Transparency Talks: Recent Episodes
Transparency Talks
Welcome to Transparency Talks, which focuses on issues of truth, transparency and trust. In this podcast the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ) community talks about their work and their lives, explaining what sparked their passion and describing the challenges they have overcome along the way.
The CCIJ is a nonprofit collective of media creatives from across the globe, all united in the pursuit of cross-water and cross-discipline investigations. This podcast is produced by Volume.
On this episode of Transparency Talks, Winston Mwale is joined by Ruth Hopkins, an award-winning investigative journalist with over 20 years of experience uncovering wrongdoing and human rights abuses around the world.
Ruth pulls back the curtain on her groundbreaking work, from exposing torture in South African prisons to founding a global network investigating private security companies.
Hannah Uguru is an award-winning producer and researcher with a strong background in journalism.
She is skilled in using video, text, audio and images to story-tell and has worked on creative content for personal projects with media platforms such as Spotify and HuffPost. She has also secured brand deals and partnerships with companies like the MOBOs and CNN.
In this episode of Transparency Talks, Winston Mwale discusses an EJN project investigating misleading environmental claims by governments and corporations known as "greenwashing" with journalists Sam Schramski, Tanvi Deshpande and Tito John Burgonio.
Nelly Kalu is a multiplatform investigative journalist with experience in fact checking and investigating disinformation; Her experience ranges through radio, television, podcasting, digital media, media consultancy, training and advocacy.
Sam Schramski has been a freelance journalist and researcher focused on climate change and socioecological conflicts for 13 years. He has contributed to various media, including radio (National Public Radio, Deutsche Welle, Radio France International) and print (Huffington Post, Nautilus, Earth Island Journal). He holds a doctorate in interdisciplinary ecology from the University of Florida and has focused the vast majority of his journalistic and academic work on issues related to climate change adaptation in the Amazon, South Africa, and the southwestern United States.
In this episode, the host, Winston Mwale, has the privilege of speaking with Lucy Kassa, a multi-award-winning Ethiopian investigative journalist.
Lucy has fearlessly shed light on the mass atrocities during the Tigray War, giving voice to the victims and challenging the narratives of criminalization.
Join us as we discuss Lucy's remarkable work and her unwavering dedication to truth and justice.
During Olaya’s first venture into data journalism, she discovered that a change in policy was preventing Spanish citizens living abroad from exercising their democratic rights. She first discovered her passion for programming during the Lede Program at Columbia University. Olaya would later go on to publish investigations in a multitude of major spanish outlets, including El Confidencial and El País. While working as a journalist, she also taught data journalism skills to reporters at multiple newsrooms and academic institutions, as well as coordinating a Masters Program at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) and Unidad Editorial.
This week on the #TransparencyTalks Podcast, Winston Mwale speaks with Ankita Anand, a Delhi-based journalist, writer, and poet. Ankita's work as an editor with unbias the news has garnered prestigious awards, showcasing her commitment to impactful storytelling.
Winston Mwale is joined by Kareem Shaheen, Middle East and Newsletters Editor at New Lines magazine.
With extensive experience as a journalist covering the Middle East for various media outlets, Kareem has also dedicated his time to empowering young journalists through his work with independent Arab media.
Winston Mwale talks to Dr. Yemisi Akinbobola, the Co-founder and CEO of African Women in the Media (AWiM).
Join us as we explore Dr. Akinbobola's inspiring journey and her impactful work in advancing gender equality and representation in the media.
Lailah Ryklief is the head of operations at OpenUPSA. She says "OpenUp gives me a platform to serve, to educate, and to explore the best ways to do that. It allows me to provide citizens access to information that can help them become more functional actors in society. "
Welcome to Transparency Talks, the podcast that delves into truth, transparency, and trust.
In this episode, host Winston Mwale engages in a captivating conversation with Raymond Joseph, an award-winning investigative journalist from South Africa.
Raymond's remarkable work in uncovering corruption, notably within the National Lottery of South Africa, has sparked significant change.
Join us as we explore Raymond's investigative journey and delve into the profound power of transparency in journalism.
In this episode, host Winston Mwale speaks with Abby Lehman, co-founder of the global nonprofit organisation Photo Start, about her incredible work empowering various communities.
Abby and her team accomplish this feat by teaching the business and art of photography while incorporating STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) concepts, digital media skills, technical skill development, career exploration, and self-expression and empathy building.
What exactly is the Metaverse?
In this episode, host Winston Mwale asks Serena Stelitano (Metaverse Designer at CCIJ) one of these questions.
Serena, who is also a farmer, returned to pencils and brushes after a decade of working in kitchens, and in this episode she explains more about her love for the Metaverse.
Many journalists avoid data journalism, but Sotiris Sideris (Data Editor at CCIJ and Reporters United, co-founder of AthensLive) sees it as child's play.
In this episode, host Winston Mwale interviews Sotiris about how he got started in data journalism and much more, including how he used data journalism in the story "Mapping Airbnb's Dominance On Athens."
In the first episode of Season 4 of Transparency Talks, Winston Mwale speaks with Abdullahi Murtala, a Humangle media researcher and reporter from Nigeria.
Murtala specialises in conflict reporting, climate and environmental justice, and tracking Nigerian and Lake Chad security trends.
Murtala discusses his journalism journey, as well as how he and colleague Kunle Adebajo approached the story "An encroaching desert intensifies Nigeria's farmer-herder crisis," in collaboration with the CCIJ.
In this special episode, you’ll the stories of the people behind the production of this season’s Transparency Talks: Joshua Vissers; Kyra Steck; and Winston Mwale. Find out how the trio ended up in the exciting world of journalism.
In this episode, Ghanaian journalist Emmanuel Dogbevi talks about how he started journalism three decades ago after initially starting off as a poet without any high school education.
In this episode, Lesiba Machaka, a South African journalist, talks about how he has defied all odds to live out his dream career.
In this episode, Nengi Nelson, a photographer and budding filmmaker from Nigeria, talks about how she ended up becoming a photographer when all along she wanted to be a medical doctor.
In this episode, journalist and researcher, Christina Orieschnig, talks about her love for environmental science and journalism and how this has shaped her career. Christina also talks about her powerful piece Drought of the Sinking Delta.
In this episode, Waterless podcast host and CCIJ stalwart Winston Mwale talks about his childhood passion for reading, how he realized his dream of becoming a journalist and the many roles he has played in his versatile and impactful career.
Open Up Operations Manager Lailah Ryklief talks about how her diverse background has influenced her professional direction, what being a woman in the field of civic tech has meant to her, and how seriously she takes the responsibility with which she has been entrusted.
La cineasta y fotógrafa mexicana independiente Sara Escobar habla sobre su trayectoria profesional, su compromiso por contar historias que muestren la "normalidad" y anormalidad simultáneas del país, cómo ha trabajo por hacer frente al sexismo arraigado y sobre dos colectivos en los que se colabora con otros documentalistas.
Independent Mexican filmmaker and photographer Sara Escobar talks about her professional journey, her commitment to tell stories that show the country's simultaneous "normality" and abnormality, how she has persisted in the face of entrenched sexism and two collectives in which she is involved with other documentarians.
Zimbabwean journalist, columnist and editor Breznhev Malaba talks about the origins of his journalistic passions, the reasons behind his pointed language in his columns, how he is operating after being labeled a "subversive" journalist by the country's government, and a new investigative venture he is embarking on with several colleagues.
Winston Mwale is a lecturer in journalism, the founder of Africa Brief and the host of the CCIJ podcast “Waterless.” Winston describes his career in journalism as a “dream” and talks about his work on Africa Brief.
This week's guest is CCIJ member and Namibian journalist Sonja Smith. She discusses why she became a journalist, how her career as a columnist at a local newspaper transformed into investigating some of Namibia's most pressing issues and how her passion for changing the world drives her work.
Read more from Sonja:
https://ccij.io/article/dying-for-a-drop/
https://ccij.io/my-ccij-journey/
On today's episode, Jeff talks with Khaled Sulaiman, an Iraqi journalist with an expertise in water and climate change in Iraq. Sulaiman talks about why he tries to humanize his stories and how he draws on his experiences to do so.
Read Khaled's work from CCIJ:
thewaterless: We are born guardians of water
Follow Khaled on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ksulaiman
Today Jeff chats with Neha Hirve. She is a long-term project photographer. Usually based in Sweden, she has moved back to her home country of India because of the pandemic. Herve produces fascinating work around man's relationship to the natural environment, has a degree in filmmaking and brings that cinematic influence into the photography world.
We're very excited to have Vanessa Offiong, a highly accomplished journalist and CCIJ member, here with us today. With host Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, she chats about her unexpected journey into journalism 11 years ago and why she focuses on women and children in her work.
In the first episode of Transparency Talks, host and Executive Director Jeff Kelly Lowenstein speaks with CCIJ's South African Hub Director Raymond Joseph discusses his career in journalism, which spans over 45 years.