Media Newsletter - 30 May

Find out why you need to get into Data Journalism and how to turn feel-good African stories into an earning opportunity.

1. Journalism trends: The news cycle means information travels faster, often without rigorous fact-checking. Enter Data Journalism which statistics and hard data for credible storytelling; a much-needed skill according to Code For Africa's Tricia Govindasamy. Find out why it matters and what you can do to boost your data journalism in this conversation with Tricia and Jacopo Ottaviani. They delve into the value of data journalism for citizen journalists and grassroots media and how to turn numbers into compelling stories.

2. Who’s funding? Is there an underreported issue you are passionate about? The IWMF’s Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists partners with women journalists to deliver projects that challenge traditional media narratives. The fund also supports media development initiatives. Deadline: Rolling. More info.

3. Training Opportunity: The Alfred Friendly fellowship is a six-month opportunity to learn at the Missouri School of Journalism. The fellow will also be placed in a leading newsroom. Eligibility: Must work in English and aged between 25 and 35 years. Deadline 31 Aug. More info.

4. In the Spotlight: Bernadette Vivuya is a Congolese visual journalist and filmmaker based in Goma in the DRC. Her work focuses on human rights, the environment and the exploitation of raw minerals in her country. The topics and experiences she covers are often linked to conflict and poverty, but her stories show the resilience and agency of the people and communities she reports on. Take this feature, titled “As incremental efforts to end child labour by 2025 persist, Congo’s child miners – exhausted and exploited – ask the world to “pray for us”. It focuses on the exploitation of children who work in the niobium, cassiterite, and coltan mines that produce raw materials used to make electronic devices. It won the 2021 Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling, showing that difficult issues can be told with care for people whose lived experiences are being reported.

5. Stories that moved us: Meet Kemisola Bolarinwa, the Nigerian scientist behind the unique Smart Bra that helps with the early detection of breast cancer, an innovation inspired by losing her aunt to the disease in 2017. Bolarinwa teamed up with a femwear expert, an IT expert, an embedding hardware expert, an AI expert, a software developer, and an oncologist to create a working prototype of a smart bra that has sensors to scan the breast for abnormalities. Breast cancer is the world’s most prevalent cancer and affects 2.5 million African women. Read this and other stories produced by bird here.

P.S: Complete the groundbreaking digital course, African Stories: A guide for journalists on how to tell better stories about Africa, and get the opportunity to pitch and publish on bird. The course is free and only takes three hours to complete.

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