News

'Women Who Won the War' is Creating Space for Women in the Middle East to Tell Their Own Stories

The Syrian Civil War has claimed the lives of more than 500,000 people since protests against the government during the Arab Spring ignited into conflict in 2011. Nearly 7 million Syrians have fled abroad in a mass exodus, and an equivalent number have been displaced inside the country – in total, over half of Syria’s pre-war population. The war has since faded from global attention but Syrian journalists continue to report on it today, while bearing witness to the crimes committed in what has been one of the 21st century’s deadliest conflicts.

ICFJ Voices: Anubha Bhonsle on Delivering ‘News, Not Noise’

Anubha Bhonsle is an Indian journalist whose career has focused on developing new kinds of storytelling. Based in Delhi, Bhonsle has led groundbreaking initiatives related to gender and sanitation. She’s the founder of Newsworthy.Studio, and covers India, the Global South, current affairs, gender, climate adaptation and rights.

Exiled and Hybrid Media: Keeping Coverage Alive in Repressive States

This year’s World Press Freedom Day came at a time when free and unobstructed media is in turmoil with the rise of autocratic governments worldwide. In recent years, many journalists have had to flee their home countries and report for their communities from abroad – despite significant risks and hurdles.

How Leading International Editors are Responding to Information Pollution in a Pivotal Year for Democracy

At a panel during last month's International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa of the Philippines reminded us what’s at stake: AI often facilitates the spread of misinformation and disinformation, advancing authoritarian agendas.

New ICFJ Knight Fellows to Work on Supporting Exiled Media, Exploring AI Solutions and Covering the Amazon

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) is thrilled to announce a new cohort of ICFJ Knight Fellows - Daniel Nardin, José Nieves, Luz Mely Reyes, Mattia Peretti, Nikita Roy and Sannuta Raghu.

ICFJ-Backed Reporting Teams Are Probing the Sources Behind Election Lies

Investigative reporting teams across four continents are working with ICFJ’s support to expose the sources and money behind electoral disinformation campaigns, in a pivotal year for democracy when more than 2.6 billion people are expected to go to the polls.

Refusing to Be Silenced: The Importance of Exiled Media

Today, 71 percent of people live in countries that are considered autocratic. That’s up from 48 percent just a decade ago. The independent research institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden that published these figures also found that nearly four dozen more countries are “autocratizing.”

The implications of this are profound. In the most oppressive autocracies, freedom of expression, freedom of association, free and fair elections and other democratic values are absent. In others, they may be present in part but insufficient.

The Journalists Behind Afghan Fact Share How They Counter Disinformation

At the end of 2022, an Afghan journalist sent his colleagues an IJNet Persian article on fact-checking and verification. The piece came with a recommendation: that they should launch a website focused on fact-checking in Afghanistan.

Leveraging AI to Boost Efficiency and Innovation in the News

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has generated excitement and fear alike within the news industry, prompting many to ponder what lies in store for journalism’s future.

If approached smartly and leveraged strategically, AI offers journalists and their outlets promising potential to boost efficiency and innovation.

Guidance for Building Trust with the Communities You Serve

One way journalists and news organizations can strengthen audience trust is to focus on reaching people who may not actively read or watch the news, suggested Lynn Walsh, assistant director at Trusting News, during an ICFJ Empowering the Truth Global Summit session. To do so effectively, it's important for journalists to “think like a news consumer,” she said.