Reporters who risk life and limb to expose wrongdoing
Anon of Uganda is an undercover journalist of extraordinary bravery. She signed up to work in Dubai and was trafficked illegally through airports and across borders and put into the hands of human traders not knowing whether she would be used for domestic or sex work.
They took away her passport, held her for weeks with dozens of other women in a cramped, windowless room, and offered her up at a market that resembled a slave auction. After being “hired” for a piffling wage she was forced to pay off the costs of her travel to Dubai by working long hours while being poorly fed and treated.
She had an arrangement with her newspaper, New Vision of Kampala, that when she gave a signal by phone they would rescue her. But her “employer” restricted her use of the phone. When she eventually got out she wrote a series of articles, produced a podcast series and then a book detailing how the traffickers bribed their way out of Uganda and into the Gulf through established and practised routes.
Anon appeared at our African Investigative Journalism Conference at Wits University in Johannesburg in a hijab to preserve her identity. Traumatised, she has to stay undercover for fear of her life. But there is no question that this was the most effective way to expose trafficking.
INSIGHT
The conference, which drew over 400 journalists from every corner of the continent, is an annual opportunity to get insight into the role investigative reporting is playing in exposing wrongdoing, holding power to account and pushing for change. It never fails to impress how much interesting and important work is being done in Africa by journalists often working under extremely difficult conditions.
We know of the vibrant media in Nigeria, Kenya and SA, in particular, whose investigative reporters were prominent at the conference, but the lesser-known work being done in other countries also emerged. It is striking how the range of subjects has grown. There is the longstanding focus on corruption, but also formidable work being done on environmental crimes, abuse of health systems, trafficking and other social issues.
The hard work of dedicated individuals drives this work, but it is also noticeable how digital tools have changed how they do it, enabling the most thorough, probing work. This ranges from accessing and analysing live satellite imagery to tracking company ownership to find their ultimate — often hidden — beneficiaries.
The buzz phrase of such gatherings used to be data journalism — the analysis of large data sets to tell stories that might otherwise not be visible or verifiable — but now it is open source intelligence (Osint), in which reporters piece together a picture of events from a range of information available on the internet, such as satellite imagery and telephone and travel records. Osint has been critical to establishing the facts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, providing evidence more reliable than the versions provided by the propagandists of either side in the conflict. And it is being used to track illegal logging and other environmental crimes in Africa.
POWERFUL TOOL
Journalists are learning how artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance their work. It can reduce the grind work, like tallying sports results, tracking share prices and transcribing and translating, freeing up reporters to do next-level work. It is also a powerful tool for ploughing through the mass of data we have to deal with, and verifying basic facts. AI is a label often abused — casually attached to any piece of software that fulfils a task — but there is no question that it is empowering those journalists who learn to use it.
As Anon’s case shows, investigative work is high risk. Journalists have to worry not just about their physical safety, but their online safety, the security of their data and sources, and their mental health under extreme stress.
Given these risks, it is extraordinary how many reporters are eager to do the work, usually for little personal reward. The question that is always asked is whether it is worthwhile. After all, we see people who have been exposed still running for president of SA’s governing party. Then we remind ourselves of the Watergate and Gupta-leaks scandals, grand examples of exposés that helped bring down presidents.
Journalists can only play their part, which is to investigate, verify and publish or broadcast. After that it is up to the justice system and/or civil society to use the information. On the occasions when these things come together and we see the powerful held to account, it is a thing of beauty.