Google News VP to speak at CJID’s West Africa Journalism Innovation Conference
Richard Gingras, the Vice President of News at Google, is confirmed to give the Keynote address at the West Africa Journalism Innovation Conference hosted by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID). He will set the tone for the conference which aims to explore the crucial intersection between accountability journalism and innovation in Africa.
Other speakers and panellists have also been confirmed, and together they would help ensure the robustness of conversation around various topics. These include Kole Shettima who is the Director of the Nigeria Office at MacArthur Foundation; Dapo Olorunyomi who is the Publisher at Premium Times; Samson Itodo of Yiaga Africa, a community organiser and expert on democracy; Jake Epelle, a champion for the cause of disability; Richard Gevers, the founder of Open Cities labs; Shamima Muslim, the founder and convenor of the Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA) and others whose vast knowledge and expertise is sure to ensure that vital issues surrounding accountability journalism in Africa are properly tackled.
Artificial intelligence, particularly the recent breakthroughs in large language models (LLMs), has brought about a revolutionary transformation in our world. Its impact on jobs and democracies can be both positive and negative, depending on the steps adopted in guiding its development in the immediate future. In West Africa, the media plays a crucial role in addressing these concerns, yet it faces its own challenges in this rapidly changing landscape.
“To assure the depth of the information from WAJIC, we diligently brought together experts, mobilizers, and significant actors from numerous fields worldwide,” says Busola Ajibola, the deputy director of Journalism at the CJID.
CJID encourages the public to follow up on preparations and other crucial information concerning the conference and other panellists on the www.wajic.thecjid.org event. The centre is eager to make this one enormous move toward improving journalism in Africa and hopes you would join us.