Each week as part of the Knight International Media Innovators blog, the ICFJ Knight team will round up stories focused on how their fellows are making an impact in the field. Find out more about the fellows' projects by clicking here.
ANCIR highlighed in new World Policy Institute podcast, Stephen Abbott Pugh on RFI English and more from the Knight Fellows in this week’s roundup.
ANCIR featured on World Policy Institute’s first Africa Investigates podcast
African Network of Centers for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR), founded by ICFJ Knight Fellow Justin Arenstein, worked with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and The Huffington Post to investigate how World Bank-financed projects have displaced an estimated 3.4 million people. For this inaugural Africa Investigates podcast, ICFJ Knight Fellow Chris Roper interviews three of the 50 reporters who worked with ANCIR, ICIJ and The Huffington Post on this exposé. Listen to the podcast here.
Stephen Abbott Pugh talks about Code for Africa with RFI English
ICFJ Knight Fellow Stephen Abbott Pugh talks to Fabien Jannic-Cherbonnel from RFI English about Code for Africa’s work. Abbott Pugh discusses Code for Africa’s network of civic tech labs and open data projects that are working to strengthen health and development news and tech tools across the African continent. Listen to the podcast here.
Project on domestic worker salaries wins regional award
Freelance journalist Kim Harrisberg won the Vodacom regional journalist of the year award for the online category. Vodacom recognized Harrisberg for the Living Wage project, which focuses on domestic worker salaries in South Africa. Harrisberg worked in partnership with Code for South Africa to create the Living Wage calculator and produce related stories about women who struggle to live on their low salaries. Domestic workers make up 6 percent of the country’s employed population. Read more about the stories here.
Congrats to @KimHarrisberg of @code4sa for winning the online award at #vjoy15 for reporting on domestic workers pic.twitter.com/TmxFEpFEiV
— Raymond Joseph (@rayjoe) October 9, 2015
Chicas Poderosas helps launch The 19 Million Project to assist refugees through technology
While technology helps build the future, it can also save lives in the present. Chicas Poderosas, the nonprofit group founded by former ICFJ Knight Fellow Mariana Santos, is aiming to do just that with The 19 Million Project, named for the estimated number of refugees in the world. Joining the Global Editors Network (GEN), Fusion, Univision News and the Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties, Chicas Poderosas will deploy technologies like mobile apps and open software maps to contextualize the global refugee crisis and highlight underreported stories. Santos describes her vision for this work in this interview with GEN.
Santos will also participate in the forum “Storytelling to Change the World - A conversation on how media can transform communities,” which highlights technology’s potential to affect social change. This one-day forum organized by Florida International University and Images & Voices of Hope will explore ways that media and tech can boost local and global communities. The free event will take place on Monday, Oct. 28, in Miami, and is open to the public. RSVP is required.
Why data journalism matters
ICFJ Knight Fellow Chris Roper weighs in on the importance of data journalism in Remy Raitt’s “What’s the deal with data journalism?” featured on Media Update. Roper stresses the need for newsrooms to move beyond pretty graphs to sustained production of data tools. Roper also highlights the need for more data journalism and forecasts more revenue opportunities for media houses.
Main image CC-licensed courtesy of John Morgan.