Media Newsletter - 18 April

Find out how you can rethink climate news and cover the United Nations General Assembly for 10 weeks.

1. Journalism Trends: Climate is big news, and with good reason. The effects of global warming on communities and the environment is becoming more evident, signaling time for the media to think differently about how climate change is covered. In a survey where editors discussed journalism trends, 44% said they’re adding climate to other coverage like business and sport, while 30% said they have a climate strategy. In Africa, where climate change is primarily reported through disaster, this change in tact is good news for journalists who want to tell better climate stories. The kind that focuses on solutions, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.

2. Who’s funding: The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is one of the most newsworthy events in the world. Freelance and full-time print, television, radio or internet journalists who are passionate about international affairs and the United Nations work can apply for the Dag Hammarskjöld Fund for Journalists. Successful applicants will cover UNGA 2023 for 10 weeks. Deadline: 24 April. More info.

3. Training opportunity: Do you want to know more about freedom of expression and safety for journalists? UNSECO and the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford is launching a multilingual digital course that takes a deep dive into regional and international standards of freedom of expression and the safety of journalists. It’s free and runs from 29 May to 30 June. The course will be available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Portuguese. Register here.More info.

4. In the spotlight: Farai Shawn Matiashe’s “gripping” story for CNN about the first all-women fishing cooperative in Zimbabwe tells the story of an inspired community that uses fishing to empower each other. But now, their livelihood is threatened by global warming and climate change. The story, produced for CNN, won the 2023 Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling. Read it. He is the joint winner along with Adekunle Adebajo whose story, for HumAngle Media,follows the lives of some of the students kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014.

5. Stories that moved us: International air travel to Africa is reboundingand some countries have surpassed pre-covid arrival numbers and revenue levels, and the Chinese market is a significant part of this boost. Over in Lilongwe, Malawi, farmers are turning to technology to stop measuring temperatures and humidity by hand; an “incredible” innovation. In Kenya, women’s groups are conserving the ancient Kakamega Forest by transitioning households from the three-stone cooking method to energy-saving stoves.

Good news pays, 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.