Digging Where You Are – The Power of Local Investigations Webinar, 11 September 2025

Big truths often hide in small places. Discover how stories from your own backyard can hold power and inspire change.

Zoom Webinar

Date: Thursday, 11 September 2025

Time: 10:00 – 12:00 SAST

Register here to attend

Fraymedia Foundation, in collaboration with IJ Hub, present the Digging where you are: The Power of local investigations Webinar.  The Webinar will explore the underrated power and potential of local investigative journalism to uncover important truths from seemingly ordinary community and individual stories.  It will highlight how small-town reporting on everyday challenges, such as education, health care, housing, municipal services, can expose deeper underlying issues of mismanagement of power, poor governance, corruption of resources, and questionable policy adoption in various countries in the African continent. 

By empowering the voices of local journalists and storytellers, to investigate where they are, the Webinar aims to strengthen ground-level perspectives, community voices, and encourage impactful and meaningful change in society. 

While national scandals often dominate news headlines, much of the corruption, policy failure, and service delivery breakdown happens at the local level, where it is often underreported.

Small-town and rural journalists have unique access and trust within their communities, giving them a powerful vantage point to investigate and report on issues that directly affect people’s daily lives.

This webinar will emphasise that uncovering the "big truths" often starts with the small, seemingly mundane details.

Webinar Objectives

• Raise awareness of the importance and impact of local investigative journalism.

• Equip participants and women in media with practical approaches to identify and pursue impactful local stories.

• Highlight case studies where local reporting led to major revelations or reforms.

• Encourage collaboration between local reporters, civil society, and larger investigative outlets.

• Inspire journalists to see the value and urgency in “digging where they are.”

Webinar Speakers

• Buyeleni Sibanyoni, AmaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism

• Heidi Swart, Security and Surveillance Investigative Journalist

• Josephine Chinele, Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ)

• Pascalinah Kabi, Co-Founder and Managing Editor, Uncensored News

Webinar Key Themes & Topics

• Finding the story in everyday issues: spotting red flags in routine reporting on schools, clinics, housing, and infrastructure.

• Following the paper trail: simple investigative tools for accessing public records and municipal data.

• From local to national impact: case studies where small-town investigations exposed major systemic problems, and how to do more with less.

• Building sources and community trust: balancing relationships with holding local leaders accountable.

• Physical safety and health for women: tools and lessons to protecting yourself and your sources without losing your mental well-being.

• Sustaining the mission: navigating the financial realities of women investigative journalists and owners of investigative media ventures.

• Collaborating for reach and protection: partnering with national media and advocacy groups for safety and impact.

  
  

Register here to attend