As extremism spreads across sub-Saharan Africa, journalists are turning to open source tools to track the networks and physical movement of these often violent groups.
Reporters at the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism explain how they used data to reveal systemic gender-based violence in Eswatini in southern Africa.
Investigative journalist and filmmaker Anu Adelakun discusses her investigation into the forces behind water scarcity and pollution in Africa’s most populous democracy.
The managing editor of HumAngle, which covers the human costs of conflict and terrorism, discusses the challenges of investigative coverage in Nigeria.
Also featuring revelations about misuse of college scholarships in Ghana, a televangelist’s troubling empire in Nigeria, and a dive into a US charity’s spending in Malawi.
GIJN talks to our African member organizations about their challenges and successes — and the state of Investigative journalism on the continent.
Since its inception, the Cameroon-based journalism collective has had a double mission: first to train journalists, and then to encourage them to work together.
Data journalism in Africa has made a powerful impact, from holding leaders accountable to refuting myths around domestic violence. But the field faces formidable challenges.
GIJN’s Benon Herbert Oluka talks to Golden Matonga, investigations director at the Platform for Investigative Journalism – Malawi, about his career uncovering corruption.
Cross-border investigations are trending all over the world. GIJN talked to organizations promoting reporting partnerships in Africa about their experiences and challenges.
African journalists who have worked on impactful cross-border investigations share lessons on uncovering illegal fishing, timber trafficking, and illicit money flows.
These organizations are developing AI tools and resources that can be used to tackle misinformation, improve data reporting, and help with the storytelling process.
Investigative journalists who have gone undercover in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Cameroon, and Kenya share advice and practical tips.
Investigations have underlying principles, elements, and rigorous requirements for evidence, accuracy, and fairness. They also require strong and detailed planning.
The comprehensive guide offers detailed advice on managing the non-investigative aspects of collaborative projects.
The funding process is similar to investigative journalism: you must write a compelling narrative that makes the reader understand the importance of your work.
Organized crime is a global phenomenon. But Africa, with its deep-seated corruption and “resource curse,” is particularly hard hit.
The US government engages with virtually every country in the world and each new president can radically change its policy. Here’s GIJN’s updated tipsheet on digging into global US influence.
Experiences and deep insights shared by the investigative journalists.
Our curation of the most prominent data centers in Africa.
To protect journalists from safety and security risks, some African and global organizations have set up programs that offer support to muckrakers who are in trouble, either in selected African countries or across the continent.
Resources that are available for journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa who seek public information in countries with laws governing access to information.
Nonprofit organizations dedicated to offering grants in support of investigative journalism in Africa.
A guide to prominent journalism awards and competitions of special interest to investigative journalists.
Source: Columbia Journalism School
Zürich-based Swiss media company TX Group is supporting three scholarships for the 2025 Summer Investigative Reporting Course at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, which covers the fundamentals of investigative reporting. Scholarships are open to investigative reporters and editors living and working in Africa, Latin America, and Asia and include tuition and course fees, travel to New York City, and lodging. Applications must be received by 11:59 pm (Eastern Standard Time) on April 30, 2025. Applicants will be notified of decisions on their application by May 30, 2025 and the course takes place July 7-25.
A judge has dismissed former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant’s defamation lawsuit against the investigative outlet Mississippi Today in a case that spanned two years. Bryant first filed the suit in 2023 over public comments the outlet made about its reporting on a welfare fraud scandal involving $77 million in misused funds that began during Bryant’s term as governor. The one-page ruling sided with lawyers for Mississippi Today, who had argued that it had engaged in constitutionally protected speech and that it did not meet the 'actual malice' standard for defamation of a public figure. Bryant’s lawyer said the former governor would appeal the dismissal.
According to an Amnesty International report, Serbian authorities targeted two investigative journalists — both from GIJN member the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), which focuses on state-sponsored corruption — with Pegasus Spware in February 2025. Both journalists received a text message from an unknown number, which included a link that the Amnesty Security Lab states was an attempt to install Pegasus spyware on their devices. Amnesty’s report also concludes that the spyware operator acted on behalf of the Serbian government. At the time, the journalists were working on stories on foreign investments and state-linked corruption cases.
The Pulitzer Center seeks applications for data-driven journalism projects that spotlight underreported issues. The grant is open to all newsrooms and independent journalists based in the United States and abroad. The Center is looking for proposals “that will employ cutting-edge data techniques, as well as embrace collaboration among newsrooms, whether that be across state lines or across national borders” and that use advanced data mining techniques such as machine learning, natural language processing, spatial data analysis, satellite imagery, drones and sensors. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and projects of any scope and size are considered.
Following US President Trump’s executive order to largely terminate funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a federal judge in Washington, DC, has granted its request for a temporary restraining order to counter defunding efforts. The judge ruled that terminating RFE/RL’s federal grant would violate the congressionally mandated flow of funding to the news outlet and that “in keeping with Congress’s longstanding determination, [the] continued operation of RFE/RL is in the public interest.” The next step will be a decision on RFE/RL’s request to receive the funds that Congress appropriated for its activities for the rest of the fiscal year.
A Manhattan federal court has found Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov — who US prosecutors say belong to a Russian organized crime group — guilty of involvement in a murder-for-hire plan to assassinate Masih Alinejad, a US-Iranian journalist and women’s rights activist based in New York. Prosecutors say Iran paid the men $500,000 for carrying out the hit, which ultimately failed when the men were arrested with a loaded rifle outside Alinejad’s Brooklyn home in 2022. The case forms part of a Justice Department crackdown on transnational repression — when authoritarian governments target political opponents on foreign soil.
The Index on Censorship, along with more than 20 other organizations including GIJN, has signed a statement urging the United States to protect press freedom and keep journalists safe. The statement, whose signatories include Reporters Without Borders and PEN America, was released in response to US President Donald Trump's order calling for the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) — the federal agency that oversees broadcasting entities such as the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
The DIG Awards, organized by Documentari Inchieste Giornalismi, “acknowledge excellence in journalism and encourage the work of reporters who use video and audio to investigate current social, economic, technological, environmental and political issues.” The 10th iteration of the awards will be handed out at the DIG Festival, which will be held in Modena, Italy, from September 24-September 28, 2025. Submission takes place on the Filmfreeway platform and will be accepted until June 1, 2025. The DIG Awards include five video categories, an audio/podcast category, and a pitch category open to documentary projects that are in development or production.
A Guatemalan appeals court has ordered José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, founder of the newspaper elPeriódico, back into preventive detention. Zamora — the founder of the newspaper elPeriódico, who has faced threats and arbitrary detention for his investigations into corruption in Alejandro Giammatei’s government — was granted conditional release in October 2024 after spending more than 800 days in preventive detention. The judge presiding over the case said that he disagreed with the ruling, despite being compelled to enforce it. PEN International stated that the decision “reinforces the impunity and corruption that continue to dominate Guatemala’s judicial system."
Source: Center for News, Technology & Innovation
On March 12 the Center for News, Technology & Innovation, an independent global policy research center, released two reports on “Journalism in the Age of AI,” based on a survey of 430 journalists in more than 60 countries who were asked about government, technology, online harassment, and what it means to be a journalist these days. Key findings include that only 24% of US journalists believe the public can distinguish journalism from other forms of information; 50% of journalists globally report experiencing government overreach; and 36% of journalists say AI will have a positive impact on informing the public.
The Yemen-raised investigative journalist — who has covered Iraq’s secret sex trade, the Yemen war, and the Sanaa funeral bombing — shares insights from working on a difficult beat.
Brazilian freelance reporter Hyury Potter recently won the Pulitzer Center’s Breakthrough Journalism Award.
In a career spanning more than 20 years, Le Monde reporter Stéphane Horel has brought a creative and, at times, humorous approach to groundbreaking environmental investigations.
The managing editor of HumAngle, which covers the human costs of conflict and terrorism, discusses the challenges of investigative coverage in Nigeria.
Data journalism in the Middle East has been driven by organizations that have produced collaborations and projects that combine innovative techniques with nuanced local knowledge.
What does climate change feel like? How will your city’s climate shift, 50 years from now? Data scientist Derek Taylor explains his latest piece.
Exiled Russian media site IStories has shared with GIJN how it built an AI-powered database of Russian military war dead and missing, and why it was worth creating.
Two scientists and an editor spent six months investigating so-called paper mills, which churn out bogus scientific papers that impede actual research on lifesaving breakthroughs.
The team at the award-winning data journalism outlet suspected that Russia would invade — they could see clues in the data. We profile the team and their work combating false conflict narratives.
In the aftermath of a car bombing that killed one of Malta’s leading investigative reporters, her family set up an organization to fight for justice and ensure her legacy lives on.
The nonprofit newsroom — whose founders and senior leadership are all women — has taken a innovative, youth-focused approach to covering corruption.
GIJN member Mongabay is leading the way in environmental journalism with a innovative global-plus-local approach to watchdog reporting.
Our third regional spotlight series examines the challenges facing our members and other outlets in the Middle East and North Africa, such as war, backsliding democracies, self-censorship, exile, surveillance and imprisonment of journalists, and the hostile legal environment — and why this reality on the ground makes investigative journalism there all the more essential.
Our second regional spotlight series examines the successes and challenges facing our members in Africa and others reporting from the continent. These articles tell the stories of growing journalistic collaboration, courage, and innovation in the face of repression, legal intimidation, lack of access to information, and even physical threats.
Our first regional spotlight series celebrates the achievements of our members in Latin America and others reporting from the region. These articles tell the stories of reporters across the continent, digging into the investigations that matter, and detailing how outlets are creating innovative reporting projects amid their own specific local challenges.
Global elections in 2024 will affect more citizens than in any previous year, and will likely reset humanity’s liberty compass for years ahead. This project features an elections reporting guide, stories on cutting-edge tools for investigating campaigns and candidates, and lessons learned from the best in local watchdog reporting from around the world.
Satellite imagery has become a game-changer for investigative journalism, offering powerful tools to uncover hidden stories.
The 2024 elections marked a seismic year for democracies worldwide, presenting investigative journalists with unique challenges and opportunities.
In Africa, more than in most other parts of the world, the hurdles that journalists have to overcome to report beyond their own countries or continent are numerous.
This session was designed to provide investigative journalists with the skills to investigate the arms trade and military aid.
