Projects
The academic programme of the WCJ is complemented by professional journalism projects and research supported by our funders and led by industry specialists. Over the years, we have successfully undertaken and completed projects supported by Unesco, the South African Reserve Bank, CHARM Africa, the GIZ, Kas Media Africa, SIDA, Deloitte Africa and many others.
Citizen Justice Network
The Citizen Justice Network (CJN) trains community paralegals to be radio journalists. Our community paralegals are established, trusted activists and fighters for social change in their communities. We empower them with journalism skills necessary to help their communities and assist with access to justice.
Africa-China Reporting Project
The Africa-China Reporting Project (ACRP), hosted by the Wits Centre for Journalism at Wits University in Johannesburg, aims to improve the quality of reporting on Africa-China issues, and works to provide facilitation and capacity building for journalists. Despite the expanding links between the two regions, reporting has often been inadequate or polarised, either portraying China as an exploiting predator or a benign development partner. The Project aims to encourage balanced and considered reporting as Africa-China relations are further entrenched in the editorial narrative of both regions.
CHARM Africa
Seven consortium partners from across the African continent collaborate to strengthen the effectiveness and resilience of journalists, media professionals, social media producers, human rights defenders, civil society activists and their organisations, in order to advance more democratic and free societies.
UNESCO Excellence in Journalism Education in Africa
The UNESCO “Promoting Excellence in Journalism Education in Africa” initiative invited 30+ universities and training centres across the continent to help develop criteria for excellence in journalism education. The initiative is supported by Google News Initiative and coordinated by the Wits Centre for Journalism and the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University (South Africa).
Project Maai
The Wits Centre for Journalism is a proud research contributor to Project Maai, a newly launched initiative from our partners at climateXchange that aims to address a critical gap in climate change media. Maai will be a quantitative and qualitative based tool that will be a thinking partner for journalists to optimise and develop climate narratives that create impact.
Climate: In My Culture
Climate change is a mounting global threat, yet the literature surrounding it mostly appears in English. Vulnerable communities like those in the Global South are yet to hear updates on global warming, changes to weather patterns and other insights in their home languages.
Ruth First Fellowship
The Ruth First Fellowship is a prestigious award made by the University of Witwatersrand that enables journalists, writers, researchers, film-makers and photographers to pursue in-depth projects that can be presented in ways that influence thinking, discussion and debate in South Africa. Our goal is to support a new generation of public intellectuals capable of immersing themselves deeply in the most pressing issues and ideas of the day, to engage in original research, to tell great stories and present their work in ways that can engage a new generation of audiences.