Participants attending the national seminar in Benin to introduce investigative reporting supported by PAIR. Photo: Michelle Betz/IMS

Journalists in the West African country of Benin are excited about the prospect of a new investigative journalism programme kicked off by IMS, FUJ and the Media Foundation for West Africa. Report by Michelle Betz

In January, IMS and the Danish Association of Investigative Journalists (FUJ) together with Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) held an information session in Benin to let journalists know about the Programme for African Investigative Reporting, PAIR.

PAIR is a peer-to-peer programme to facilitate investigative journalism in Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. Through PAIR journalists will be able to apply for grants to carry out investigations.

Virgil Houessou says he doesn’t get much support from his newspaper, L’Evenment Precis, to pursue investigative reporting:

- I can’t ask my paper to finance an investigation that could take months. I personally had to use my own money to do any such investigations. To finance is the problem. There is the will to publish. So I find this opportunity very interesting, he says at the seminar.

Houessou explains that investigative reporting is more than important.

- In my opinion the only real journalism is investigative reporting. We do our jobs and see how a minister, for example, will react and bring about change, that’s what journalism, and not just investigative journalism, is about.

Houessou isn’t alone. Marie Louise Bidias Matchoudo says investigative reporting is not just important but that it’s a necessity.

- I realised that when I went into the field and talked to people and told their stories it could bring about change. That’s something, she said.

Sixteen journalists from across the country participated in the one day seminar.