How to Investigate the Pandemic: The Threat to Africa

CLICK BELOW TO NAVIGATE VIDEO CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Intro by Asha Mwilu (Citizen TV)
4:48 - Impressions on COVID stories in the region by Dayo Aiyetan (International Center for Investigative Reporting)
10:29 - Impressions on COVID coverage in South Africa by Mia Malan (Bhekisisa Centre of Health Journalism)
15:27 - Assessment on COVID coverage in the continent by Dr Peter Mwesige (African Center for Media Excellence)
19:20 - The most impactful stories on COVID by Joshua Olufemi (Dataphyte)
24:03 - Tips on how to cover COVID stories by Mia Malan (Bhekisisa Centre of Health Journalism)
42:40 - Data drive approach to covering COVID in Africa by Joshua Olufemi (Dataphyte)
1:00:10 - Ideas to get to the top layer of COVID stories by Dr Peter Mwesige (African Center for Media Excellence)
1:12:12 - Open source tools for reporting on COVID by Dayo Aiyetan (International Center for Investigative Reporting)
1:26:20 - Q&A with audience by Benon Herbert Oluka (GIJN)

GIJN's COVID-19 Resources: https://bit.ly/3cdmdEQ

Resources mentioned during the webinar: https://buff.ly/3gVovKR

Although the African continent so far has escaped the kind of death toll and sickness seen in Europe and the United States, in recent weeks infections have grown exponentially, raising concern that the region could become the world’s next pandemic epicenter, according to the World Health Organization. Experts warn that if not controlled, COVID-19’s impact could be devastating, overwhelming local health services and worsening regions already caught up in natural disasters and conflict.

Pandemic angles for Africa’s investigative journalists are plentiful, from medical readiness and response to crunching the data and following the money. But like their colleagues elsewhere, reporters there face extra challenges digging into the many issues affected by the pandemic: heavy-handed censorship, secretive officials, and threats of prosecution and even violence. Despite all this, some great COVID-19 stories and investigations are being published and broadcast on the continent.

In this latest of GIJN’s webinar series “Investigating the Pandemic: The Threat to Africa,“ experienced African journalists shared their assessment of the COVID-19 coverage to date, offered suggestions for future investigations, and shared their strategies, tips and tools to help journalists to investigate the most important pandemic stories on the continent.

Dayo Aiyetan is the Executive Director of the International Center for Investigative Reporting in Nigeria; Mia Malan, the Editor-in-Chief of the Bhekisisa Centre of Health Journalism in South Africa; Dr Peter Mwesige is the Executive Director of the African Centre for Media Excellence; and Joshua Olufemi is the founder of Nigeria-based Dataphyte.

The moderator of this webinar is Asha Mwilu, Special Projects Editor, Citizen TV, Kenya.

This one-hour webinar is free and designed for journalists interested in investigating the pandemic. It’s the eighth in a GIJN series, Investigating the Pandemic. Watch our Twitter feed @gijn and newsletter (https://bit.ly/3bdYKSs) for future events.


The Global Investigative Journalism Network is an international association of journalism organizations that support the training and sharing of information among investigative and data journalists—with special attention to those from repressive regimes and marginalized communities.

Our key activities include:

Providing resources and networking services to investigative journalists worldwide;
Publishing in multiple languages and on multiple platforms the latest tools, techniques and opportunities for those in the field;
Helping organize and promote regional and international training conferences and workshops;
Assisting in the formation and sustainability of journalism organizations involved in investigative reporting and data journalism around the world;
Supporting and promoting best practices in investigative and data journalism;
Supporting and promoting efforts to ensure free access to public documents and data worldwide.

Find more information on our website: https://gijn.org

Read more on the GIJN resource page, Investigative Journalism: Defining the Craft: https://gijn.org/resources/investigative-journalism-defining-the-craft/ .

GIJN Help Desk: https://helpdesk.gijn.org/support/home