Ayodele Oluwafemi, Taiwo Adebulu, Vivian Chime and three other journalists have emerged Report for the World inaugural reporting corps [2021-2022].
Three corps members will join the staff at TheCable in Nigeria and three will join Scroll.in in India.
Report for the World launched in February and has been working with its newsroom partners, TheCable and Scroll.in, to select these talented local journalists. The application process was highly competitive, with over 335 applicants, but only six spots available. The corps members, who are full-time employees of the newsrooms for up to three years, are:
- Aarefa Johari, covering work and gender for Scroll.in
- Ayodele Oluwafemi, covering criminal justice for TheCable
- Ishan Kukreti, covering land and climate for Scroll.in
- Johanna Deeksha, covering health and education for Scroll.in
- Taiwo Adebulu, fact-checking for TheCable
- Vivian Chime, covering climate change for TheCable
The announcement coincides with World Press Freedom Day, a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom: to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
Report for the World, an initiative of the nonprofit organization The GroundTruth Project, is an international service program that matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.
According to Charles Sennott, founder and CEO of GroundTruth:
“On World Press Freedom Day, it is our extraordinary honor to support these talented journalists who will be serving their communities.
Our mission is to rebuild journalism from the ground up by helping local news organizations serve under-covered corners of their communities. There is a need to strengthen press freedom around the world. Healthy societies require trusted, accurate information and never before has that need been more clear and more urgent.”
Simon Kolawole, founder and CEO of TheCable, stated:
“This is a great new ground for us as we expand our coverage of largely underreported communities, and is coming at a time when Nigerians are increasingly paying more attention to criminal justice, climate change and fake news.
With the calibre of Report for the World corps members that we have, we are very optimistic of making a strong impact.”
Report for the World corps members join their newsrooms this month after having completed world-class training in journalism safety, cyber security, international collaboration and story design. They will continue to receive regular training and mentorship throughout the year from GroundTruth staff.
Corps members will cover a range of topics and stories, such as work and gender, criminal justice, health, education and climate change. These reporters have between two and 11 years of experience, and have all been recognized for excellent journalism that serves communities. The group also includes a poet, the recipient of Africa Check’s African Fact-Checking Award and an NGO co-founder.
