Justin Arenstein
Journalist, publisher, rural media entrepreneur
Born
in Pretoria
South Africa
JUSTIN ARENSTEIN is an award winning journalist and media strategist who works with partners across Africa to help strengthen investigative reporting while also helping media owners adopt new technologies and build more robust business models.
Arenstein is a start-up junky. Beginning as an anti-corruption investigative journalist in South Africa's Mpumalanga province, he launched the nation's first rural social justice wire-service, African Eye News Service (AENS), before helping pioneer the region's first rural lifestyle magazine publisher (HomeGrown Magazines) and Mpumalanga's first commercial radio station (MPowerFM).
His reportage at AENS sent a number of high-ranking provincial politicians to prison or otherwise cost them their jobs, including a Senator, various MECs, a Legislature speaker and deputy speaker, parastatal board directors, and various senior civil servants.
Arenstein was also instrumental in establishing three major media non-profit organisations: the continental Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR), the regional Association of Independent Publishers (AIP), and the Southern African Freelance Association (SAFREA).
Arenstein spent a year sabbatical as a Knight Fellow at Stanford University, in Silicon Valley, in 2010 where he explored data journalism, augmented reality, and civic engagement media.
How back in Africa, Arenstein serves on various media industry boards and think-tanks. He is also currently a consultant for the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in Washington DC, where he advises on practical business models for mobile publishing across Africa using geo-locative platforms, ranging from mobile gaming and mobile social networking, to data visualisation / augmented reality, and aggregation or curation of content.
Outside of ICFJ work, Arenstein advises Google on media engagement and content development in Africa, and also advises the continent's largest association of 'legacy' media owners and c-level executives, the African Media Initiative (AMI), on digital innovation.
One of his newest projects is spearheading the Open Society Foundation's first Gov 2.0 civic engagement project in southern Africa: myMPUMALANGA.
Justin Arenstein's Professional details
Current Position(s)
Publishing, Printing and Print Media
Co-opted onto board, as vice president, of southern Africa's largest umbrella association for grassroots and township publishers to advise on fund-raising, business systems, digital strategy, and governance issues.
Consultant | Google Africa | Google
Mountain View, United States of America | 2011 - present
Online Media, Internet and E-Commerce
Consulting strategist on investigative and data journalism, plus engagement with c-level media executives to develop digital business models and digital migration strategies. Also advise on the development of journalist toolkits and training resources.
Other
Consulting strategist to develop proof-of-concept digital projects for Africa's largest umbrella association of media owners, including developing a pan-African innovation challenge to spark experimentation and rapid prototyping within 'legacy' newsrooms.
Organiser | Hacks/Hackers Africa | Hacks/Hackers
New York City, United States of America | 2011 - present
Online Media, Internet and E-Commerce
Chief organiser for African chapters of Hacks/Hackers, bringing together journalists and programmers for hackathons, creative collaboration, and innovation challenges to reinvent the way that journalism works.
Co-Founder | Investigative Dashboard
Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina | 2010 - present
ICT and Telecommunications
Investigative Dashboard (ID) is a global platform for collaboration and data-sharing between investigative reporters. It gives journalists the tools and support they need to track money, shareholders, and company ownership across international borders. ID's research desk also offers journalists expert assistance in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
ID is a collaboration between AENS, the Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), and the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) network.
Publishing, Printing and Print Media
Consulting strategist on mobile-based pilot projects in four countries to test practical business models for mobile publishing across Africa using geo-locative platforms, ranging from mobile gaming and mobile social networking, to data visualisation / augmented reality, and aggregation or curation of content.
Director | Mbombela Media Consortium
Mbombela (Nelspruit), South Africa | 2008 - present
ICT and Telecommunications
Broad-based BEE empowerment company designed to give Mpumalanga residents a vehicle for owning and growing local strategic media assets, ranging from broadcast to outdoor media.
Director | MPowerFM
Mbombela (Nelspruit), South Africa | 2008 - present
Broadcast Media, Multimedia and Film
Mpumalanga's first locally-based independent commercial radio station, broadcasting in an adult contemporary format, with studios in Mbombela (Nelspruit) and Emalahleni (Witbank).
ICT and Telecommunications
The print media industry's independent & self regulatory body for adjudicating on public complaints against the media. It is custodian of the Press Code, containing ethical & professional standards for journalists, and home to the Press Ombudsman.
Co-founder, chairman, then deputy chairman and currently board member advising on fund-raising, project conceptualisation, investigative methodologies, and lobbying campaigns.
Social Development and Community Services
Southern Africa's leading campaigner for the 'right to know', in both the public and corporate spheres. This includes support for whistleblowers who seek to make protected disclosures, and for journalists or social activists who need access to info.
Previous Position(s)
Publisher | HomeGrown Magazines
Mbombela (Nelspruit), South Africa | 2004 - 2011
Publishing, Printing and Print Media
Mpumalanga-based rural magazine company, that publishes a series of glossy lifestyle, business and tourism titles. It also founded and runs the annual MAKING THE DIFFERENCE corporate social investment (CSI) initiative.
ICT and Telecommunications
The industry umbrella body for South Africa's print media, including the Newspaper Association of SA (NASA), the Magazine Publishers' Association of SA (MPASA), and the Association of Independent Publishers (AIP).
Publishing, Printing and Print Media
Co-founded and then elected president of southern Africa's largest umbrella body of independent grassroots newspapers, magazines, and 'alternative' print media.
Co-founder and first chairman of Africa's first continental network of investigative journalists and editors, offering legal and financial support for cross-border investigative work.
