World Press Freedom Day 2018

Catherine Gicheru is an investigative journalist and pioneering editor who currently serves as an ICFJ Knight Fellow in Kenya. In that role, she promotes data journalism and media innovation and has been a driving force behind a fact-checking movement in East Africa that is countering fake news and misinformation, including around elections.

Gicheru is part of an expert team of ICFJ Knight Fellows working across Africa under the umbrella of Code for Africa, the continent’s open data pioneer. She leads the group’s Kenya chapter, bringing together journalists and technologists to harness the power of data to tell compelling stories.

Previously, Gicheru worked at the Nation Media Group where she rose to become the first woman news editor and investigations editor. Later, she was founding editor of the Star newspaper in Nairobi. A Nieman Fellow and 1992 recipient of the the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award, Gicheru co-authored “S.M Otieno: Kenya’s Unique Burial Saga.”