Aziza Nofal, a Palestinian freelance journalist and an ICFJ Jim Hoge Reporting Fellow, through her fellowship, conducted a months-long investigation into the shortage of aid for refugees living in West Bank refugee camps. When Nofal was covering Israeli incursions into West Bank refugee camps for outlets like Al Jazeera, she observed a lack of support from Palestinian authorities.
Maria Zholobova, a journalist working at investigative outlet IStories, has long been interested in who is financially benefiting from Russian-occupied regions in Ukraine. So, for a story supported by the Jim Hoge Fellowship, Zholobova turned to customs data and export records, hoping to find something. And she did. She noticed that a company registered to a run-down building on the outskirts of a Russian town had, over the past two years, exported nearly half a million tons of coal labeled as “Russian” but produced in Ukraine’s occupied territory, primarily to Turkey.
Once in exile to escape threats and danger, journalists soon face a new set of challenges: how to sustain their careers, communities and reporting from afar. ICFJ’s International Journalists’ Network (IJNet), in collaboration with the Network of Exiled Media Outlets (NEMO), has expanded its Exiled Media Toolkit to include a comprehensive section on viability, produced by ICFJ Knight Fellow José J. Nieves.
Hamna Iqbal Baig is a widely published freelance journalist and fact-checker who says she knew from a young age that journalism was her calling. She currently focuses on covering women, minorities and marginalized groups. Through two ICFJ programs, she enhanced her skills on data journalism and audience engagement and investigated the exploitation of sanitation workers in Karachi, Pakistan.
Through our Crisis Reporting Forum at IJNet, we hosted live training sessions and discussions throughout the year to help journalists stay on top of major global developments. In our “IJNet Conversations” series launched this year, we reached out to experts and writers in the IJNet network to offer their expertise and advice for journalists on the fundamentals of the trade. Here are recaps of six crisis reporting sessions and recordings of four practical resources for journalists that remain relevant heading into 2025.
India and Pakistan have a history of more than 75 years of conflict over Kashmir, a region split between the two nations. This clash often places Kashmiris, who lack autonomy, in the crossfire. Last year, Indian journalist Puja Bhattacharjee and Pakistani journalist Umar Bacha united in a rare cross-country collaboration to detail the challenges faced by families and marriages divided by borders. The emotional investigation remains relevant amid increasing calls for Kashmiri autonomy.
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) – the gathering and analysis of publicly available information found on social media, and in databases and government records – can be invaluable in situations when information is sparse, controlled or censored. Journalists today leverage OSINT to expose corruption, investigate war crimes and hold governments and other powerful actors to account. In a recent IJNet Crisis Reporting Forum session, Eoghan Macguire of investigative journalism group Bellingcat detailed how journalists can use OSINT in their own investigative reporting.
In the face of dire threats to their safety, Ukrainian journalists have put their lives on the line to document the atrocities of Russia’s invasion of their country, and amplify the stories of those most impacted. Among these fearless journalists is 2024 ICFJ Knight International Journalism Award winner Valeriya Yegoshyna, a reporter at Schemes, the investigative project of the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Her reporting has revealed alleged Russian war crimes and corruption in her native Ukraine.
When Rana Sabbagh was a young girl in Jordan, her German mother introduced her to the idea of Gerechtigkeit, which translates roughly to “justice” or “fairness.” Sabbagh’s career as an investigative journalist has revolved around this ideal: that justice, accountability and the rule of law matter. Today, Sabbagh — ICFJ's Knight Trailblazer Award winner — continues to drive hard-hitting investigations in the Middle East.
Sri Lankan journalist Raisa Wickrematunge believes religious intolerance is under covered in the media. Through an ICFJ program, she helped build a course to train South Asian journalists how to cover religious freedom. Her mentorship has facilitated high-quality reporting in the region.
