Media Newsletter – November 2025
Dear reader Find out how context-first journalism can boat storytelling about Africa, apply for a Pulitzer Center grant, and read Bird story agency news that moved us. 
1. Journalism trends: Context-First Journalism is emerging as one of 2025's most important shifts. Audiences are rejecting breaking-news headlines without background, nuance, or lived experience. They want stories that explain why something matters, who is affected, and how it connects to history, culture, and policy. This is pushing newsrooms—from the BBC to Al Jazeera to African digital outlets—to invest in explainers, historical context, and community-grounded reporting. For Africa, this trend is especially powerful: it challenges parachute reporting and creates more space for local experts, community voices, and deeper narratives that move beyond crisis towards complexity, innovation, and opportunity. It's also fuelling new tools like AI-powered bias checkers, such as the Africa Bias Buster, helping journalists produce reporting that is accurate, fair and more reflective of reality. 
2. Who's funding: Is there an underreported issue you want to focus on? It could be about water, land, education, maternal health or climate resilience — Pulitzer Center is offering production grants to writers, photographers, radio producers, filmmakers, staff and freelance journalists. They're looking for story idea that will reveal something new or help readers see an issue in a different light. Deadline: Rolling. More info. 
3. Training opportunity: Applications for the Erasmus Mundus Journalism Scholarship. It funds a master's degree at the City University of London, with a full tuition waiver, and monthly stipend of €1400 to support travel, visa, installation, and living costs. Requirements are a three- year bachelor's degree within a relevant field of study, documentation of English language proficiency, and at least three months of journalistic experience. Deadline: 10 January 2026. More info. 
4. In the spotlight: Larry Madowo has often said his job is to cover Africa accurately, not positively. This belief has seen him become one of the continent's most prominent journalists; there to bear witness to key events like the Gen Z protests in Kenya. He has also interviewed the likes of Paul Kagame, Wole Soyinka, and Ngozi Okonjo‑Iweala. This month, he once again became the voice that the world turns to when CNN released an investigation about the violent aftermath of October's presidential election in Tanzania. The report was produced using eyewitness accounts by more than 100 people, as well as forensic analysis of vides. 
5. Stories that moved us: The gender imbalance in leadership has inspired Mwangala Lethbridge's new book, Broken Tables, a chronicle of thirty Zambian women who have carved out space in politics, business, and public life. Baobab Studio's Lutsaga project is keeping the music of Mijikenda alive by archiving 60 endangered musical genres and relaying royalties to musicians. For more than twenty years, M'ma Camara has covered current affairs in Côte d'Ivoire and the region for notable news organizations, yet she has found it hard to meet other Ivorian women to trade career stories with. This is why she's mentoring and connecting a new generation of women journalists. Africa's cultural and tourism economy is experiencing a surge in interest from the global diaspora, driven by a booming ancestry testing market that is guiding a wave of celebrity-led homecomings. These stories, produced by Bird story agency, highlight Africa's progress, innovation, and opportunity. Complete the African Stories: A guide for journalists on how to tell better stories about Africa course for skills that empower you to reimagine how you tell stories about the continent. It's free and only takes three hours to complete. Follow @BirdStoryAgency on social media for more stories that represent Africa better. Media outlets that want to use bird content, for free, can contact tom@africainsight.co.ke |