Benon Herbert Oluka (GIJN) - The power of investigative journalism | Media in Africa #9

Investigative journalism is hard, often thankless work, and it takes its toll. But Benon Herbert Oluka sees its value in the weight it takes off everyone else's shoulders. Most people going about their day don't have time for consistent in-depth scrutiny of big business, big tech or government. Investigative journalists do the digging for them, so that the rest of us can keep up with how the systems shaping our lives are being run. Yet the work often goes unrecognised twice over. African journalists working with international outlets are often credited as "fixers," Benon says, even when they planned the reporting, found the people and asked the questions. In this penultimate episode of The Media in Africa Podcast, Georja Calvin-Smith speaks to the Africa Editor of the Global Investigative Journalism Network about growing up during the war in Teso, the value of mentorship, and the African platform for African storytelling he hopes to see in his lifetime. Media in Africa is a ten-part podcast by Meridian17, a Dutch-South African think and do tank, produced in partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Media Programme Sub-Saharan Africa. New episodes weekly. Full video episodes: www.youtube.com/@meridian17org All platforms and more: meridian17.org/podcast Follow @meridian17org on Instagram and TikTok. © 2026 Meridian17 NPC. All rights reserved.