Global Press

The world is experiencing a rise in censorship, corruption and authoritarianism, as the number of truly independent media sources declines. But, as the world grapples with the coalescing crises of the pandemic and racial justice movements, more readers are questioning systems of power, including those that have long relegated diverse voices in journalism. There is new space and demand for local journalists, particularly women and people of color, to rise to journalistic prominence by covering their communities for the world. 

Global Press is transforming international news standards and practices by building representative newsrooms that put professional female journalists at the forefront of advancing narrative change.  Our model creates affordable, diverse, high-quality news in the world’s least-covered places, increasing access to accurate information for millions of readers.  

The Elevate Prize would catapult Global Press brand awareness and increase news production so that our all-female reporting team could serve even more readers in more places. In our 15-year history, there has never been an opportunity more potent than the one before us now. Global Press is reimagining international journalism to foster global equity and understanding.

Global Press (GP) was founded in 2006 by a young journalist who once dreamed of becoming a foreign correspondent, but after having the opportunity realized that she was the wrong person to be telling the world’s stories. GP was born from that insight and has worked for the last 15 years to replace the reductionist narratives perpetuated by parachute journalists with ethical, accurate journalism produced by local female journalists around the world.  

GP builds and maintains independent news bureaus in global media markets where citizens lack credible access to accurate information. Each bureau is staffed by professional female journalists who are from their coverage community. Our commitment to four core values — dignity, diversity, transparency and excellence — guides our training program, news gathering operations and business practices. As a team, we work to reframe global narratives while repairing the lack of gender and racial diversity in newsrooms.  

We have achieved significant success over the last 15 years, with news bureaus in more than 40 global communities and training and employing more than 250 professional female journalists. Together, they have produced more than 10,000 stories and cultivated a regular audience of 20 million people around the world.

GP reporters are 100% female and 100% people of color. There is an evidence-based correlation between who works in a newsroom and who is quoted in stories: two-thirds of international news is reported by men; just 24% of all news sources are women. An intentional effort to employ female journalists and allow them to determine coverage priorities is transforming global narratives.

Budget cuts across the journalism industry have given rise to the overuse of parachute journalism, which drops outsiders into global communities for short periods of time. This perpetuates reductionist narratives of war and poverty. The pandemic effectively grounded parachute journalists, making space for a more equitable global narrative to emerge.

GP operates according to three priorities:

Advancing representation standards.

• Each GP bureau is staffed according to a unique representation strategy to ensure that our journalists’ identities mirror the people in their communities. 

Prioritizing Duty of Care.

• Duty of Care is our award-winning, holistic safety and security program that prioritizes the interconnectedness of physical, emotional, digital and legal security. 

Transforming standards for dignified, precise language.

• Our Style Guide establishes rules for referring to the people and places where our reporters work. Used by dozens of newsrooms, it’s eliminating reductionist narratives.

Transforming historic inequities in journalism and increasing access to accurate information for millions of people requires a multi-dimensional approach to social change. The GP model leverages four interconnected interventions to achieve our bold vision. 

Market selection: We believe that democracy is not a prerequisite for independent journalism to thrive. We build news bureaus in media markets where citizens lack credible access to accurate information, such as: news deserts, saturated markets, politically transitioning and unfree/authoritarian countries.

Diversity: We believe that to truly change the story, the storyteller of record must also change. We recruit local female journalists who share the diverse identities of the coverage community.

Quality: We believe in robust accuracy measures to ensure that our sources recognize themselves in our stories. We built multi-lingual, accuracy-driven editorial processes that allow local journalists to determine coverage priorities and use representative sourcing strategies. Our in-depth, feature news coverage offers deep context and nuanced analysis of topics not covered elsewhere. 

Reach: We believe access to accurate information is a basic human right. We publish and distribute stories in multiple languages across platforms and via partners to increase access to accurate information in local markets, and in English to elevate global awareness.

At Global Press we’re obsessed with understanding our impact in the world. We use a four-part impact framework to measure effectiveness, audience engagement, story-driven change and market/sector impact. 

In 2019: 

• 61% of stories received letters to the editor or direct feedback from readers

• 12% of stories were used locally by policymakers, activists to support social action

• 28% of stories were cited in local media, government reports, INGO/NGO or other professional publications

When a GP reporter in Uganda wrote about a discriminatory hair policy that forced Black girls to keep their hair short while other girls could grow their hair long, the policy was reversed at several schools. When a GP reporter in Indian-administered Kashmir challenged the Indian government's environmental impact assessment of a proposed dam, she proved they had underestimated the number of people in the flood path by more than 30,000, effectively pausing the dam project. Our coverage of migrant worker rights in Nepal was cited in new legislation to improve insurance benefits. 

GP is committed to advancing exceptional employment practices for journalists. GP was named one of Inc. Magazine’s best places to work in 2019 and won a Stevie Award for best women-run workplace.