The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas will host the 20th anniversary Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Sydney between November 3 and 7, 2021. It will be the first to be held in the Asia Pacific region.
The conference, co-hosted by the Global Investigative Journalism Network, is the world’s largest international gathering of investigative reporters. It will bring more than a thousand leading journalists, editors, academics and experts in investigative tools to Australia from around the world. The last conference, GIJC19, was held in Hamburg, Germany, in September 2019, and attracted 1,750 people from 131 countries.
A special focus of the 2021 conference will be JNI’s efforts to support and increase journalism in, and on, Asia and explore ways to create greater engagement between Australian journalists and their counterparts across the region.
GIJC conferences are held every two years. Since the first conference in Copenhagen in 2001, they have brought more than 8,000 journalists to Copenhagen (again in 2003), Amsterdam (2005), Toronto (2007), Lillehammer (2008 and 2015), Geneva (2010), Kyiv (2011), Rio de Janeiro (2013), Johannesburg (2017) and Hamburg (2019).
The conferences are widely credited with playing a key role in the rapid global expansion of investigative reporting over the past decade. By focusing on skills and training, they have helped spread state-of-the-art investigative reporting, data journalism, and cross-border collaboration around the world. Attendees have returned home to run ground-breaking projects into corruption and abuse of power, launch investigative teams and non-profit centres, and spread investigative reporting to where it is needed most.
The Global Investigative Journalism Network, founded in 2003, is an association of 184 non-profit organisations, in 77 countries, working to strengthen and expand investigative reporting worldwide.
The Executive Director of JNI, Mark Ryan, said GIJC21 would be an unparalleled opportunity for journalists from Australia and the Asia Pacific to learn techniques and skills from the best journalists in the world.
“It will also showcase the work of journalists from Australia and the Asia Pacific and share their lessons and experiences with the global journalism community,” he said.
“We deeply appreciate the Judith Neilson Institute’s support during these uncertain times,” said Brant Houston, chair of the GIJN board. “This presents GIJN with a great opportunity to hold its first global conference in the region.”
The Institute’s successful bid to bring this conference to Australia was undertaken with the support of BE Sydney, the New South Wales Government and Tourism Australia.
The schedule and dates of ticket sales will be announced in coming months. To keep up to date with announcements please register your interest.