Truth Seekers & Storytellers: How news works around the world

Karen Unland is the co-founder and COO of Taproot Edmonton, the most reliable source of intelligence on what's happening in the Edmonton region. She started the Alberta Podcast Network, which existed from 2017 to 2023, and co-hosted an award-winning podcast with her daughter called That’s a Thing?! Before pursuing entrepreneurial journalism, she spent 14 years at the Edmonton Journal.

Makhabbat Aitekenova is a communications professional with over five years of experience spanning journalism and media relations. She began her career in radio and television before transitioning to public relations in the corporate sector. Currently, Makhabbat serves as a communications specialist at Homeward Trust Edmonton, the city's leading housing non-profit.

Ntibinyane Alvin Ntibinyane is an assistant professor at MacEwan University and an investigative journalist who has worked for news organizations in Botswana and South Africa. He co-founded the INK Centre for Investigative Journalism in 2015, a notable non-profit organization. Ntibinyane, collaborating with over 300 journalists worldwide, contributed to the Panama Papers, earning the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. In 2018, he was a fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, where he studied the impact of non-profit investigative journalism in Africa.

Hiba Kamal-Choufi is an Edmonton-based journalist. She’s been working as a video journalist with CityNews since 2021. She started her career as a news editor in Beirut, covering stories that involved a range of topics, including the Arab uprisings in 2010. After moving to Edmonton, she joined Shaw TV and has since held a number of communications positions. She has a master’s degree in communications and technology (MACT) from the U of A and holds an MA in international relations and BA in journalism from Beirut, Lebanon.