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.
The journalism department at Wits University in Johannesburg has opened the call for fellowship applications for AIJC2025, which will be held from 5-7 November. This year AIJC is running two fellowship tracks: one for early-career journalists under the age of 30 with five or fewer years of experience, and one for mid-career journalists with five or more years of experience, and also welcomes applications from freelance journalists. The fellowship covers major travel costs, shuttles, accommodation, conference fees, and meals. The deadline for applications is May 23, 2025.
The Press and Society Institute (IPYS) and Transparency International (TI) have announced the 2025 edition of the Javier Valdez Latin American Investigative Journalism Award, open to all investigative work on matters of public interest. Journalists can apply as individuals or as a research team, with one or mulitple pieces of work published in a media outlet in Latin America and the Caribbean — in Spanish, Portuguese, or English. Works published between July 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025, in print, radio, television, or electronic media are eligible, and materials must be submitted in digital format.
The US Justice Dept. has rescinded a Biden-era policy that prevented officials from searching journalists’ phones when conducting investigations into leaks from government personnel to news media. Attorney general Ban Bondi said the Justice Dept. would only search reporters’ phone records when all other methods have been exhausted, but media advocacy groups have expressed concern that this policy weakens First Amendment rights and will herald a return to the previous Trump administration’s attempts to use the courts to obtain phone and email records of journalists at The Washington Post, CNN, and The New York Times.
Source: International Press Institute
An Athens court dismissed a SLAPP case brought by Grigoris Dimitriadis, the Greek prime minister’s nephew, against journalists who had reported on Dimitriadis’s connection to a spyware scandal. The court ruled in favor of Nikolas Leontopoulos, Thodoris Chondrogiannos, and Christoforos Kasdaglis from Reporters United and Dimitris Terzis of newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton, concluding that their reporting — which revealed that Dimitriadis’s phone number had been used to target 11 individuals with spyware hacks — had been accurate. The reporting did not suggest Dimitriadis was responsible for the hacking, only that his phone number had been used.
Following Trump’s executive orders to defund and wind down operations at Voice of America and other US-funded news services — placing over 1,300 VOA employees, including about 1,000 journalists, on leave — a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore all jobs and funding. The judge found that the administration had likely violated the International Broadcasting Act and Congress's power to appropriate funding, ordering the administration to take steps to restore employees and contractors to the jobs they had before the executive order, and to do the same for Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
The 2025 Africa Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC) is inviting suggestions for speakers, panels, themes, or training to be held at the conference. The AIJC, Africa’s largest gathering of working journalists that showcases the continent’s best investigative reporting, will be held at Wits University in Johannesburg from November 5-7, 2025, and like previous years will feature talks, panel discussions, masterclasses, workshops, and networking sessions. Proposals should be submitted via a link on the AIJC website by May 30. AIJC2025 will be the conference’s 21st iteration. Last year, the event yet drew 450 journalists from 55 countries.
Source: The Self-Investigation
Registration is open for the 2025 Mental Health in Journalism Summit. Organized by non-profit The Self-Investigation, the summit’s second iteration will be a three-day online event dedicated to building collective resilience, exchanging strategies for healthier workplaces, and examining the latest trends and case studies on mentally healthy workspaces in journalism. Managers, editors, reporters, freelancers, media professionals, academics, and mental health experts are welcome to attend. The summit will feature one day of sessions in Spanish and days of sessions in English, and will be held October 8-10, 2025.
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 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.
The US government’s detained immigrant population flatlined in April, but there’s more to the numbers than meets the eye. Here’s what journalists need to know about the data.
The wide range of international environmental data that the OECD offers, though often Eurocentric, is still extensive in scope and comparatively reliable.
At a NICAR 2025 panel, data journalism experts discussed nuanced number errors that watchdog reporters often make that can confuse readers and disrupt story angles.
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.
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.
Journalists working in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are often on the frontlines of unfolding tragedies — from Gaza and Sudan to Syria, Yemen to Iraq. In these conflict and post-conflict settings, reporters may be some of the first to encounter potential evidence of war crimes. Their work can go beyond bearing witness […]
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.
