Suggestions
Justin Arenstein
Experienced Media Innovator and Civic Technology Leader
Justin Arenstein is a South African investigative journalist and media entrepreneur known for his significant contributions to data journalism and digital media in Africa. He is the founding CEO and editor-in-chief of Code for Africa (CfA), which is the continent's largest investigative data journalism initiative. CfA operates in 21 African countries, providing technological support for data analysis, open-source intelligence investigations, and fact-checking initiatives.12
Arenstein serves as an Advisory Council Member at the World Bank Group, specifically on the Disclosure to Development (D2D) initiative. This initiative aims to enhance the effectiveness of data disclosures related to natural resources and extractive industries globally.24
Throughout his career, Arenstein has been involved in various media innovations and collaborations across Africa. He co-founded the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR), which supports investigative journalism across the continent. His work has led to significant investigative reporting outcomes, including exposing corruption and environmental issues.34
Additionally, Arenstein has been recognized internationally for his influence in digital government and media strategies. He has served as a consultant for organizations like Google and has been involved in initiatives that promote digital storytelling and civic engagement.34
Highlights
Have you been axed from a #journalism job?
Africa’s media is in free-fall, with closures and restructuring triggering mass job losses or unilateral contract changes for media professionals. While the problem isn’t unique to Africa, with digital disruption creating similar disruption globally, there is very little research into the impacts across continent.
Code For Africa (CfA) is therefore spearheading a #MediaMeltdown research coalition of industry bodies to analyse how the disruption is transforming Africa's media, to better understand the scale, pace, and impact of market consolidation, and the resulting staff redundancies.
The research is intended to help stakeholders better understand which roles, skill sets, and demographics are most affected so that journalists and other media workers can future-proof themselves.
The initiative is led by CfA’s media research team at CivicSignal, in partnership with the Association of Independent Publishers (AIP), the Eastern Africa Editors Society (EAES), the Kenya Editors' Guild (KEG), and the continental umbrella African Editors Forum (TAEF). Additional industry bodies are set to join in francophone Africa.
The initial #MediaMeltdown survey focuses on emerging job loss trends and hotspots. The next set of surveys (with additional industry partners) will examine the impact on the freelance content creation sector, and on grassroots community-focused media.
The anonymised survey insights will be shared in public reports and with specialised researchers, to help shape intervention strategies to mitigate the human impacts on media workers and to better prepare for future industry disruptions.
All information collected in the surveys is treated as confidential, with respondents’ identities protected unless they explicitly ask to be included in one of the support/solidarity groups that the coalition will be supporting to help media professionals find new opportunities or skills.
Here’s a detailed explanation about the initiative: https://bit.ly/46L4G3K
Here’s the survey itself: https://bit.ly/4dM4Fib
We’d appreciate it if you could help share the information with your network.
Would you like to join the coalition? Connect with us here: https://bit.ly/3YKh2Y2
If you've got any questions, my colleague Amanda Strydom is happy to help!
✊
Awesome to see Al Jazeera English spotlight our #WanaData women data-science initiative!
WanaData is a peer-support network of 800+ women data scientists + storytellers across the continent that spearhead projects tackling the 'gender gap' using AI, civic technologies and lots of data (much of this the network 'liberates' by digitising offline records).
The AJ article digs into some of WanaData's projects, and its success at elevating women data scientists. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/diwbdt_d
