting tool, database, or app that you use in your investigations?
GM: I am fond of coworking, so any app that enhances coworking is my favorite — whether it is ICIJ’s iHub, whether it’s a Google doc that will help me co-edit a story with my colleagues, I am always excited to see how we can employ any collaborative tools that come up in our work because I believe in the power of collaboration.
GIJN: What’s the best advice you’ve gotten thus far in your career and what words of advice would you give to an aspiring investigative journalist?
GM: The best advice I’ve ever gotten in my career is to be patient with my work. I am one of those who are always eager to publish. But there is a lot that we miss when we are rushing, so to be able to calm down whenever you are doing an investigation is important. Being thorough ensures that you cover as much ground as possible and that you are protected legally. That ability to tamp down your excitement is very critical.
I would always encourage anyone who wants to be an investigative journalist to just start. Start and learn from the best, you will perfect the art along the way. There’s no one who comes out of nowhere and becomes a successful investigative journalist. But you keep on building your sources’ trust [and] you keep on publishing.
GIJN: Now, there must have been somebody who made you love investigative journalism. Who is that journalist that you admire, and why?
GM: For just journalism in general, I was a fan of one former BBC foreign correspondent from Malawi, the late Raphael Tenthani. He used to write a political column as well, and I was a huge fan of his column and his writing. But then, eventually, I got excited about investigative journalism because of Mabvuto Banda. He used to be a prolific investigative journalist in Malawi, and his work both in Malawi and internationally inspired me to try to achieve the same level of standards. He did some of the most consequential journalism in Malawi and it was that impact, that ability to hold the powerful to account, that really made me look at him highly and consider him someone who could possibly be a role model.
There are a number of African journalists again who are doing really good, exciting work that I am really proud of and look forward to reading. I’ve also enjoyed working with Simon Allison from The Continent. I will also mention my colleague Gregory Gondwe, one of the most courageous journalists we have at the moment. His work is always inspiring in terms of integrity and his sheer determination to persevere and push through stories regardless of the consequences. I think that that is something which really should be the spirit that many journalists should try to get.
GIJN: What is the greatest mistake you’ve made and what lessons did you learn from it?
GM: In my early days in journalism, I was always excited to write stories but I was not always as thorough in fact-checking my own stories. So, I’ve had embarrassing moments when I ended up maybe misnaming people in my stories. You need to be thorough, because working for a newspaper, a printed newspaper, you can’t go back and edit the names of people. It was a clear lesson on how we need as journalists to be very thorough in our work, and always make sure that we write and read and re-read the work before submitting it. It’s also very important that the gatekeeping process is very thorough, because if a journalist makes a mistake, then their editor or sub-editor should be able to pick it up.
GIJN: How do you avoid burnout in your line of work?
GM: Burnout is a serious challenge, but I think it’s something that most newsrooms [in Africa] do not invest enough in to help their teams avoid it. It’s not just about the physical aspect of exhaustion, but also the mental aspect as well. You get tired of chasing stories, fighting with sources for information, and sometimes reading feedback; the negativity that comes with some of the reporting can also lead to mental stress for journalists.
I am not sure where I have had to employ specific measures to help me avoid burnout. But I do try as much as possible, whenever I have a chance, to get away from my work, to focus on some things outside [journalism], and to have some other social activity.
GIJN: What about investigative journalism in Africa do you find frustrating and hope will change in the near future?
GM: When you expose abuse of office or corruption, you would expect that other aspects of a governance structure, like law enforcement, will pick up the matter and ensure that there is accountability for those whom you have exposed as an investigative journalist. But often, you report and there’s no follow-up action by law enforcement or even other stakeholders like civil society. So that becomes a really big problem for investigative journalism on the continent: that there is little effect beyond the reaction on social media, or your followers. So, I think that’s one aspect that has been very frustrating from an investigative journalism point of view.
Benon Herbert Oluka is a Ugandan multimedia journalist, a co-founder of The Watchdog, a center for investigative journalism in his home country, and a member of the African Investigative Publishing Collective. Oluka has served as a reporter and editor in The East African, Daily Monitor, and The Observer newspapers. He’s also had work stints at the Reuters news agency’s sub-Saharan Africa Bureau in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the BBC World Service’s Newsday program in London, United Kingdom. As a freelance writer, Oluka’s work has been published in The Africa Report, Africa Review, Mail & Guardian Africa, Mongabay, and ZAM magazine.
