Chris Roper Email & Phone Number

Cape Town Area, South Africa

As deputy CEO for the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism initiative, Code for Africa (CfA), Chris drives the federation’s digital and civic engagement strategies. He also leads CfA's CivicSignal research and analysis team. His responsibilities include working with CfA’s network of partner newsrooms and watchdog NGOs across Africa to help develop mass-impact engagement campaigns around digital content, ranging from viral videos to Facebook and Twitter bots, along… Show more As deputy CEO for the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism initiative, Code for Africa (CfA), Chris drives the federation’s digital and civic engagement strategies. He also leads CfA's CivicSignal research and analysis team. His responsibilities include working with CfA’s network of partner newsrooms and watchdog NGOs across Africa to help develop mass-impact engagement campaigns around digital content, ranging from viral videos to Facebook and Twitter bots, along with more traditional audience / content strategies. Chris also helps forge network partnerships between digital content champions and civic organisations. The Ezolwaluko project to combat quacks who maim boys during ritual circumcision ceremonies, for example, saw Chris engineering collaboration between investigative journalists and traditional leaders / healers, government regulators and grassroots activists in South Africa’s Eastern Cape region. Government credits the award-winning Ezolwaluko app / investigative coverage with contributing to a 37% drop in deaths in the 2016/2017 season.Chris also drives CfA’s public knowledge sharing / brainstorming events, including the flagship Media Indaba Africa (MIA) summit, and smaller brains-trust gatherings across the continent. Show less

Cape Town Area, South Africa

As Co-Director of the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR), Chris manages the network’s largest transnational collaborations and special projects.This includes managing ANCIR’s global partnerships on its largest investigations to-date, ranging from the DFRLabs / Atlantic Council partnership to unmask the secret botnets — controlled by organised crime — that are being used to foment racial conflict and to smear investigative journalists in South Africa. Other… Show more As Co-Director of the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR), Chris manages the network’s largest transnational collaborations and special projects.This includes managing ANCIR’s global partnerships on its largest investigations to-date, ranging from the DFRLabs / Atlantic Council partnership to unmask the secret botnets — controlled by organised crime — that are being used to foment racial conflict and to smear investigative journalists in South Africa. Other partnerships include ANCIR’s collaboration with the European Investigative Consortium’s (EIC) probe into leaks from the International Criminal Court (ICC), and a series of partnerships with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalist (ICIJ) to drive Panama Papers investigations across Africa with 18 newsroom in 12 countries, as well as to probe worker safety lapses at Australian mines in Africa with 13 journalists reporting from 13 countries.Chris also helps steer digital strategies for ANCIR forensic technologies, ranging from shaping how http://granoproject.org/ was used to investigate the World Bank’s global infrastructure projects, to how ANCIR helps protect partner newsrooms from hacking by using SHIELD, and snooping by intelligence agencies by using OUTLINE, as well as protecting whistleblowers through afriLEAKS.ANICR is an initiative of Code or Africa (CfA). Chris’ role at both CfA and ANCIR is supported by the ICFJ through a Knight International Fellowship. Show less

Cape Town Area, South Africa

The main focus of the Knight International Fellowship is to strengthen institutional management systems at the continent’s largest data journalism initiative, Code for Africa (CfA).The fellowship focuses on two sets of objectives: first, building internal CfA capacity by establishing a new management team in Cape Town for streamlined coordination of digital innovation teams across the continent. And, second, shaping CfA’s outward facing civic engagement strategies to maximise public… Show more The main focus of the Knight International Fellowship is to strengthen institutional management systems at the continent’s largest data journalism initiative, Code for Africa (CfA).The fellowship focuses on two sets of objectives: first, building internal CfA capacity by establishing a new management team in Cape Town for streamlined coordination of digital innovation teams across the continent. And, second, shaping CfA’s outward facing civic engagement strategies to maximise public interaction with the data tools and multimedia products that its teams build.In addition to strengthening CfA infrastructure, Chris helped steer investigative projects at ANCIR, including forensic network analysis that helped unmask a botnet that was stoking racial conflict in South Africa in support of the #Gupta state capture cabal. Chris also managed a project with City Press that tackled quacks who illegally conduct traditional circumcisions in the country. A data app built for the project won government awards for helping reduce the number of deaths / injuries amongst initiates. Show less

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

As M&G’s editor-in-chief, and before that as editor and head of digital, Chris managed the news organisation’s integration of print and digital teams and the development of the data/digital investigative capacities. Impactful stories during Chris’ tenure included extensive coverage of the Nkandla investigation into illegal use of state money to refurbish president Jacob Zuma’s home, a story which contributed to the eventual forced resignation of the SA president, and included (risking a… Show more As M&G’s editor-in-chief, and before that as editor and head of digital, Chris managed the news organisation’s integration of print and digital teams and the development of the data/digital investigative capacities. Impactful stories during Chris’ tenure included extensive coverage of the Nkandla investigation into illegal use of state money to refurbish president Jacob Zuma’s home, a story which contributed to the eventual forced resignation of the SA president, and included (risking a jail sentence for Chris!) the leaking of the Public Protector’s interim Nkandla report “Secure in Comfort”. There were deep investigations into Zuma's secret R1-trillion nuclear deal, as well as the revelation that Zuma was negotiating directly with Putin. Other big investigations included Transnet, Prasa and Public Investment Corporation corruption, and #DairyGate, the corrupt allocation of millions of rands to the Estina dairy farm serving as a front for the Gupta family implicated in the corrupt presidency of Zuma. Chris’ redesign of the digital offerings (including launching Africa’s first Kindle edition, and SA’s first iPad edition), facilitated significant growth in audience engagement, including growing unique monthly visitors from under a million to over two million in just one year, which helped the M&G boost the impacts of this investigative reporting.As a news pioneer in digital development in South Africa, the M&G won the first ever CNN Africa Digital Journalism Award 2012, the first ever Standard Bank Sikuvile Award for Online Multimedia in 2012, and the first ever Sikuvile Multiplatform Award in 2013 (for a package detailing how Zuma’s Nkandla homestead was funded). The M&G also won Best Publisher Award, Best Editorial Team, and best iPad edition at the 2013 Bookmarks Awards. The M&G’s journalism awards were numerous, including a 2014 Taco Kuiper Award for amaBhungane (the then investigative arm of the M&G), and several Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards. Show less

Cape Town Area, South Africa

As editor-in-chief, Chris was responsible for merging the MWEB portal content and technology teams (at the time, SA's biggest site) with News24, Health24 and other 24.com verticals, and creating numerous new content offerings. The creation of 24.com (now Africa’s largest digital content platform) involved totally redesigning the multiple sites, including News24, Channel24, Sport24, Health24 and many others, as well as streamlining the multiple content offerings into a shared CMS with a… Show more As editor-in-chief, Chris was responsible for merging the MWEB portal content and technology teams (at the time, SA's biggest site) with News24, Health24 and other 24.com verticals, and creating numerous new content offerings. The creation of 24.com (now Africa’s largest digital content platform) involved totally redesigning the multiple sites, including News24, Channel24, Sport24, Health24 and many others, as well as streamlining the multiple content offerings into a shared CMS with a shared technology team. This included creating one of SA's first news multimedia teams, building several content and technology verticals (from a youth site to an education site), and combining the various titles under one banner and production team. He also worked on several associated Naspers projects, such as the digital proposition for Abril publishing in Brazil, DSTV digital satellite tv projects, music streaming services, and the creation of various social media and messaging platforms, including SA's first ever blogging platform. Show less

San Francisco

Chris was seconded to MediaZone, Naspers' Video on Demand company in San Francisco, helping to develop the editorial strategy and products that underpinned the subscription models for the range of live-streaming and on-demand offerings.

Chris managed and built the MWEB portal team, which include business development, content production and technology platforms.As portal manager, Chris managed the relationship between MWEB and its subscribers and audience, as well as between MWEB and Media24’s digital and print properties. This including the relationship between News24 and the large MWEB audience (the biggest content site in SA at the time), as well as other news offerings such as the Mail & Guardian (then part owned by… Show more Chris managed and built the MWEB portal team, which include business development, content production and technology platforms.As portal manager, Chris managed the relationship between MWEB and its subscribers and audience, as well as between MWEB and Media24’s digital and print properties. This including the relationship between News24 and the large MWEB audience (the biggest content site in SA at the time), as well as other news offerings such as the Mail & Guardian (then part owned by MWEB) and Afrikaans language newspapers. This also included the portal deployment of MWEB's many content and technology offerings, including search engines, messaging platforms, the SA version of QQ (the giant messenger platform for Naspers’ Tencent investment which, as of June 2018, accounts for $175 billion of Naspers’ worth), email platforms, blogging platforms, SA’s premier e-learning site, SA’s first ancestry site, and several e-commerce offerings. He also managed MWEB Africa's content expansion into Zimbabwe, Kenya and Namibia, among other countries. Show less

Cape Town Area, South Africa

Chris was Portal Manager when Dutch company World Online built and launched its South African ISP and content offerings, as part of the global World Online internet company expansion. World Online was a pioneer in digital content in South Africa, and SA's second biggest ISP. World Online became Vodacom World Online, and then Tiscali World Online. Chris built World Online News into the third biggest news site in SA, and helped to kickstart some of SA's first big travel, business and… Show more Chris was Portal Manager when Dutch company World Online built and launched its South African ISP and content offerings, as part of the global World Online internet company expansion. World Online was a pioneer in digital content in South Africa, and SA's second biggest ISP. World Online became Vodacom World Online, and then Tiscali World Online. Chris built World Online News into the third biggest news site in SA, and helped to kickstart some of SA's first big travel, business and lifestyle content offerings. Show less

Ba (Hons), English

Education record

Education record