News

How Innovators Aim to Disrupt African Media

Fact-checking the media, drone journalism and journalists' security were among the topics on the minds of more than 500 innovators vying for startup capital to disrupt African media.

The African News Innovation Challenge will provide US$12,500-US$100,000 to about 20 startups.

Mobile and Advertising Innovations Set the Course for Sustainability Efforts by Liberia Media

Since embarking a year ago on a media-sustainability project as a Knight International Journalism Fellow in Liberia, I have worked with managers at three newspapers and three radio stations to help them succeed not only as news organizations but also as businesses.

The Liberia media industry is extremely volatile, with radio stations, in particular, shutting down from time to time for lack of income.

Bogota Hacks/Hackers to Launch Crowdsourced Map on Environmental Problems

“Mi Bogotá Verde,” or My Green Bogota, a new, crowdsourced digital map that will track solid waste disposal – the first of many urban environmental concerns – is just weeks away from going online in Bogota.

The map was developed during the first hackathon of the Bogota chapter of Hacks/Hackers, created just four months ago.

Multimedia “Boot Camp” Empowers Arab Journalists to Serve Their Societies

Twenty-three years of authoritarian government and no freedom of expression left Tunisian citizen journalist, Safaa Daouas, worried and concerned about participating in ICFJ’s multimedia “boot camp” in Jordan.

“I was afraid and not sure what to expect from that training, because such training was out of reach for my people before the revolution,” she said.

As part of the boot camp, Daouas proposed to investigate the issue of electoral corruption in post-revolution Tunisia.

ICFJ Trainee Releases Lebanese Detainees From the Prison of Silence

A Lebanese participant's multimedia website that documents torture of detainees won the top prize in a competition among ICFJ participants. The site began with a course on ICFJ Anywhere.

Trouble Enforcing Building Codes Leads to Dangers in Haiti

Disregard for building codes, neglecting to get permits, ignoring government inspectors - who have too little power to be effective - all are common practices in Haiti.

Learning Data Visualization Skills Helps Tell Compelling Stories in Africa

For two days, the trainers became trainees, and it was fun. We stepped into the world of data visualization using the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). These population-based surveys provide reliable information on HIV, malaria, gender, family planning, maternal and child health, and nutrition in more than 90 countries.

Unsafe Abortion Makes News, as Mozambique Prepares for a Change in Law

Abortions are technically illegal in Mozambique. Even though the laws are no longer enforced, medical standards have yet to catch up, especially in rural areas where patients find less sterile, riskier procedures. Now with a new effort to revamp and discard the old national laws, all that is about to change.

Digital Map to Track Corruption Launches in Colombia

A digital mapping tool to track corruption in Colombia on a national scale launched July 24, a result of our partnership with the Consejo de Redacción, a country-wide organization of investigative journalists.

Hack/Hackers Sao Paulo: On the Quest for Journalism Innovation

On Monday, July 16, I launched Brazil’s first Hacks/Hackers chapter in Sao Paulo. The initiative has the support of ABRAJI (the Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association), the local offices of the Open Knowledge Foundation and W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium).