‘Funding for investigative journalism in Africa drying up’

Funding for investigative journalism across Africa is depleting at an alarming pace, Khadija Patel, Director, International Fund for Public Interest Media, has warned.

Patel spoke on Tuesday during the grand finale of the two-day virtual Amplify In-depth Media (AIM) Conference organized by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ).

According to her, the continent faces a “profound, even existential crisis,” as traditional business models collapse and funders pull back.

“Funding for investigative journalism in Africa is drying up quickly. There is little left that will sustain or allow us to refine what we want to do,” she said.

She said journalism’s public-interest role is being steadily undermined by declining resources, shifts in news consumption, and targeted campaigns against the media by powerful interests.

Patel stressed the need for the sector to redefine its value and embrace new forms of collaboration.

“We must use this moment of crisis to reflect deeply and honestly about how we practice journalism so that it serves more than just the interests of a few. Radical collaboration is essential… we cannot fight this fight in isolation,” she said.

Motunrayo Alaka, WSCIJ Executive Director/CEO, said the drying up of support for watchdog reporting comes at a time when accountability journalism is needed most.

She noted that despite the financial pressures, the Centre has helped nurture a resilient community of journalists over two decades.

“If we ask ourselves what our greatest achievement is after twenty years, we can say we helped normalise accountability. Nigerians now know they have a right to ask questions,” Alaka said.

She added that cross-sector collaboration — from civil society to academia and the private sector — has strengthened the impact of investigative reporting.

Alaka cautioned that the next era would bring even greater challenges, highlighting global democratic decline, digital disruption and climate-related pressures.

“We look forward to the next twenty years with excitement — and yes, with some dread too — because we are witnessing profound shifts unlike anything we have seen before,” she said.

Also speaking, Stella Din-Jacob, Director, Mustel Creative Works Ltd, said the financial strain on investigative work is compounded by shrinking press freedom and growing competition from unregulated digital content creators.

She noted that Nigeria’s recent drop in global press freedom rankings reflects the hostile environment journalists operate in.

“We learnt that Nigeria dropped ten places in the press freedom ranking, and that tells you everything about the difficulty of speaking truth to power,” she said.

Din-Jacob warned that as misinformation spreads and audiences migrate to platforms like TikTok for news, legacy media must work harder to regain credibility.

“We are in a period where truth, accountability and investigative reporting must once again be at the heart of journalism. We cannot allow narratives to be distorted so heavily that the essence becomes unworthy of the audience’s trust,” she said.

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