Reporting Development: A Guide for African Journalists

Produced by the European Journalism Centre, this guide was produced to act as a key and timely resource for reporting on development issues across Africa. Originally authored by veteran Reuters journalist Oliver Wates, this new version of Reporting Development "maintains the original guide's practical focus on time-honored techniques for producing top quality high-impact development reportages, while heavily localizing for the particular contexts and constraints that many African journalists face regularly." This new edition of Reporting Development includes sections dedicated to the role of data in development reporting as well as references to the 17 United Nations Strategic Development Goals (SDGs).
The handbook is intended to provide a distinctly African perspective on how to create direct linkages between consumers of information and development projects by using words and images. According to the publication, "development issues can seem dull and flat but they can create a huge impact in society if turned into lively and robust stories expertly and skillfully told by creative journalists."
The guide is broken down into three narrative chapters:

• Chapter one: Development as news - introduces journalists to issues of development and stresses the importance and impact of development reporting on society.
• Chapter two: Issues - addresses from a journalistic perspective current topics and opportunities facing Africa such as climate change, land reform, information and communication technology (ICT)/telecoms, and infrastructure, as well as traditional development themes such as education, health, gender, and agriculture.
• Chapter three: How development aid works - discusses the organisations that work to promote the development of nations and how journalists can relate to them.