Each month, IJNet features an international journalist who exemplifies the profession and has used the site to further his or her career. If you would like to be featured, email a short bio and a paragraph about how you have used IJNet here.
This month, we feature four journalists who helped to carry out “Fatal Extraction,” an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) project that uncovered Australian mining companies’ alleged abuses and injustices across the African continent.
With a market capitalization of US$133 billion, the more than 150 Australian mining companies in Africa boast some of the most profitable ventures across the continent. Yet these mining companies have long held secrets of death, wage exploitation, community conflicts and other abuses — abuses that likely would have gone undiscovered had it not been for “Fatal Extraction” and the people who worked on it.
The project involved a team of 30 reporters, editors, researchers and designers. By combining data research with hundreds of interviews from mining executives, politicians, civilians, miners, civil society members, kings, queens, tribal leaders and lawyers, the ICIJ reporters were able to uncover the damaging effects Australian mining's had throughout Africa. The result? An immersive multimedia experience that brings these issues to life.
Based in Botswana, Mali, Burkina Faso and Namibia, respectively, our journalists of the month — Alvin Ntibinyane, David Dembele, Sandrine Sawadogo and Shinovene Immanuel — share their experiences collaborating across borders. Simply click on their photo to learn how they each brought an international injustice to light in their own way.
Main image courtesy of ICIJ.