Viewfinder Accountability Journalism Fellowship 2022

Viewfinder is offering a fellowship for reporters to investigate and then produce impact-driven journalism on accountability failures in the country. They are particularly interested in exposing abuses of power or inexcusable failures by large institutions that negatively affect marginalised people or communities. The fellowship and Viewfinder’s editorial support will enable you to investigate, research and develop your proposed reporting project. During the second half of the fellowship period, they will work with you to produce a short film or broadcast segment and a long-form written exposé rooted in your reporting and findings.

About Viewfinder

Viewfinder is an accountability journalism project in South Africa. We do long term investigations into abuses of power which impact on the public interest – specifically as it relates to the need for equality and redress – in post-apartheid South African society.  Through narrative journalism, documentary filmmaking and inter-newsroom collaborations we make complex findings accessible to audiences across the spectrum of South African news media consumers. We provide our audiences with the knowledge they need to demand accountability from large institutions on the specific ...... read more

Accountability Journalism Fellowship

Aim and Benefits of Accountability Journalism Fellowship

• Up to R40,000 to conduct your investigation and to work with the Viewfinder team on journalistic production.

Requirements for Accountability Journalism Fellowship Qualification

• Open to South African citizens or foreign nationals with permission to work in South Africa.
• Applicants should be skilled, mid-career journalists.
• Preference will be given to black applicants.
• Both freelance and employed journalists are invited to reply. The latter must seek permission from their editors. For permanently employed journalists, co-publication of their investigation with their home newsrooms can be negotiated.

Application Deadline

How to Apply

Story pitches should incorporate: a compelling hypothesis or finding of wrongdoing against a clear target (they usually conceive of this as an abuse of power or failure by an institution that has hurt the interests of a poor or marginalised group of people); a strong case study, which will demonstrate the human impact of the wrongdoing that your reporting seeks to expose; and a short explanation containing key facts that will help them to understand the background and importance of your proposed investigation.

Choosing a topic on which you already have some knowledge – and for which you care deeply about – will stand the best chance of resulting in a successful pitch.

For more details,visit  Viewfinder website