No financial supporter or commercial client may buy favorable coverage, dictate editorial conclusions, or veto a newsroom decision.
01 / Decision-making
Editorial independence
Editors and reporters make the final decisions about newsroom assignments, sources, framing, headlines, timing, and publication. Donors, advertisers, political actors, and studio clients do not assign or approve editorial coverage and do not receive unpublished drafts for approval.
Funding or a business relationship is never a reason to include, omit, delay, or change a story. Editorial and commercial discussions are kept distinct, and any conflict that could affect a story must be disclosed to an editor and addressed before publication.
02 / People and governance
Leadership & masthead transparency
The roster below reflects roles publicly listed on Kiberanet’s Team page and the Kibera Documentary Center Community Hub. Program facilitators and photo credits are identified as collaborators, not represented as newsroom staff.
Leadership and platform operations
- Gordwin Odhiambo — Founder / Director, Community Hub; Platform’s Creative Director, Kiberanet Team.
- Jackline Oyugi — Digital Trainer, Community Hub; Training & Apprenticeship Director, Kiberanet Team.
- Diana Akinyi — Operations & Logistics Lead, Kiberanet Team.
- Calvince Okoth — Community Organizer & Ground Mobilizer, Kiberanet Team.
- Maxwell Mandela — Developer & Digital Designer, Kiberanet Team.
Editorial and visual storytelling credits
- Calvins Ochieng — Editor, Community Hub.
- Gordwin Odhiambo — Creative Director, Community Hub.
- Bill Crandall — Community Hub facilitator and workshop moderator for “Finding Your Own Stories.”
- Simon Valmery — Agence France-Presse journalist and leader of the Community Hub’s metadata, captioning, and news-reporting workshop.
- Ammaury Falt-Brown — Editor, Community Hub.
Board, advisers, and core photography team
We are currently compiling and vetting a complete list of board members and advisers.
03 / Political activity
Nonpartisanship
Kiberanet does not endorse political parties or candidates in its newsroom reporting, coordinate coverage with campaigns, or accept support conditioned on political coverage or outcomes. Staff must disclose relevant campaign, party, or advocacy roles and step away from assignments where those ties could reasonably compromise trust.
Nonpartisanship does not mean avoiding political subjects or treating every claim as equally credible. We scrutinize public power and assess claims by the available evidence, regardless of who makes them.
04 / Reporting process
Fact-checking and verification
Before publication, reporters should verify material claims against primary records or direct evidence where possible, corroborate consequential claims with independent sources, and give people facing significant criticism a reasonable opportunity to respond. Sources, quotations, dates, figures, and context are checked against the underlying material.
Stories distinguish established facts from allegations, estimates, analysis, and opinion. Anonymous sources are used only when there is a clear public interest, the information cannot reasonably be obtained on the record, and an editor knows the source’s identity and can assess the basis for their knowledge. Sensitive or disputed claims receive additional editorial review.
05 / Trust
Fairness, sources, and conflicts
We seek relevant perspectives, represent people and communities accurately, and avoid presenting stereotypes as fact. We do not fabricate sources, quotations, images, or evidence. When we use material supplied by a source or partner, we verify it and make its origin clear when that context matters.
Staff and contributors must disclose personal, financial, or organizational ties that could affect—or appear to affect—their work. Editors will address a conflict through disclosure, additional review, reassignment, or another appropriate safeguard. Gifts or favors that could influence coverage are not accepted.
06 / Accountability
Corrections and updates
Readers can report a possible error through our contact page. We review correction requests, check them against the available evidence, and correct material errors promptly. When a published story changes materially, we identify the correction or update and explain what changed rather than silently altering the record.
Clarifications and updates that do not correct an error may also be noted so readers can understand significant changes to a story.
07 / Financial support
Funding and donors
Donations and grants support Kiberanet’s work; they do not purchase editorial influence. We do not accept funding with conditions that control story selection, sources, findings, or publication. Where a funder has a direct and material connection to a story, that relationship will be disclosed to readers.
Kiberanet will make material institutional funding and project sponsorships available for public scrutiny and identify relevant support alongside affected coverage. Donor privacy is respected where appropriate, but confidentiality is not offered in exchange for editorial control.
08 / Commercial work
Sponsored studio work
Studio commissions, advertising, and sponsored content are commercial work, not independent newsroom reporting. Paid or partner-produced material is clearly labeled so readers can distinguish it from editorial coverage; the label identifies the sponsor when applicable.
A studio client may review its commissioned deliverable for agreed project details, but that review does not extend to newsroom coverage. A client cannot require favorable reporting, suppress an unrelated story, or receive editorial access as part of a studio contract. If a studio relationship is relevant to newsroom coverage, the relationship is disclosed and the assignment receives independent editorial review.
09 / Contact
Raise a concern
Readers, sources, staff, and funders can raise a concern about accuracy, conflicts, sponsorship labels, or editorial independence through our contact page. Concerns will be reviewed by Kiberanet editorial leadership, and any necessary correction or disclosure will be made publicly.