News

Investigative Reporters in Africa Triumph Despite Budget Cuts and Threats

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.

In recent years, all the country's big media houses set up investigation units staffed by senior journalists who had the resources and time to mount major investigations.

How to Measure Impact Effectively: Best Practices for Media Organizations

How do you measure media impact? Is your journalism successful?

How 'Living on the Edge' Illustrates Data Journalism Tools' Potential

Sometimes the best story ideas come from a random discussion that sparks a light bulb moment.

And so it was with Living on the Edge, a data-driven multimedia story by Kim Harrisberg, which recently won the national online category of the Vodacom Journalist of the Year awards, South Africa's most prestigious journalism awards.

"This entry shows brilliant use of the online medium to unpack what could have been a standard human-interest story," said one of the online

Code for Africa's Data Bootcamps Teach Journalists Digital Literacy Skills

Open data is useless if nobody knows what to do with it, which is why Code for Africa's data bootcamps are so important.

Developed in 2012 by ICFJ Knight Fellow Justin Arenstein and the World Bank Institute, these data bootcamps have been held all over the world — including 10 African countries, Pak

Communicate Complex Ideas to the Public Using These Tips

I recently sat in on a conversation with communication officers from research institutions and one of them expressed fears that the information they were continually providing the public gave people "head pain."

No, not a headache, because that is curable, but "head pain." The point she was making and which I have tried to put across over the years to numerous communication officers from academia, research institutions, United Nations organizations and the private sector is that they must be able to simplify (and this does not mean dumb down) their message.

The communicators bemoaned the

Why the Best Data Tools Engage Journalists While Educating Them

"If you build it, they will come" is the classic line uttered by the character played by Kevin Costner in the 1989 hit movie "Field of Dreams." It tells the story of an Iowa farmer who keeps hearing voices telling him to plough up his corn fields and build a baseball stadium in the middle of nowhere.

He believes that if he does so, the Chicago White Sox team will come to his arena to play. So he does, and they do.

But sadly the Hollywood fantasy-drama with a perfect outcome is worlds apart from the real-life world of tech where things don't neatly follow a script to end on a happy note.

New Program to Emphasize Data, Engage Citizens in Storytelling

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and its partner Code for Africa have launched a sweeping program to promote data-driven investigative reporting in Africa that engages audiences and gets the attention of policymakers on health and other development issues.

Living Wage Calculator Sums Up Income Inequality in South Africa

Want to know if you’re paying your domestic worker a living wage? A new data journalism tool allows employers in South Africa to find out the answer to that question.

The ​Living Wage Calculator was created by Code for South Africa (Code4SA) to focus attention on a large and essential sector of the country’s labor force. Domestic workers make up 6 percent of South African workers.

Data Journalism's Pursuit and Obstacles in Storytelling

Data journalism is currently a hot buzzword among journalists in South Africa. But in reality it’s a case of lots of talking and not much action, with few journalists and newsrooms doing much real data-driven storytelling.

Too often it’s because old school editors working with very tight resources and dwindling staff numbers don’t understand the value and depth that good data-driven stories could add to their reportage.

Four Ways to Get Involved with the Global Data Journalism Community

All over the world, journalists are taking an interest in data journalism, attending training sessions and infusing new data skills into their work. ICFJ Knight Fellow Stephen Abbott Pugh offers tips on how to join the global data journalism community:

So you’ve taken your first data journalism class and now see the possibilities for using data to enhance your storytelling. What’s next? Here are four ways you can keep the momentum going and build on what you’ve learned.

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