Wits Centre for Journalism readies for Africa’s top investigative media gathering
PICTURE: New Narratives Assistant Editor Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh is one of three reporting fellows from the African women-led organisation chosen to attend the African Investigative Journalism Conference
The African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC) returns to Wits University at the end of October for its 20th edition, bringing another packed schedule of talks, panel discussions, masterclasses, workshops and networking sessions with some of Africa’s finest and most renowned investigative journalists, trainers and experts.
Major themes for #AIJC2024 include data journalism, cyber and crypto crime, cultural art and NFT investigations, safety of journalists and health investigations.
The Wits Centre for Journalism is the host, its partners the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Investigative Journalism Network, SKUP (Community of Private Institutes), Code for Africa, the Internews Health Journalism Network, Internews, CHARM Africa, the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM), the Africa-China Reporting Project and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
ABSA, the Open Society Foundations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, SKUP and IFPIM are headline sponsors.
The keynote address on Wednesday 30 October at 09h00, ‘The future of journalism: navigating AI challenges and opportunities in the Global South’, is set to feature speakers
- Ana Cristina Ruelas, UNESCO
- Zoé Titus, Namibia Media Trust, and
- Lucía Pineda Ubau, 100% Noticias, Nicaragua
This UNESCO-led session will analyse the critical issues related to the impact of AI for the future of journalism from the perspective of the Global South, focusing on the actions that should be taken by governance systems to promote dialogue with media.
It will also look at investment in independent news media, and how to support the media ecosystem by making data available and supporting actions to bolster media sustainability, diversity and plurality.
In line with UNESCO’s multistakeholder approach, the discussion will adopt a multidisciplinary perspective and address these topics in the context of the Global South, drawing on guiding principles, codes of conduct and charters relating to the use of Generative AI, as well as relevant existing legal framework and policies implemented by international organisations. Such principles include UNESCO’s Guidelines on the Governance of Digital Platforms.
That session will be followed at 10h40 by ‘How the global north portrays development issues in the Global South’, which includes speakers Mia Malan (Bhekisisa Editor-in-chief) and Emmanuel Dogbevi (journalist at Ghana Business News).
Among a range of other topics on the conference programme are:
- ‘Russia in Africa’, featuring David Dembele, Editor-in-Chief, Depeches du Mali, Philip Obaji, Nigeria correspondent for The Daily Beast, Ekaterina Selivanova of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Dr Boubacar Haidara. Dembele will speak about their ‘Hotel Kremlin’ investigation and Obaji about Wagner in the Central African Republic
- ‘Dubai – the thieves’ treasure island’, featuring Purity Mukami, OCCRP data journalist, and Marie Louise Mamgue, Editor of DataCameroon. This discussion will hone in on OCCRP’s successful global Dubai Unlocked project as the journalists explain a data set that delivers insight into where and how kickbacks and loot from crooks are stashed, and
- Collaboration, climate change and data, which shows how six Liberian newsrooms collaborated to illuminate the crisis wrought through climate change in their country. The results were alarming, as speakers Prue Clarke, New Narratives co-Founder, Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh, New Narratives Assistant Editor, Jerome Saye, New Narratives Journalist and Nukanah Kollie, New Narratives Junior Fellow will show
- Download the Whova app as all conference communication will take place on it
