News

Journalists Stephanie Wangari of Kenya and Annie Zulu of Zambia Win 2026 Michael Elliott Award

Stephanie Wangari of Kenya and Annie Zulu of Zambia are the 2026 winners of the Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling for their reporting that captures both the promise and the peril facing African communities today.

ICFJ to Discuss Future of News at the 2026 International Journalism Festival

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) will be at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy later this month, along with Code for Africa and Proto, our partners in our joint venture ICFJ+ (PLUS). We will share insights about the future of journalism – from news creators and shared services to radical collaboration and funding models. Sessions can be watched live online, and recordings will be available here.

Key Case Against Maria Ressa and Rappler Comes to an End

The Hold The Line Coalition welcomes the Philippine Supreme Court’s final decision to close a lawsuit against Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa and her newspaper Rappler. The decision formally ends the Securities and Exchange Commission’s nearly decade-long efforts to shut down the independent news outlet with frivolous, politically motivated allegations of foreign ownership. The decision, issued in late January and conveyed to Rappler in late March,  followed the Solicitor General’s withdrawal of its further challenge to earlier Appeal Court rulings in Rappler’s favor.

ICFJ Elliott Award Alumni to Investigate Press Freedom and Democracy Threats Across Africa

Three winners of the ICFJ Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling, supported by ICFJ reporting grants, will investigate the growing threats to press freedom and democracy across Africa. Their reports will examine how challenges ranging from AI-enabled surveillance to coordinated online attacks against journalists are impacting African societies.

From Rice Fields to Reporting: How One Journalist Is Documenting Gambia's Climate Crisis

As a boy, Kebba Jeffang headed to the rice fields after school to work alongside his parents in their small farming community. As a journalist, he made agriculture part of his beat in Gambia, the West African country where he grew up.

Why Some of the Best News Creators Won't Call Themselves Journalists

A little less than a year ago, at the International Journalism Festival in Italy, I asked three winners of the ICFJ News Creator Award if they identified themselves as journalists when talking to sources and audiences. They immediately shook their heads – if they called themselves journalists, they explained, no one would talk to them.

From Local News to Legacy Media: ICFJ Fellow Adian Brewer's Time at The Wall Street Journal

Adian Brewer was ICFJ’s 2025 News Corp Media Fellow. He received financial support and mentorship from ICFJ before spending two weeks at The Wall Street Journal’s New York City office. “I was placed with the WSJ video team, which turned out to be a great fit. My day-to-day work ranged from compiling data, researching background for stories to tracking down sources and helping light interviews,” he says.

ICFJ Elliott Award: Khalid Bencherif, Amplifying Marginalized Voices in North Africa

Khalid Bencherif is a freelance investigative journalist who works on environment reporting and AI-related projects. Originally from Morocco's Tafilalet region, he is currently based in Berlin. For Bencherif, winning the Elliott Award was a big career boost. “ICFJ gave me a strong push to develop my career, it enhanced my CV crucially, which led me to get more journalism opportunities, including fellowships and grants,” he says.

ICFJ and Wikimedia Foundation Seek Applications for Open the Knowledge Journalism Awards in Africa

Applications for the Open the Knowledge Journalism Awards (OTKJA) are now open. Presented by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, the Open the Knowledge Awards recognize African journalists whose reporting helps close knowledge gaps about Africa on Wikipedia.

The Case for Radical Collaboration in Journalism

Journalism is fundamentally about helping people understand the world and make informed decisions. And it requires meeting audiences where they are, not where we think they should be. Understanding that leads to harder questions: How do we reimagine journalism from the ground up to truly serve our communities? What should we preserve, and what should we leave behind?