ICFJ Elliott Award: Kunle Adebajo, on Building a Data Journalism Career

Kunle Adebajois a journalist and editor covering illicit financial flows, information manipulations, the environment and more, with a focus on Africa. He is currently the editor of the African Academy for Open Source Investigations at Code for Africa (CfA). He is the 2023 winner of the ICFJ Michael Elliott Award.

"The capacity-building work ICFJ does, both online and offline, is immensely important. We have many talented young journalists who only need some guidance and support to reach their full potential," he says.

Adebajo is from Nigeria and is based in Abuja.

This interview has been edited lightly.

How have you been involved with ICFJ over the years?

IJNet was my introduction to ICFJ, focusing on the toolkits, interviews, and opportunities shared on the platform. My first international story commission also came from IJNet. In 2020, I was paid for an articleabout Dataphyte, a data journalism outlet based in Nigeria, an opportunity which meant a lot to me. Since then, I've been interviewed for other reports on the platform, including for a piece highlightingmy own work in promoting political humour through a platform called Punocracy.

I've also benefitted immensely from other ICFJ projects. The highlight, of course, is that in 2023, I was awarded the prestigious Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling, a recognition which came with a memorable and eye-opening internship at The Economist's office in London.

Now, as an editor and project manager at Code for Africa, I'm actively involved in the two organisations' collaborative project, ICFJ+, where I provide research and administrative support for reporting grants and incubation programmes aimed at combating information manipulation and fostering impactful investigative journalism.

What was the biggest outcome from participating in the program?

My participation in the Dakar disinformation conference organised by Code for Africa and ICFJ in 2022 had an interesting domino effect. My boss at the time, Ahmad Salkida, had asked me to represent him to speak about jihadist extremism and disinformation in the Sahel, but attending the conference exposed me to several other topics, including coordinated inauthentic behaviour on the internet, influence operations, and network analysis. This led to multiple research collaborations between CfA and HumAngle, with me leading the HumAngle reporting team.

With support from CfA, we investigated political disinformation as well as the online activities of armed separatist and extremist groups. I had been interested in misinformation and fact-checking since at least 2017, but it was this event that nudged me in this other direction. The skills and insights I picked up along the way led to working with research institutes and consultancy firms based in the United States and the United Kingdom, and also receiving journalism awards such as the CJID Excellence in Journalism Award in 2024. My joining Code for Africa in November 2024 is also a direct consequence of this.

What is something impactful you have worked on since participating in an ICFJ program that you are proud of and would want to highlight?

My disinformation work has had many positive impacts. I've been able to share my findings with broad audiences, such as at the African Investigative Journalism Conferencein 2023, and with high-level audiences such as diplomats from various countries. My report exposing the schemes of a large fraudulent disinformation network on Facebook also led to dozens of the network's pages being taken down.

Why is it so important right now to provide the kind of support to journalists that ICFJ does, especially in Africa?

The capacity-building work ICFJ does, both online and offline, is immensely important. We have many talented young journalists who only need some guidance and support to reach their full potential. It is important that we continue to provide this guidance and support, and that we continue to nourish networks that upcoming journalists can tap into so that they are both equipped and emboldened to produce important work.

Another important point is that ICFJ is investing in the coverage of issues that many other people are running from, such as disinformation and religious freedom. It must continue to fill those gaps, and African journalists and communities especially stand to benefit a lot from this.

What are you currently working on - or what do you want to work on - that you're excited about?

I am building a project called Chronycles, where I experiment with a human-centred first-person narrative style that isn't mainstream yet, especially in the journalism world. I'm also building tools and interactive apps using large language models that I share on the same platform.

Why did you choose to become a journalist?

My childhood ambition was two-pronged: I wanted to become a lawyer or a journalist. What these two professions had in common was that they allowed me to harness my passion for research and wordsmithing in shaping people's opinions and doing some public good. I eventually gained admission to study law. But over the years, I realised I preferred the flexibility that a career in journalism offered and stuck with it. I remember visiting the campus for the first time and seeing a press board where members of the Union of Campus Journalists published their articles. I told myself I wanted to write like these people and spent my five or so years at the University of Ibadandoing journalism while I attended classes as a law student. There's also the fact that after I graduated from school, I couldn't proceed immediately to the Nigerian Law Schoolwith my coursemates because the university was punishing me for a critical article I'd written. The natural thing to do was to lean into the other skill I'd dedicated my life to building. All this to say, the decision was both deliberate and accidental.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to an aspiring journalist?

Aim big. Lock in. Do solid work. And don't rely on the work speaking for itself - there's too much information overload in the era we're living in to make this your mantra. I know it's hard, but try speaking about your work every opportunity you get.

*ICFJ's Michael Elliott Award is celebrating its ten-year anniversary. You learn more about the program here and make a donation to support the program here.