Innovative Journalism Legends Announced as Notable Speakers at GIJC25

Iconic journalists will rally the world’s watchdog community at the 14th Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Malaysia in November, in a potential turning of the tide for accountability.

The co-hosts of GIJC25 — the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) and GIJN member Malaysiakini — are excited and honored to announce that one of the keynote speakers at the conference will be Gustavo Gorriti, the courageous and pioneering director of Peru’s IDL-Reporteros. He will speak on the urgent challenges and opportunities facing the investigative community in a special session at the event, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur from November 20-24.

Having once been forced into exile, Gorriti continues to be the target of relentless legal persecution and smear campaigns for his team’s courageous investigations, including its stunning revelations of high-level graft in South America’s Odebrecht scandal. Due to his resolute refusal to disclose his confidential sources, to attend compromised inquiries, and to surrender his reporting devices, Gorriti has become a leading voice of defiance in the face of a growing global practice in which state organs “investigate the investigators.” A former judo champion who has survived everything from kidnapping to government harassment, Gorriti embodies the unbowed fighting spirit of GIJC25.

GIJN will soon reveal other world-renowned keynote speakers for GIJC25 in the weeks ahead — so watch this space! That major keynote speech will address the future of the global investigative community and will be followed by an all-Asia keynote panel featuring Malaysiakini’s Steven Gan, Rappler Executive Editor Glenda Gloria, Wahyu Dyatmika, CEO of Indonesia’s Tempo Digital, Nitin Sethi, founding editor of India’s The Reporter’s Collective, and other soon-to-be-announced investigative heavyweights from the continent.

In all, GIJC25 will feature more than 150 sessions, including expert panels, practical workshops, and networking opportunities, all dedicated to equipping journalists with the tools, techniques, intel, and collaboration channels to investigate wrongdoing in a world increasingly tilted in favor of powerful wrongdoers. More than 1,500 watchdog journalists from more than 100 countries are expected to attend.

The program lineup of more than 300 speakers will include the best in the business: award winners, data gurus, innovative editors, experts on urgent investigative topics, and courageous journalists who have exposed corruption and abuses of power in perilous press conditions. It will also include more diverse expertise than ever, from tips on investigative photojournalism by renowned conflict photojournalist Ron Haviv, to access to Indigenous data and colonial archives from Tristan Ahtone, editor-at-large at Grist and a member of the Kiowa Tribe. GIJC25’s esteemed line-up will also feature greater geographic diversity than ever: Joseph Poliszuk, co-founder of Venezuela’s Armando.info; Malek Khadhraoui, Tunisia-based director of Inkyfada; Helena Bengtsson, data editor at Sweden’s Gota Media; Athandiwe Saba, the South Africa-based managing editor of Code for Africa’s iLab; and Alia Ibrahim, co-founder of Lebanon’s Daraj.com.

The conference will reprise some of the most valued topic-specific digging tips from past events, such as the latest techniques from Pulitzer–winning investigator Martha Mendoza, cutting-edge follow-the-money methodologies from Miranda Patrucic, editor-in-chief of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), tips on navigating cross-border corporate data from Karrie Kehoe, deputy head of data and research of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the use of satellite imagery to track war crimes, from Hoda Osman, executive editor of Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) and many more. Attendees will also hear from leaders charged with sharpening skills and impact for investigative journalists, such as Dinesh Balliah, director of South Africa’s Wits Centre for Journalism, Anusha Bradley, investigative journalist from Radio New Zealand, Namini Wijedasa deputy editor at the Sunday Times (Sri Lanka), and Craig Silverman, digital digging expert and co-founder of the Indicator (Canada).

“For me personally and for CLIP, the upcoming GIJC will be particularly powerful,” says Maria Teresa Ronderos, co-founder of GIJN member Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (El CLIP). “Dark clouds are gathering over the democratic world, yet this powerful conference — bringing together the finest in investigative journalism — will inspire us and guide us through the hard battles ahead.”

The 14th Global Investigative Journalism Conference will also feature numerous sessions addressing the current context, including:

• Investigative documentaries will be screened at GIJC, with at least four accountability-focused films planned for special broadcast.
• As part of a track focusing on investigative journalism from outside one’s home country, GIJC25 will feature a special networking session for exiled journalists.
• A dedicated tech track will include numerous expert panels and workshops on how to dig into new technologies, including AI, biometric technologies, deepfakes, algorithms, and many more.
• A sustainability track in response to global funding cuts to nonprofit newsrooms, with up to 10 sessions illuminating or focusing on new revenue streams, alternative business models, and innovative strategies that many newsrooms need to consider in order to survive and thrive.
• Expanded resources on investigating war crimes.

These add to the conference’s well-established track record of examining crime and corruption, the environment, safety and security, data journalism, human rights, academia, health, and multiple sessions on investigating urgent issues such as war crimes, misinformation, and Indigenous rights abuses.

“Let’s use this event to join forces to advance our skills and collaboration to be able to hold power to account in an era of deteriorating democracies and increased risk for investigative journalists,” says Emilia Diaz-Struck, executive director of GIJN. “This is about advancing investigative journalism and the power of the network at a time when things have turned in new and alarming directions, from newsrooms forced into exile to widespread sustainability challenges.”

Díaz-Struck also points out that many GIJN member organizations are actively helping individuals outside of their newsrooms or even countries — including fellows, freelancers, and civil society collaborators — attend and learn from GIJC25.

“This is very encouraging, and actually touching — they are sacrificing to help expand the reach of the community,” Díaz-Struck says. “We’re seeing members of different scales, sizes, and regions, supporting the conference and making it happen, based on their budget and capacity — helping fellows and journalists outside of their newsrooms come, as well as supporting members from their teams. That is another form of solidarity and collaboration at a moment of funding restrictions:  journalists helping fellow journalists as much as they can. We are inspired and immensely grateful to every member, outlet, and foundation, as well as individuals, that make GIJC possible (full list of partners and sponsors can be found here).”

The investigative opportunities and, particularly, the threats posed by AI and its hunger for resources will be another area of emphasis for the conference. Having recently published the seminal book “Empire of AI: Inside the Reckless Race for Total Domination,” Karen Hao, who leads the Pulitzer Center’s AI Spotlight Series, will be part of one of the pre-conference day events and also a speaker at GIJC, and tells GIJN of her excitement about empowering attendees in the crucial topic in Malaysia.

“I’m incredibly excited to attend my first GIJC and be among the best investigative journalists in the world,” she says. “Especially at a moment when the media industry and press freedom is under attack globally, I look forward to being in community with everyone and learning from one another.”

Some panels will also feature non-journalists who are world leaders in specialist fields, such as spyware supersleuth and Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert, whose recent book “Chasing Shadows,” about investigating the astonishing surveillance threat facing journalists and dissidents, is a chilling must-read for any reporter disliked by a government. Be sure to meet some of these extraordinary speakers in the hallways at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

This will be the first time that the Global Investigative Journalism Conference will be held in Asia. Previously, GIJN hosted regional Asian investigative conferences in Manila (2014), Kathmandu (2016), and Seoul (2018). A fourth Uncovering Asia conference was planned for Kuala Lumpur in 2020 before it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is fitting that GIJC25 takes place in this key hub of the continent.

Rowan Philp is GIJN’s global reporter and impact editor. A former chief reporter for South Africa’s Sunday Times, he has reported on news, politics, corruption, and conflict from more than two dozen countries around the world, and has also served as an assignments editor for newsrooms in the UK, US, and Africa.