Who We Are


NN Advisor Leymah Gbowee celebrates her 2011 Nobel Peace Prize with Liberia’s Women of Peace

New Narratives builds local news organizations by funding independent journalism and news business transformation

NN is a women-led U.S. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization founded in 2010 that drives collaborative, people-centered investigative journalism and news innovation at impactful news organizations in the Global South.

NN Success:

NN investigations have included: exposés of failed development projects; the first exposé of Catholic Church abuse in Africa; the exposé of a ring trafficking women to the Middle East; corruption by local officials and international resources companies including from China; sexual exploitation of children by UN peacekeepers; corruption in the public education system and the continuing pactice of female genital cutting. Our reporting led to a national conversation and ban offemale genital cutting and action on teenage pregnancy, child labor and trafficking as well as legislative support for a war crimes trial in Liberia.

We have spread good ideas by highlighting the work of innovators, many of them women.

  • NN media partners have seen an increase in audience share of 500%, boosting financial independence and the ability to cover stories that matter. Partners have won international prizes and international support when under fire.
  • NN “fellows” have stayed in journalism for more than a decade building the skills, confidence, credibility and sources they need to do journalism that has impact.
  • NN’s most high-profile reporters are women. They have changed a news industry view that dismissed women reporters and “women’s issues” and made them front page news.
  • Reporters have won numerous national and international awards including the Committee to Protect Journalists Press Freedom prize  the UN Dag Hammarskjold Fellowship.
  • Reporters have contributed to major media including the Guardian, The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, Foreign Policy, and NPR.

Supporting journalists to tell their stories

We believe journalists in Global South countries are better placed to do the reporting that will ensure world leaders have the nuanced information they need to make decisions that impact them. NN journalists contribute to international media such as The New York TimesNewsweek, Daily Beast, The GuardianReutersPBS Newshour, Foreign Policy, US public radio and the Christian Science Monitor.

Please explore the site. Read the stories. Tell us what you think. Thank you!