Join the WCJ for the online launch of its 2025 State of the Newsroom report

Join the Wits Centre for Journalism for the online launch of its 2025 State of the Newsroom Report - AI, Trust and Resilience: Building a future news in South Africa, scheduled to take place on Wednesday 26 November at 1pm (SAST).

Report editor Alan Finlay will be joined by contributors as they discuss what lies ahead for journalism in South Africa in a world where, as Qaanitah Hunter puts it, “algorithms are more volatile than markets”.

Click here to register.

Panel: 

Anetta Mangxaba – Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) Chair, Co-Chair of the Digital News Transformation Fund (DNTF) and Publisher of Dizindaba Iphephandaba lesiXhosa

Sipho Kings – Publisher and Co-Founder, The Continent

Paul McNally – Founding Director, Develop AI

Dinesh Balliah – Director, Wits Centre for Journalism

2025 African Investigative Journalism Conference welcomes more than 450 attendees from 50 countries for its 21st edition

Over 450 delegates from 50 countries participated in 65+ lectures, workshops and networking sessions at the 21st African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC), held at Wits University in Johannesburg from 5-7 November.

Widely hailed as one of the most successful editions yet, the gathering attracted delegates from 38 African countries. Former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda delivered the opening keynote address.

“When we curated the program for this year, we were very purposeful in not only inviting the best and brightest minds in investigative journalism to the conference,” said AIJC convener Beauregard Tromp. “We need to step outside of our own echo chamber and look at ideas and inspiration from persons and organisations working adjacent to the journalism industry.”

Read a report from the conference here.

The AIJC says goodbye to Johannesburg in 2026

#AIJC2025 ended with the much-anticipated formal announcement that it was moving to Kenya in 2026, a response to numerous calls to take the conference on the road. The 2026 AIJC will take place at Aga Khan University in Nairobi from 10-12 November.

Click here to read more.

Top journalists from 13 African countries join AIJC’s 2025 Investigative Masterclass

Twenty leading investigative journalists from 13 African countries participated in the 2025 Investigative Journalism Masterclass, hosted by the Wits Centre for Journalism in collaboration with SKUP, the Association for a Critical and Investigative Press in Norway and Bellingcat, an independent investigative organisation.

This intensive training three-day workshop introduced participants to the latest investigative journalism techniques, including cutting-edge digital forensics, OSINT tools, geolocation, chronolocation and other verification methods, as well as best practices in data journalism.

This year’s Masterclass participants were selected from more than 400 applications received from journalists working in print, online and broadcast media, as well as investigative journalism units, training institutions and fact checking organisations, and includes award-winning investigative reporters, editors and trainers from across Africa.

Meet the trainers and participants here.

South Africa’s Dewald van Rensburg named 2025 African investigative journalist of the year

Dewald van Rensburg of South African investigative journalism unit amaBhungane has won the 2025 AIJC African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award for his series of investigations titled “City of Gold”, laying bare in meticulous detail how the underground financial sector and illicit gold trade tick.

Second place went to The Gambia’s Mustapha K. Darboe of The Republic for his investigation “The Assets of Former Dictator Go for a Song", while third place runners-up were Ghanaian journalists Seth Bokpe and Edmund Agyemang Boateng of The Fourth Estate for “Forest Invasion: The Scramble by PEPs to Acquire Mining Licences in Ghana’s Forest Reserve”.

The awards, held annually as part of the WCJ's African Investigative Journalism Conference and supported by Absa Africa, recognise and celebrate excellence in investigative journalism on the continent.

Read the full report here.

WCJ hosts successful Africa-China policy seminar

On 6 November 2025, the Wits Centre for Journalism (WCJ) hosted a seminar on Africa-China relations attended by more than 30 academics, journalists, civic actors and business leaders from South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Ghana and Senegal.

The seminar’s main objective was to build the capacity of news editors in understanding the dynamics of Africa-China relations, and make sense of Africa’s position in a shifting global geopolitical context where the rise of China has intensified the rivalry with the Global North.

Read more here.

WEBINAR RECORDING - AI in African Newsrooms: Towards an Ethical Framework

The Wits Centre for Journalism and African Women in Media recently hosted a webinar exploring the debates, best practices and ethical roadmaps for deploying artificial intelligence in African newsrooms, featuring Dr. Grace Githaiga, CEO at KICTANet, Sara Elkhalili, senior media development manager at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, and Emaediong Akpan, lawyer and digital rights advocate, in conversation with WCJ director Dr Dinesh Balliah.

Watch the full recording here.

WEBINAR RECORDING - Levelling the Media Playing Field: Lessons from South Africa

Three decades have passed since media reforms sought to create a more democratic, inclusive media in South Africa, providing a good opportunity to assess how successful those initiatives were.

A new report, published by DW Akademie and co-authored by Prof Franz Krüger, Prof Sarah Chiumbu and Jayshree Pather, assesses whether measures have succeeded in improving access and makes recommendations for a new policy to foreground information inequality.

Watch the webinar here.

WCJ hosts worshop on mastering the art of storytelling with numbers

The Wits Centre for Journalism hosted an interactive one-day workshop on 19 November on mastering the art of storytelling with numbers. Led by the WCJ's financial journalism lecturer Gillian Jones, the workshop equipped financial journalists and communicators with techniques to transform dry, complex financial data into compelling, engaging stories that resonate with their audiences. 

Through a combination of hands-on exercises, group discussions and real-world case studies, participants gained practical experience in transforming financial and economic data into relatable stories.

Keep an eye out for details around the Centre's upcoming workshops in the new year.

• amaBhungane has a vacancy for a mid- to senior-level investigative journalist. Minimum of five years’ reporting experience and a track record of agenda-setting investigative breaks required. Deadline: 28 November. Click here for details.

• UNESCO‘s Global Media Defence Fund is now accepting proposals for its 6th Call for Partnerships. Grants between $15k & $50k USD will support meaningful action that helps break the cycle of impunity for crimes against journalists. Deadline: 2 January. Click here for details.

• Applications for the 2026 Tarbell Fellowship are now open to journalists interested in covering artificial intelligence. Fellows secure a nine-month placement at a major newsroom, participate in a 10-week course, & more. Deadline: 7 January. Click here for details.