Deadline: April 25, 2021
Applications are open for the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) Investigative Reporting Training Program 2021. The ACME invites applications from journalists based in southwestern Uganda for a short intensive workshop on investigative journalism.
The course involves a five-day training workshop — designed to equip journalists with skills to discover, uncover and report stories nobody else has — and subsequently networking meetings with media owners and managers.
Participants will learn how to use investigative tools to uncover information that is concealed either deliberately by someone in a position of power, or accidentally behind a chaotic mass of facts and circumstances, and analyse and expose all relevant facts to the public. They will learn how to ask meaningful questions and how to source material. Participants will also be coached in best journalism practices and the most effective way to structure and present their stories. The trained journalists will also join some media managers and owners twice a year for two days of networking — sharing experience and peer-to-peer learning.
Benefits
- The fellowship offers journalists an opportunity to take time out from the newsroom to enhance their investigative journalism skills.
- Participants will examine what investigative journalism is, how to conceive, research and write investigative stories – recognizing when something should be a long-term project; basic criteria for launching into the story; testing and retesting the hypothesis throughout the investigation; and shifting direction when the reporting dictates that the story direction has changed.
- They will also be asked to think about possible investigative projects they want to work on upon their return to the workplace, using the lessons learned during the course.
Eligibility
- Open to all print, television, radio, and online journalists from southwestern Uganda;
- They must have more than two years of experience working as reporters;
- Applicants are expected to negotiate with their supervisors for time away from their places of work. ACME will not pay a per diem to participants, but will fund learning and transport costs for all, as well as accommodation for those based outside the training location.
- All participants are required to attend in full all five days of the training workshop.
Application
- All applicants are required to submit a letter of support from their immediate editorial supervisors. Lack of this letter of editorial support immediately disqualifies an applicant.
- All applicants are required to submit at least three samples of published or broadcast stories.
For more information, visit ACME.
