Media Community Newsletter November 2024

Find out how AI can help you tell African stories better, apply for a fellowship powered by Pulitzer Center and read Blanshe Musinguzi’s award winning four-part series on how Congo’s trees are smuggled through East Africa.

1. Journalism trends: Can A.I help journalists tell better stories about Africa? We believe so, and even though Muck Rack’s State of Journalism 2024 study found that only 28% of journalists use AI in their work, we believe that it can be a tool to help journalists tell African stories better. Meet the Africa Bias Buster, a learning tool that helps you move beyond stereotypes by screening your text for writing biases and providing feedback and recommendations that help you tell stories with balance, context and nuance. All you have to do is register here, then upload your story check if your writing contains stereotypes. You’ll get detailed feedback and a rating out of 5.

2. Who’s funding: Are you a female photojournalist whose work reflects courage and dedication to using visual storytelling that inspires action and better understanding of the world? The Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award is looking for submissions. Each nomination and application must include candidate information, work samples made up of a series of 12 photographs, and a candidate/nomination statement. The winner will get a $20,000 cash prize and a showcase of their work. More info.

3. Training opportunity: This one is for investigative journalists - the Pulitzer Center is looking for the next cohort of Rainforest Investigations Fellows to work on individual and collaborative reporting projects about deforestation in the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia. Fellows are expected to devote a full year to their rainforest investigations and to publish their series during the year of the fellowship. Freelance journalists can apply, provided they have a local or international newsroom that will host them and publish the stories produced during the fellowship. Deadline: 31 December. More info.

4. In the spotlight: Blanshe Musinguzi’s four-part series on how Congo’s trees are smuggled through East Africa took centre stage at the 20th Africa Investigative Journalism Conference at WITS University when he won the African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award. The series, published in The Africa Report, shows how criminals in East Africa exploit multiple conflicts in the north-east of the DRC to traffic protected hardwoods and how Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are benefitting.  The series was published by The Africa Report and produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center Rainforest Investigations Network. Blanshe’s work has also been published by The New York Times, Jeune Afrique, Pulitzer Center, Rest of World, and Al Jazeera amongst other outlets.

5. Stories that moved us: Find out why climate activist and founder Terry Owino used the COP29 climate conference to call  for greater inclusion of marginalized voices in climate policy discussions,  read about the Mombasa wildlife conservatory that is turning elephant dung collected from roads into big business – and in the process becoming part of a growing Kenyan success story in elephant population recovery; and discover why Lesalon Kasaine hunted down Peter Ngugi to hear first-hand his life story and unpack how the Kenyan became a household name in India. These are some of the stories published by bird story agency, the first new agency established to tell better stories about Africa.

Follow @BirdStoryAgency on social media for more stories that represent Africa better, away from stereotypes of poverty, disease, poor leadership, corruption and conflict. Media outlets that want to use bird content, for free, can contact tom@africainsight.co.ke