Land and property rights editor/Deputy editorThomson Reuters Foundation
Astrid Zweynert is the managing editor of PLACE, the world’s first digital media platform dedicated to under-reported land and property rights issues, an initiative by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of global news and information company Thomson Reuters.
PLACE’s journalists provide an in-depth look at the human impact of land conflicts, gentrification, deforestation, extractive industries, and more. Their storytelling has been helping land and property rights evolve from a niche topic to a global story, reaching more than a billion people daily through the Reuters news wire.
PLACE’s stories have involved topics ranging from slums to Tanzanian ‘witches’ to Pokémon Go have been published by The New York Times, Quartz, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian, and they have resulted in land policy changes by governments from Kenya to Romania.
Astrid is also the deputy leader of a team of almost 50 Thomson Reuters Foundation journalists and 150 freelancers, covering women’s rights, the human impact of climate change, modern slavery, humanitarian crises and social innovation.
Astrid has reported from more than 20 countries, most recently as the Foundation’s Southeast Asia correspondent and in previous roles as Reuters correspondent. Astrid has managed global editorial teams for more than a decade and has led journalism and communications training courses in India, Bangladesh, Mexico, Germany, the United States and Britain.
She has played a key role in developing online content strategies and new markets for the Thomson Reuters Foundation and in previous roles for Reuters news agency. Prior to joining Reuters more than 20 years ago, Astrid worked for Bloomberg Business News, United Press International and German television.