‘Fisayo Soyombo, former editor of TheCable, wins Knight-Wallace fellowship

Fisayo Soyombo, pioneer editor of TheCable, has been named a 2023-24 Knight-Wallace fellow.

A statement released on Thursday by the Wallace House Centre for Journalists and the University of Michigan said the 2023-2024 class is a “cohort of 19 accomplished journalists representing nine countries and a broad cross-section of the US”.

The fellows will pursue ambitious journalism projects, audit courses at the university and participate in weekly seminars with journalism leaders, renowned scholars, media innovators and social change agents.

Lynette Clemetson, director of Wallace House, said the fellows were selected to show the challenges journalists encounter while trying to report socially changing stories.

“These journalists and their compelling range of projects reflect the breadth of challenges journalists must understand – from the far-reaching societal impacts of climate change, to the rise of social media-fueled disinformation, to the unique challenges of reporting from countries ensnared in media crackdowns, wars or rampant violence,” Clemetson said.

“Now more than ever, the work of these and all journalists is essential to protecting and expanding democratic values. We are honoured to support them.”

At Michigan, Soyombo will write an expanded version of his 2019 investigation of the Nigerian criminal justice system, and simultaneously explore related themes, including prison reform movements around the world, and the social and commercial history of the prison industrial complex in the US.

SOYOMBO, THE MULTIPLE AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST 

The Knight-Wallace fellowship is the latest in Soyombo’s recognition-laden journalism career.

The former editor of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) and Sahara Reporters was one of the winners of the Karpoor Chandra Kulish International Award for Excellence in Journalism 2021 — for his 2019 undercover investigation on the failings of Nigeria’s criminal justice system, for which he got himself detained at a police cell for five days before spending another eight in prison after he had been arraigned in court.

The same year, he was a finalist in One World Media’s International Journalist of the Year award, the second time in a row he had made the OWM shortlist, having been longlisted for the award in 2020 before going on to earn a place in the three-person shortlist.

Three months earlier, he had won the second prize in the Outstanding Investigation category of the Fetisov Journalism Award, described by organisers as “the most lucrative journalism award in history”.

In December 2020, Soyombo also won the Local Reporter category of the 2020 Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism. It was the third time in six years, the others being 2014 and 2016, that he had been short-listed for the Kurt Schork Awards, which recognise “excellence in courageous reporting of conflict, corruption, human rights transgressions and other related issues”.

A three-time winner of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting, Soyombo founded the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) in 2020 as an independent, not-for-profit organisation that combats injustice, holds power to account and speaks for the voiceless, seeking to uncover the truth by bypassing officialdom and neutralising propaganda.

The outfit started publishing on January 20, 2021.

Soyombo is a current fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) at the University of Oxford.