Media Community Newsletter March 2024

Find out how you can use Solutions Journalism to build a connection with younger audiences, apply for an organisational support grant to cover biodiversity, and meet the woman reviving Zimbabwe’s leather industry.

1. Journalism trends: Solutions Journalism is the key to building a relationship with Gen Z and Generation Alpha audiences. In a www.journalism.co.uk media trend report that asked editors and publishing leaders how news organisations can grow audiences, Liesbeth Nizet, managing director at Mather Economics, said solutions journalism is a powerful tool for connecting with younger audiences. This is because it offers hope, optimism and inspiration, and “builds a relationship based on common values and the shared goal of making the world a better place”.  She added: “This is not just about reporting news; it is about inspiring a more informed, hopeful, and engaged community.” The Solutions Journalism Network offers free online training on solutions journalism. 

2. Who’s funding: Are you a news organisation or journalist network that’s improving how conservation and biodiversity are covered? Apply for the Earth Network Journalism Biodiversity media grant. Worth between €10,000 and €12,000, grants will support the production of in-depth stories to expand the breadth and depth of coverage of   biodiversity and conservation issues; training and capacity building; and the creation or strengthening of journalist networks focused on conservation and biodiversity issues. Deadline: 9 April. More info.

3. Training Opportunity: Calling print, television, radio or internet journalists interested in international affairs. You can get the opportunity to spend 10 weeks at the United Nations headquarters in New York, as part of the media covering the 79th United Nations General Assembly. Freelance journalists can also apply. Deadline: 5 April. More info.

4. In the spotlight: Kenya’s tea farms supply some of the most-known tea brands in the world while the tea industry employs s one in ten Kenyans. However, there’s a sinister side to tea production in the country: women are forced to exchange sex for jobs. Kenyan investigative journalist Tom Odula put the issue under the spotlight in a BBC Africa Eye investigation called Sex for Work: The True Cost of Our Tea. Shot for BBC Africa Eye. The investigation won the top prize at the inaugural African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award. The award is an initiative of the Wits Centre for Journalism and the African Investigative Journalism Conference. The investigation, which interviewed over 100 women, was recognised “for reporting that showed compassion in dealing with the victims of sexual violence, as well as dogged persistence and courage in bringing the perpetrators to book”.  The BBC freelance reporter has 25 years’ experience working with international and local media. Tune into Newzroom Afrika to find out what inspired the investigation. 

5. Stories that moved us: Meet Ntobeko Thokozisile Mafu, the 23-year-old entrepreneur driven to empower her rural community through training and mentorship. In Harare’s posh Eastlea suburb, Paula Marowa dream of reviving Zimbabwe’s leather sector is taking shape at Rukanda Pride leather store. When Chido Dzinotyiwei moved to South Africa from Zimbabwe as a child, language became an obstacle she is turning into an opportunity with Vambo AI. The App wants to bridge the continent’s linguistic divide.

It pays to tell better stories about Africa, so we partnered with the Thomson Foundation on a digital course called African Stories: A guide for journalists on how to tell better stories about Africa. It’s free and takes three hours to complete. Then you can pitch to bird story agency and get paid to publish stories that better represent Africa.