Each week as part of the Knight International Media Innovators blog, the ICFJ Knight team will round up stories focused on how their fellows are making an impact in the field.
Find out more about the fellows' projects by clicking here.
Citizens, writes development expert Jay Naidoo in The Guardian, always know better than the government or the market what works for them. “So why don't state officials and policymakers take us, the citizens, into their confidence?” he asks. “Can we begin to see citizens as the greatest ally for good governance? And if so, how do we pursue a partnership between government and citizens?”
“Part of the answer lies in open data,” Naidoo writes.
“Kenya’s new president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has been inaugurated in a peaceful transition of power after fears that a close election result and contested court case might lead to violence,” writes Alex Plough of Thomson Reuters AlertNet.
“One group in particular will feel they played a part; a small team of software developers and activists called Code4Kenya. Their web application, GotToVote!, helped Kenyans to register at polling booths, send peace messages and report electoral fraud.
Irene Choge arrived at the data boot camp with little experience using spreadsheets. But the reporter for NTV in Kenya knew that learning how to use data could help her nail down an important story: why girls in rural school districts started performing badly as they reached adolescence.
Fact-checking the media, drone journalism and journalists' security were among the topics on the minds of more than 500 innovators vying for startup capital to disrupt African media.
The African News Innovation Challenge will provide US$12,500-US$100,000 to about 20 startups.
