
* His dedication to exposing corruption has prompted harassment from authorities
* In 2022, police detained him for several hours and confiscated his electronic devices after PIJ published an investigation of the Attorney General
* Earlier this year, he went into hiding temporarily after receiving a tip that authorities planned to arrest him over his reporting alleging financial improprieties by the military
By Duncan Mlanjira
Malawi’s celebrated investigative journalist, Gregory Vitus Gondwe has been awarded to be part of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships (JSK) Class of 2024-25 — a 9-month journalism fellowship at Stanford University for working journalists and is connected to the School of Humanities & Science.

Advertisement
He represents Africa with five others from Asia, Europe and Latin America and a statement from John S. Knight says beginning in September, they will pursue a range of innovative ideas to improve journalism in a world where journalists and independent media are facing increasing challenges from authoritarian regimes, polarization, misinformation and financial pressures to sustainability.
JSK Fellowships director, Dawn Garcia is quoted as saying: “The urgent issues facing journalists around the globe are multiplying. We believe that with the support and attention of the JSK Fellowships and Stanford, this group of talented international journalists can be further empowered as leaders, to work toward solutions for their countries, and can serve as inspiration and models for others.”
Gregory was considered for the fellowship in recognition that he had been “under pressure for uncovering corruption, who launched an investigative journalism center to hold the powerful accountable and to train a new generation of local journalists”.
The founder, editor and managing director of the Platform for Investigative Journalism(PIJ) is under Lyle and Corrine Nelson International Fellow and the citation from John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships chronicles that Gregory’s journalism career “began in 1993, coinciding with Malawi’s pivotal transition from a single-party state to a multi-party democracy”.
“His dedication to exposing corruption has prompted harassment from authorities. In 2022, police detained him for several hours and confiscated his electronic devices after PIJ published an investigation of the Attorney General.
“And earlier this year, Gondwe went into hiding temporarily after receiving a tip that authorities planned to arrest him over his reporting alleging financial improprieties by the military.
“Gondwe is also a media trainer, part-time lecturer at the University of Malawi and a freelance correspondent for the Associated Press and other international news outlets. JSK welcomes Gondwe as a Lyle and Corrine Nelson International Fellow.”
The others are from India (Arfa Khanum); Malaysia (Darshini Kandasamy); Colombia )Juan Camilo Maldonado Tovar); Russia (Mikhail Rubin – in exile in Washington D.C. and Nalan Sipar from Berlin, Germany.
Arfa Khanum from New Delhi is a senior editor for The Wire in India an independent news website published in Hindi, English, Urdu and Marathi and she leads the multimedia team and hosts one of the most popular online video programs in India, “which is primarily devoted to the issues of people living on the margins of Indian democracy”.
“In 2019, Khanum was one of the first journalists to visit the Kashmir Valley after the Indian government stripped Kashmir of its autonomy and imposed a complete security and communication lockdown.

Arfa Khanum
“Her journalism is focused on covering politics and policy, with a special focus on social justice and she previously worked for NDTV — one of the largest television news networks in India.
“She is a recipient of the Red Ink Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Mumbai Press Club and the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Journalist of the year from The Media Foundation.”

Darshini Kandasamy
The citation for Darshini Kandasamy, CEO of Trident Media in Kuala Lumpur, is that she is a news and content writing consultancy in Malaysia — who has worked in multiple countries and written for Malaysiakini, Malaysia’s leading online news portal, CNN, and Foreign Policy.
Kandasamy co-founded Between The Lines, a pioneering subscription newsletter that she led for four years, until 2023, which contextualized Malaysia’s daily top stories and produced long-form special reports.
She also helped start Malaysia Information Literacy Education (MILE) — a nonprofit organization focused on developing interactive syllabi and games addressing the influence of digital and social media in disseminating misinformation and disinformation and fostering responsible digital citizenship among Malaysian youth.

Juan Camilo Moldonado Tovar
From Bogotá, Juan Camilo Moldonado Tovar is the director and co-founder of Mutante, a not-for-profit foundation that reports, produces and analyzes public conversations for audiences in Colombia and Latin America.
In early 2024, Mutante was awarded the King of Spain Award for Best Media Outlet in Ibero-America for a “new type of journalism that goes beyond the sole publishing of stories” and that “interacts with the public”.
“Previously, he was editor of local news at El Espectador, and co-founder and editorial director of VICE Colombia and ¡PACIFISTA! — a specialized platform that covered peace building processes in Colombia for young audiences.
“In 2019 he was a member of the jury of the Simón Bolivar Journalism Award, Colombia’s most important journalism prize.”

Mikhail Rubin
Living in Washington D.C. as an exile from Russia, Mikhail Rubin is deputy editor-in-chief of Proekt, through which he has spearheaded numerous investigations into Russian President Vladimir Putin and corruption of Russian authorities.
“Rubin’s investigative work earned him six laurels from the Zimin Foundation’s independent Redkollegiya award, which supports free and professional journalism in Russia.
“He and colleagues were selected for the 2020 European Press Prize shortlist for their investigation of Yevgeny Prigozhin, at the time a member of Putin’s inner circle.
“Then in 2021, the Kremlin declared Proekt an ‘undesirable organization’ and Rubin and other staff members ‘foreign agents’, which banned them from working inside their country.
“Currently Rubin helps lead Proekt’s globally distributed team from Washington D.C. where he is a fellow at the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University.”

Nalan Sipar
Nalan Sipar from Berlin is founder and CEO of MedyaN — a non-profit media startup and in 2014, she presented Germany’s first German-Turkish children’s radio show, which was awarded the German Radio Award.
She later completed a traineeship at the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle and in 2020 Sipar produced and hosted Germany’s first immigrant ‘Late Night Show’.
“After identifying vast disinformation regarding the coronavirus among German-Turks, the largest migrant community in Germany, Sipar started making news about the pandemic in Turkish on her YouTube channel.
“Sipar has received a Media Startup Fellowship from Media Lab Bayern and was also a participant to the European Journalism Center’s YouTube News Creator Accelerator Program.”
The JSK says the fellowship program has hosted journalists from more than 80 countries over more than 5 decades at Stanford, who are considered for pioneering – “and often brave – work to improve journalism in their countries and provide access to news and information people need to create and sustain robust democratic communities”.

Advertisement
“Throughout their nine months at Stanford, the fellows will connect with Stanford resources and experts, participate in tailored workshops, individual coaching and peer-to-peer learning to grow as leaders and become more effective change agents.”
JSK director Dawn Garcia is further quoted: “We are eager to bring these terrific journalists to Stanford and have them make use of the vast resources available at one of the world’s top universities. Their work could not be more urgent or needed.
“These six international fellows will join a thriving JSK community. More than 1,000 people from around the world have participated in journalism fellowships at Stanford since the program began in 1966.”

Advertisement