Report for the World, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, a non-profit organisation based in the United States, has selected the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) to join its global network of independent newsrooms.

In an announcement on Thursday, Report for the World said FIJ would join 10 other newsrooms to cover under-reported areas such as climate change, environment, criminal and social justice, education, healthcare, and civil liberties.

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“Report for the World today announced the selection of 11 new host newsrooms, an expansion of its global presence to five new countries: Mexico, Peru, Hungary, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe. Report for the World will continue to deepen its presence in its inaugural countries, Brazil, Nigeria and India.

“Additionally, newsrooms are opening applications for journalists within those countries. With an ambitious goal of doubling the number of corps members, the expanded cohort reflects geographic and language diversity, as well as different sizes and approaches — from community-focused, hyper-local media to cross-border outlets looking at regional links.”

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FIJ was selected to cover two beats: police and social justice. The newspaper will cover the use of excessive violence by police in Nigeria, and security from a community perspective, aiming to arm the public with information with which to keep themselves safe, and supporting security agents to effectively discharge their responsibilities.

Other newsrooms will cover under-reported areas such as climate change, environment, criminal justice, education, healthcare and civil liberties.

Report for the World will provide salary and training support; however, the newsrooms will remain editorially independent.

FIJ was the only Nigerian or African platform selected as a host newsroom, with selection from other continents being Agência Pública – Centro de Jornalismo Investigativo (Brazil), Agência Mural de Jornalismo Das Periferias (Brazil), ((o))eco (Brazil), Atlatszo (Hungary) and The News Minute (India).

Conexión Migrante (Mexico), Quinto Elemento Lab (Mexico), Asociación Convoca (Peru), Ukrainska Pravda (Ukraine), and The Citizen Bulletin (Zimbabwe) make up the list.

Report for the World plans to welcome 15 reporters to these host newsrooms in November, bringing the total number of reporters working worldwide to 30.

Preethi Nallu, Global Director at Report for the World, said, “Over 2023, we will expand to other countries in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia that are setting high standards for public interest journalism and transforming into regional centers for media innovation, despite highly restrictive environments.”

Commenting on the partnership, ‘Fisayo Soyombo, Founder of FIJ, said: “This is an important step towards solidifying the important work we do with using our pen to reverse social injustice. Our journalism is not exactly the most liked by abusers of power, so we’re indeed pleased to have one more ally in Report for the World.”