"This article analyses 12 cases of investigative journalism in Sub-Saharan Africa. The reporters all claimed to have contributed to change processes by influencing government policy, action by state administration, supporting the uptake of scientific solutions or provoking public debate. An assessme ... nt of these processes shows that in 10 cases, the journalists indeed helped to trigger change and in two cases they failed to do so. The cases are evaluated through an explorative approach inspired by the dynamic models for communication on public issues developed by Rucht and Peters. Different types of investigative stories in Sub-Saharan Africa are identified and hypotheses are developed on key factors that were important in investigating and publishing the stories as well as in achieving change. A decisive element of investigative journalism in Sub-Saharan Africa seems to be the involvement of and the interaction with other societal non-journalist actors." (Abstract) more

"Many different educational and training sessions focusing on science journalism have been offered to journalists in Africa in the past decades. However, there is still insufficient quality reporting on health, environment, technology and science. We propose a new, flexible and needs-oriented concep ... t for the professionalization of journalists. Its main elements are peer-to-peer mentoring and building of professional associations using online tools for training, networking and journalistic research, a combination of approaches and an in situ delivery. It has been put into practice through the Science Journalism Cooperation (SjCOOP) project in Africa and in the Middle East." (Abstract) more