THE International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) and seventeen other news outlets have been selected to join the business hub of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), Elevate.
A statement released by the ICFJ on Tuesday said the new business hub is aimed at helping small and medium newsrooms become more financially able to serve their communities, as they would be eligible for grant funding from the ICFJ.
The 18 news organisations, selected from different regions of the world with focus on various types of journalism, would learn from each other based on their varying areas of specialisation, according to the President of the ICFJ Sharon Moshavi.
“We’re bringing together news leaders from all corners of the globe to learn not only from the experts but also from each other. We’ll take the creative solutions they develop and share them more widely with our global network of journalists, creating a ripple effect that extends beyond this first cohort,” she said.
According to the statement, Consultant and former ICFJ Knight Fellow James Breiner noted that digitalisation had placed a strain on news business, restricting the spread of trustworthy information.
“Thousands lost their jobs but wanted to continue their public-service role. For them, journalism is not just a job. They believe in the need to provide trustworthy news and information. But they didn’t always have the business skills needed to grow and be viable over the long term,” he said.
The program starting in May, would run for seven months with a focus on solving news business problems in business strategy, operations and finance, technology and new media, and communications and marketing.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.