Media Newsletter - 24 March

1. Journalism trends to watch: The business of arts and creativity is one of Africa’s biggest exports, but stories of how music genres like Afrobeats and Amapiano became global pop culture or how Nollywood ended up as the second-biggest movie producer after Bollywood are missing in business stories about the continent. Arts and creativity are one of 35 trends journalists can use to write about business in Africa. The trends were uncovered in The Business in Africa Narrative Report as a way to disrupt stereotypical and limited perspectives of Africa as a business and investment destination. So, next time you listen to Beyonce’s Black is King, applaud Zendaya’s cutting edge style or write about the explosion of film in Africa, consider stories about Africa’s most prominent producers, highest-earners, changemakers etc.

2. Who's funding?: Women journalists who want to tell underreported but critical issues that challenge traditional media narratives can apply for the Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists. Grantees will also get mentorship, training and other opportunities. Deadline: Rolling. More info.

3. Training opportunity: Every journalist has a career-defining story that consumes them, a story they’d love to tell if only they had resources like one-on-one mentorship, a reporting grant, workshops with accomplished trainers, and a community of other storytellers. One World Media’s fellowship is an opportunity to bring that story to life.  It will power 12 journalists and filmmakers to tell stories about the global south. Deadline: 29 March. More info.

4. In the spotlight: Nigerian journalist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani is one of the most prominent journalists and writers of her time, with personal essays published in the New York Times, The Guardian and the New Yorker. Her debut novel, I Do Not Come to You by Chance, won the 2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (Africa) and the 2010 Betty Trask First Book award. Her second book, Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree, is based on dozens of interviews with women and girls kidnapped by Boko Haram. It won the 2018 Raven Award for Excellence in Arts and Entertainment. Keep us with musing in her column for the BBC, called Letter from Africa.

5. You have to read this: Africa’s internet economy is expected to grow by 56% by 2025, making it a $180 billion economy. Figures show Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt will fuel the continent’s mobile commerce boom. Meanwhile, investors believe healthcare, e-commerce and media and entertainment sectors will see the most benefit. This is just one of the stories published by Bird Story Agency, our way of disrupting stereotypical narratives of Africa.  Read more here — more on how you can join Bird here.

Follow @Africanofilter and @birdstoryagency on social media for hot opportunities and alternative stories of Africa.