Speakers and participants at the just concluded African Investigative journalism conference in Johannesburg offered their thoughts on various issues concerning the practice of the profession. Some of the perspectives shared are as followed
@AIJC_Conference
As journalists, we need to rethink our paradigms of work. How relevant is the story we tell to our society? Is the society benefitting from our work? Our work ought to impact our society positively. #AIJC19
@khadijapatel at day 2 of #AIJC19 speaks on investigating NGOs and non-profit organisations: “Non-profits are places where significant power is accumulated and any place where power is accumulated needs to be checked.”
“Undercover journalists rules are to be followed. It is no tea part. Follow the rules Anas an undercover investigative journalist from Ghana.”#AIJC19 #Witsvuzela @Wits Vuvuzela
“Sexual harassment often happens in a space where there only two people and where they may be no physical evidence” @khadijapatel
“Lawyers can be your best friend when looking for stories, they are really good sources,” says Thompson #AIJC19 #Journalism
“As a journalist, we have a right to information says Thompson to an attendee who said she struggles to get information from sources, who tend to stall to prevent her from getting information.”#AIJC19#Journalism
“People question why women sleep with men for sex and they should get alternative jobs but even with alternatives you are not immune to sexual exploitation,” says Offiong #AIJC19#Journalism
‘Selling sex: The last resort, risking death to feed our kids’ with Adie Vanessa Offiong is the last session of the day # AIJC19#Journalism
Reporting on the humanitarian crisis is critical as it can influence responses to the issue says @PKleinfeld. Reporting by @newhumanitarian is about being constructive and analytical. #AIJC19
“Free speech doesn’t give you the license to say everything. Free speech doesn’t give you the license to lie,” @JosephEStiglitz #FreePress #IndependentPress #AIJC19 #AIJC2019
“Should we be worried about nationalism and populism?” “We have to fight it because it is so dangerous .. Eventually they will go but we have to think about the damage Hitler did, there is an urgency to this, which will motivate people,” says @JosephEStiglitz #AIJC19
Reporting on the humanitarian crisis is critical as it can influence responses to the issue says @PKleinfeld. Reporting by @newhumanitarian is about being constructive and analytical. #AIJC19
Freelancers are doing much of the reporting on conflict and humanitarian crises say @PKleinfeld. #journalism schools often don’t teach these skills. #AIJC19
Really interesting final session with Nobel Laureate @JosephEStiglitz . Kicks off with “Journalism is a public good, and can’t be efficiently privately financed” #AIJC19
“We need to formalise the talent pool of African investigative journalists, links are broken, networks need to come together for strength,” says Meyer #AIJC19 #Journalism
“Solutionist journalism is the idea that journalists shouldn’t just expose the problem but assist in providing solutions,” concluded @JosephEStiglitz #AIJC19
Investigative journalist create networks, which allow information to be shared amongst each other, for example, some African journalists don’t have the means or access to information and will ask a foreign colleague to pass on the information #AIJC19 #Journalism
“When writing a narrative you need to have a central character and details matter.” – Cheryl W. Thompson #AIJC19 @WitsVuvuzela
“He repurposed the economy to allow illicit money to be stolen” and, “state entities were repurposed to become slush funds” when you think about “the whole system was sophisticated and Jammeh served as a CEO, a CEO of a big global system”, says Sherife #AIJC19 #Journalism
“In closing, we have had three intensive days, perhaps the greatest value of conferences is getting in contact with colleagues from around the continent, the aim is to develop networks among investigative journalist,” says @AntonHarber #AIJC19 #Journalism
The journalists found the story through invoices which were then into spreadsheets, allowing the journalists to follow the paper trail #AIJC19 #Journalism
