South African Awards Highlight World Class Reporting

High quality investigative journalism is spreading around the world. One country where it has put down strong roots, despite an often hostile environment, is South Africa. The depth of reporting can be seen in the just announced Taco Kuiper Awards, that country’s highest prize for investigative journalism. In the awards announcement speech on 5 April, Wits University Journalism Professor Anton Harber salutes the finalists for work on extraordinary stories ranging from police death squads to government waste, fraud, and abuse of the public trust.

VACANCY: Commissioning Editor

The Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR) is seeking a Commissioning Editor. The appointment will be for part-time work on a contract basis (renewable dependent on performance). The fee will be approximately R15 000 per month.

Gutsy Exposés, Undercover Work Win Top Honors at 2012 African Investigative Journalism Awards

A courageous effort by the Sunday Times in South Africa into the operations of a police death squad won the top prize in the 2012 African Investigative Journalism Awards.

East Africa Conference: Going beyond the veil of secrecy using public data

Investigative journalism distinguishes itself from regular journalism by its depth and by a rigorous research process that never merely describes issues or events, but seeks to better serve the public by getting answers to the key questions of ‘why?’ and ‘how?’

Call for papers: Investigating Extractive Industries / Chamada de trabalhos: Investigando Indústrias Extractivas

FAIR will host a southern Africa regional conference on “Investigating Extractive Industries” during 13-15 August 2012 in Lusaka, Zambia.

Entries open for African Investigative Journalism Awards/ Les inscriptions pour les Prix du journalisme d’investigation africain ouverts / Inscrições para os Prêmios para o Jornalismo Investigativo Africano agora abertas

Ecological Justice: investigative journalism grant

Fossil fuel exploitation, carbon trading, biofuels-related land grab, climate change and other such pressing current issues are priorities for many journalists in Africa, both within and on the periphery of the FAIR network.

Nigeria: Investigative Journalism Necessary for Intelligence Gathering – SSS

Yola — Investigative journalism has been identified as a potent tool for intelligence gathering that can curtail the activities of terrorists in Nigeria, the Adamawa State Director of the State Security Service (SSS) Mr Olugbenga Jayeoba has said. Mr Jayeoba, who said this when he received members of the state’s Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, urged journalists in the country to embark on investigative journalism, saying such could save the country from drifting into a state of anarchy.

CALL FOR PAPERS: ICT’s for better Investigative Journalism / APPEL A COMMUNICATIONS: Les TIC pour mieux faire le journalisme d’investigation

FAIR is calling on members to submit topics for presentations at the upcoming west Africa regional conference. Concept notes should be less than one page, and must show some relevance to the overall theme “ICT’s for better Investigative Journalism: Challenges of Access to Information in West Africa”.  Selection of participants will be based on FAIR membership status, current investigations and overall professionalism.