Absa supports African investigative journalism

Absa Group is proud to support the African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC), the 18th iteration of which was hosted last week by the Wits Centre for Journalism in South Africa.

Since its inaugural event in 2004, the AIJC has grown into the largest annual gathering of working journalists on the continent. This year’s conference saw 375 delegates from 42 African countries (and 10 others) attend more than 80 sessions led by over 140 speakers.?

Conference convener and adjunct Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Witwatersrand, Professor Anton Harber, said: “Investigative journalism shines a light on state and private-sector corruption, environmental damage and the abuse of power. It is, as has been reiterated by Nelson Mandela, President Ramaphosa, Chief Justice Zondo and others, critical to good governance. But investigative journalism is expensive and time consuming, and is perennially under-resourced. The support of corporates such as Absa Group is crucial, and it’s been very pleasing to have Absa involved as an active partner for the past few years.”

The AIJC acts as a forum for networking, encouraging collaboration, debate and learning, and as a showcase of powerful, interesting work taking place across the continent. It also helps to build critical skills and capacity. A key theme of this year’s conference was the effect of rapidly developing technology on the work of investigative journalists. Investigative journalism is becoming increasingly specialised, and increasingly requires technical proficiency, for example in data analysis, forensic online investigation, and countering surveillance.

Cutting-edge open-source-intelligence techniques involving sophisticated analysis of publicly available social-media, satellite and other data were active points of discussion at AIJC2022. Charlie Beckett, a?professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics, spoke on the value of artificial intelligence as a tool to allow journalists to gather data, improve workflows, and synthesise information.

The AIJC also tracks threats to journalism and journalists and shares methods of mitigating the dangers posed. Journalists around the world – and women journalists in particular – are facing increased harassment and threats, both physical and through “SLAPP” lawsuits – strategic litigation designed not to seek justice, but to make the lives of journalists more difficult. The AIJC works to build local, continental and global networks of support in response.

A highlight of this year’s event was the Carlos Cardoso Memorial Lecture, which commemorates the prominent Mozambiquan journalist who was assassinated in 2001. Guest speakers Baba Hydara, whose father Deyda was murdered in 2014, and Penny Sukhraj-Hammerl, whose husband Anton Hammerl was shot in 2014 in Libya, spoke about the campaign to bring those guilty of the killing of journalists to justice.

After their talk, a declaration calling for African governments to act to end impunity for crimes against journalists was adopted by acclamation by AIJC2022 delegates. Over the past decade, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, only one in five cases relating to the more than 200 journalists killed in retaliation for their work led to accountability for the perpetrators.

Absa Group’s support for the conference is informed by the greater need to maintain healthy democracies, respect for the rule of law, and accountability. These are all critical elements in building a conducive environment for investment, economic growth and socioeconomic development.

Absa Group contributes to several initiatives aimed at enabling journalists to play their crucial role in society. For example, Absa has partnered with the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism to deliver training workshops in various provinces across South Africa each year. Through this partnership, hundreds of journalists are trained annually on Finance and Public Sector Auditing.

Absa has, for many years, also partnered with the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) to commemorate what has come to be known as Black Wednesday, while at the same time, helping SANEF to raise funds for its activities to promote media freedom.

Absa is also a proud media sponsor of the Daily Maverick’s “Our Burning Planet” series of reports on climate-change and other environmental issues, and will continue to support the work of courageous journalists to stimulate debate and contribute to creating sustainable and value-creating solutions to some of Africa’s greatest environmental, social and economic challenges.

For more information on AIJC2022 visit?https://aijc.africa/.