TheCable becomes Report for the World’s first Nigerian partner newsroom

Report for the World, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project, a non-profit organisation based in the United States, has announced the selection of six journalists for its 2021-2022 reporting corps.

TheCable has been announced as its first and only Nigerian partner newsroom for the year 2021.

The announcement coincides with the World Press Freedom Day  — a date when the fundamental principles of press freedom are celebrated.

In a statement shared with TheCable, the organisation said the journalists will join newsrooms in Nigeria and India to fill in coverage gaps affected by COVID-19.

Three corps members will join the staff at TheCable in Nigeria and three at Scroll.in in India.

The selected journalists for TheCable are Taiwo Adebulu, head, fact-Check desk; Vivian Chime, climate change reporter, and Ayodele Oluwafemi, criminal justice reporter.

The corps members for Scroll.in are Aarefa Johari, covering work and gender; Ishan Kukreti, land and climate, and Johanna Deeksha, health and education.

“On World Press Freedom Day, it is our extraordinary honor to support these talented journalists who will be serving their communities,” said Charles Sennott, founder and chief executive officer of GroundTruth, said.

“Our mission is to rebuild journalism from the ground up by helping local news organizations serve under-covered corners of their communities. There is a need to strengthen press freedom around the world. Healthy societies require trusted, accurate information and never before has that need been more clear and more urgent.”

Simon Kolawole, founder of TheCable, said the project is coming at a time when Nigerians are more concerned about climate change and the effect of fake news on society.

“This is a great new ground for us as we expand our coverage of largely underreported communities, and is coming at a time when Nigerians are increasingly paying more attention to criminal justice, climate change and fake news,” Kolawole said.

“With the calibre of Report for the World corps members that we have, we are very optimistic of making a strong impact.”

Launched in February, Report for the World is an international service programme, in partnership with TheCable and Scroll.in, that matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.