This year’s African Investigative Journalism Conference, boasting about 250 attendees from 28 countries, concluded an enthusiastic three days of workshops and presentations on Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa. Now in its eleventh year, the AIJC is the largest gathering of investigative journalists in Africa. With 70 sessions, the conference was, as one attendee put it, “a candy store for journalists.”
A boom in investigative journalism in South Africa seems to be winding down as media houses slash budgets to balance their books to continue to pay dividends to shareholders. “South Africa has had something of a golden era in investigative reporting, with as many as four teams at different institutions dedicated to it,” said Professor Anton Harber, head of the journalism department at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
It started with trying to predict the outcome of a US presidential election. More than six decades later, computer-assisted reporting is at the core of investigative reporting globally.
Global Investigative Journalism Network members have voted to hold the next Global Investigative Journalism Conference for the first time in Africa. GIJN’s member groups also voted to re-elect the current seven board members who were up for election this year. The conference will be held in Johannesburg in 2017, hosted by the Investigative Journalism Workshop, a GIJN member based at the University of the Witwatersrand and the sponsor of Africa’s annual investigative reporting conference, Power Reporting.
With robust data journalism hands-on training and many presentations focusing on covering mining and oil issues, the 2014 Power Reporting Conference in Johannesburg drew over 350 participants from 19 African countries.
Africa’s premier investigative journalism, Power Reporting, returns to Johannesburg, South Africa, this November 3-5. The annual event is organized by the Journalism Programme of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University), a GIJN member. The three-day conference is an opportunity to learn new skills, hear about the top investigative stories and share experience on investigative techniques, data journalism, and more.
