MacArthur’s Kole Shettima Urges Collaboration and Innovation to Sustain Investigative Journalism

Financial sustainability remains a critical challenge for investigative journalism worldwide, but organizations can survive and thrive by strengthening collaboration, sharing costs, and innovating from within. This was the central message from Dr. Kole Shettima, Director of the MacArthur Foundation’s Nigeria Office and Co-Director of the On Nigeria Big Bet, during a panel on “Strategies for Sustainability” at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC25).

Speaking alongside nonprofit media leaders and philanthropic partners working on long-term funding models, Dr. Shettima explained that sustainability is no longer just about finding money; it is about building systems that allow investigative journalism to continue with or without large external grants.

As Director of the MacArthur Foundation’s Nigeria Office and Co-Director of the Foundation’s On Nigeria initiative, Shettima has overseen grant-making in areas including:

• Accountability and anti-corruption
• Media support
• Human rights

Under the On Nigeria programme, the Foundation has backed investigative reporting, newsroom development, capacity-building, and collaborations aimed at strengthening journalism across the country.

Shettima noted that one of the outcomes of recent media support and collaborations is the emergence of a stronger ecosystem of investigative journalism organizations across Nigeria and Africa.

“People have come together to strengthen an ecosystem whereby they are working together,” he said. “That has created a sense of community, a sense of working together with each other… and I think that is going to be one of the major ingredients for the future.”

According to him, organizations are now incubating new groups, sharing ideas, supporting one another, and developing a collective identity that helps the entire sector stay afloat in the face of shrinking revenue streams and increasing political pressure.

Collaboration and Innovation to Sustain Investigative Journalism

Beyond donor funding, Shettima encouraged media organizations to explore new ways of generating revenue or cutting costs internally, which he described as “diversification within.”

This includes experimenting with services or products that audiences are willing to support financially, as well as adopting more efficient operational models.

He echoed other speakers who pointed out that media houses must now think like modern enterprises, being creative, flexible, and audience-driven.

Shettima highlighted practical examples of how Nigerian media outlets are already sharing resources to stay afloat.

“Some of the legacy publications, you know, some of them in Abuja, some of them in Lagos, so the Abuja people will publish some of the papers for the people in Lagos, and the Lagos people will publish some of the papers for the Abuja people, so that you don’t have to have two production systems and other things as well.”

He explained that this type of cost-sharing helps news organizations cut expenses without reducing the quality of their output, a practical approach in today’s challenging media landscape.

Shettima noted that the future of investigative journalism will be stronger when journalists collaborate more. He said a growing sense of solidarity, “this is our community and our work”, is becoming one of the sector’s most important sustainability strengths. This is already translating into:

• Shared platforms
• Shared resources
• Shared risks
• Shared solutions