The Manual Invited to Participate in West Africa Conference on Investigative Journalism

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), in collaboration with DW Akademie – a subsidiary of DW Media Network, has extended an invitation to The Manual to be part of this year’s West Africa Conference on Investigative Journalism to be held in Accra.

The two-day conference, which starts Wednesday, 10^th to Thursday 11^th October, 2018 will bring together seasoned investigative journalists from across the sub-region to discuss and deliberate on the state of the industry and issues affecting it as well as recommending key important points on how to improve on the current state of investigative journalism in the West African sub-region.

Investigative journalism in Ghana may not be the preferred area for many Ghanaian media practitioners, both practicing and trainee journalists. This is largely due to the mindset and impression that there are lots of risk associated with the industry.

However, despite the risks, some journalists have distinguished themselves properly in the field of investigations. Their respective works and findings have contributed significantly to society’s development. This has largely affected every sphere of the human endeavour.

It is therefore important to note that conferences like this will go a long way to imparting knowledge, skill acquisition, build capacity and further resource journalists to enable more media practitioners to take up the mantle in the field of investigations.

It is in this regard that the Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) recently set up the ACILA Investigative Journalism Fund which is aimed at giving adequate resources to investigative journalists who have identified an area of interest and want to investigate on such teasing issues.

The Executive Director of ACILA Mr. William Nyarko has mentioned that the fund has come at a time where journalists have complained that the industry is not further resourced and with this fund established, journalists will be able to access for funding to begin their respective assignments.   

The conference is one of the many invitations that have been extended to The Manual in our quest to expose corrupt acts of bad nuts in the society for actions to be taken by regulatory bodies and responsible institutions accordingly.     

The MFWA is a regional independent non-governmental organization which focuses on Media development and Freedom of Expression in the west African sub region. Its Executive Director is Sulemana Braimah.