Adam D. Williams is a freelance journalist who mainly covers Latin America and the U.S. He’s also reported from southern Africa. He writes about social issues, energy, business, the environment, health and other topics. Williams has been reporting internationally since 2009.

“Above all, ICFJ’s support gives journalists time and resources to produce impactful, important stories across the world that might not have been previously told,” Williams says.

Through ICFJ support, he’s produced major investigative pieces and received international acclaim for his work. One of the stories he produced through his Health Innovation Journalism fellowship, on the HIV epidemic impacting Indigenous communities in Panama, was recently shortlisted for One World Media’s 2025 News Award. 

Originally from Southlake, a Dallas suburb, Williams is based in Mexico City.

This interview has been edited slightly.

 

How have you been involved with ICFJ over the years?

In 2018, I was awarded an Investigative Reporting Initiative in the Americas fellowship from ICFJ in collaboration with the Latin American investigative unit Connectas. My partner and I worked on a more than three-year investigation into how a recently created Texas-based energy company known as Whitewater Midstream – despite no previous experience in the industry – won several multi-million dollar deals from the Mexican state electricity company CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad). 

The investigation published in El País in 2021, both in English and Spanish, and to date we have written 15 stories in the ongoing series, conducting the reporting in Mexico City, Houston and Austin. 

In 2024, I was awarded a Health Innovation Journalism Fellowship from ICFJ to report a series on health issues – such as an uncontrolled HIV epidemic – in Panama’s Ngäbe-Buglé Indigenous territory. In 2024 and 2025, I published five stories and photos as part of the fellowship, including two for Mongabay, one with Al-Jazeera, one with the Christian Science Monitor and one with NPR, which in April was longlisted for a One World Media Award in the news category. 

What was the biggest outcome from participating in the programs? 

Federal civil and criminal investigations were opened in the U.S. and Mexico following our more than three-year investigation in 2021.

Following publication of our investigation with El País — “The unknown winners of Mexico’s energy reform” – the Mexican government and state electricity company CFE opened criminal and civil investigations – both in the U.S. and Mexico – into the potential wrongdoing we uncovered in our reporting. 

A total of eight civil cases were opened in U.S. federal courts following our investigation, and the people named in our stories are set to face a jury trial in Houston in 2026. In a U.S. federal court, the CFE alleges that the “case arises from the rampant corruption, cronyism and conflicts of interest through which the defendants were awarded billions of dollars of unnecessary and overpriced natural gas supply and pipeline contracts to WhiteWater Midstream” and that “the economic toll inflicted on the CFE Group is estimated to be at least in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Without the support from the ICFJ fellowship, this story and investigative process wouldn’t have been possible. The fellowship gave my partner Isabella Cota Schwarz and I time and financial support that allowed us to dig into this project and complicated subject matter for years. 

During the process, I learned invaluable investigative journalism skills –  such as how to submit successful government information requests, synthesize complex databases and comprehend international energy pricing formulas and contracts – which have continued to benefit my career long-term. 

In 2023 we were awarded a Fetisov Journalism Award for Outstanding Investigative Reporting, more than five years after we started the deep-dive, multi-year investigative process supported by ICFJ. 

What is something impactful you have worked on since participating in an ICFJ program that you are proud of and would want to highlight? 

The ICFJ Health Innovation fellowship I was awarded in 2024 allowed me to cover health issues in Panama’s Ngäbe-Buglé territory, which is the country’s largest, most impoverished and most populated Indigenous region. I’d researched the HIV epidemic among the Ngäbe-Buglé for a few years and the fellowship provided me with the resources to travel to Panama to report on the issue, as well as cover other health concerns in the Indigenous territory and profile some of the people and groups working to address them. 

Since publishing these stories in 2024 and 2025, philanthropic groups and human rights organizations have reached out and pledged to assist some of the Indigenous organizations profiled in the reporting, such as a midwives’ organization that I wrote about for Mongabay. Another fellowship story I wrote for Mongabay about traditional medicine plants and Indigenous shamans led to additional financial support for biologists, scientists and researchers studying the subject at the Technological University of Panama. 

In April, the NPR story I wrote about the Ngäbe-Buglé HIV epidemic was longlisted for a One World Media Award in the News category. 

To date, NPR is the only international media outlet to cover the HIV outbreak in Panama’s Ngäbe-Buglé territory, and the reporting would not have been possible without ICFJ’s support, which included financing, mentorship and editorial guidance.  

Why is it so important right now to provide the kind of support to journalists that ICFJ does, especially in Latin American and on global health?

With the Health Innovation Fellowship, for example, ICFJ’s support allowed me and journalists around the world to take on long-term health reporting projects and cover issues that in many instances were overlooked. That kind of support for long term projects is invaluable, particularly for freelance journalists, to be able to conduct deep-dive, investigative and deeply researched reporting, which can be difficult to accomplish when working at a daily newspaper or media outlet. 

Above all, ICFJ’s support gives journalists time and resources to produce impactful, important stories across the world that might not have been previously told. In Panama, for example, with the appropriate allocation of government resources, the HIV epidemic among the Ngäbe-Buglé could be better controlled. The ICFJ fellowship allowed me – as well as other journalists in Latin America – to provide a nuanced look at pressing health issues in the region, as well as generate conversation about how to better address these problems. 

Why did you choose to become a journalist? 

Coming out of college, I knew I wanted to write. In my first reporting job, I realized that working as a journalist allows you access to so many different worlds, people, professions, and perspectives, as well as witness moments of celebration, tragedy, laughter, tears and conflict. I’ve always cherished this opening we’re given as journalists to observe different cultures, traditions and beliefs; and I can’t think of a more fulfilling career to be able to write, photograph and document the human experience across the world. It’s a career of constant growth, challenge and learning, and it’s been a steady source of joy. 

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to an aspiring journalist? 

I actually have two. To make it as a journalist long term, I’d recommend learning as many complementary skills to writing as possible, such as photography, video production, social media, audio, data journalism, grant writing, etc. Journalism is changing rapidly and equipping yourself with as many skills and tools as possible is likely to open doors for you when others might close. 

Business, economics and finance reporting experience. Plenty of journalists aren’t too interested in business writing or the subject matter, but having a working knowledge of how to cover economics and the finance sector are valuable skills to develop. Many journalism agencies proving durable during this era of change are business wires and agencies that specialize in topics such as financial and energy markets. Knowing how to report on these topics, in my experience as a freelancer, has led to steady work and fellowship opportunities.