How do some of the world’s most prominent foundations focused on supporting media and journalism make their decisions on who or what to fund? What do they really look for? Which ideas energise them ...
Sue Valentine
Sue Valentine is Manager of the Opening Journalism portfolio in the Open Society Foundations’ Program on Independent Journalism, based in London. The portfolio aims to strengthen journalism’s ability to innovate and remain relevant to the societies it aims to serve. It provides support to start-ups seeking to enrich the public debate; news outlets determined to grow their capacity for storytelling, audience engagement or revenue; and organizations experimenting with new ideas that can be replicated.
Prior to joining OSF, Sue was the Africa Program Coordinator at the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists that works to safeguard media freedom worldwide. Born and bred in South Africa, her career has included working in mainstream and non-profit media. During the country’s transition to democracy in the 1990s, she headed the media unit at an independent think tank, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa). In the post-apartheid period, Sue was the executive producer of the national public broadcaster’s flagship current affairs radio programs. Sue has led various start-up initiatives in South Africa including the online news agency Health-e, dedicated to covering public health issues, especially the country’s HIV/AIDS pandemic. In 2002-2003 she was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
