Ten outstanding data-driven journalism projects, from as many countries, were chosen by a diverse Prize Committee of 17 judges from 498 entries from 80 countries.
This Top 10 in Data Journalism column also highlights the death of a Ukrainian journalist in a Russian prison, Trump’s first 100 days, and India and Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals.
Two California-based journalists offer some reporting best practices, logistical tips, and safety precautions to take when covering wildfires.
Passports can help unlock secret ownership of offshore companies, but finding them is often challenging. At ICIJ, we decided to build a new detection tool to speed up this process.
Six intrepid investigative projects from small and medium news outlets have been selected by GIJN as finalists for the 2025 Global Shining Light Awards.
Seven courageous investigative projects from large news outlets have been selected by GIJN as finalists for the 2025 Global Shining Light Awards.
A deep dive into how government-run journalist protection programs in Latin America are failing to shield the press from attacks and intimidation by state agents and organized crime.
The RFE/RL reporter spent 288 days in a Russian prison after she was accused of failing to declare herself a “foreign agent.”
As reporters mark World Press Freedom Day, RSF’s 2025 annual ranking reveals press freedom around the world has fallen to a new, unprecedented low.
Also highlights how X influences Elon Musk’s government policy, the numbers behind the successful Danish toy maker Lego, and mapping the Sudan conflict.
Insiders who successfully sound the alarm often do so with help — by partnering with allies who can amplify their message and help shield them from retaliation.
The US government’s detained immigrant population flatlined in April, but there’s more to the numbers than meets the eye. Here’s what journalists need to know about the data.
Philippine reporter Cristina Chi uncovered an orchestrated disinformation campaign on Facebook to falsely portray the arrest of the country’s ex-president.
GIJN, the new home of the Sigma Awards, is proud to announce the 2025 shortlist for the best data journalism projects and portfolios in the past year.
This digital book version of our reporting guide includes expert analysis and practical advice to enable better investigations of the fossil fuel industry.
The UN process for evaluating national human rights records is long and complex, but offers valuable material for journalists.
This guide provides watchdog journalists with key context and practical advice to enable better investigations of the fossil fuel industry.
A comprehensive list of national, regional, and global reporting grants and fellowships.
Featuring advice on fact checking, digital security tips, interview techniques, and guidelines for editors.
Empower the World’s Watchdog Journalists
The GIJN Bulletin is free and distributed to journalists in more than 100 countries
In an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who traveled to Rome to cover the papal election, Pope Leo XIV called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press.” He also expressed solidarity with journalists who have been jailed for reporting the truth. “The church recognizes in these witnesses — I am thinking of those who report on war even at the cost of their lives — the courage of those who defend dignity, justice, and the right of people to be informed, because only informed individuals can make free choices,” he said.
Source: Global Fund for Media Development
The Next-IJ Cross-Border Investigative Training Program is accepting applications for its July 2025 session. The day-long, online intensive program on July 18 is designed to enhance investigative reporting capabilities through practical, hands-on learning and will be led by expert investigative journalists and researchers from OCCRP and Transcrime–Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. Applicants must be based in or affiliated with one of the “Creative Europe” countries — EU member states plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, and Tunisia.
Almost three years after Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was lethally shot while covering an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) operation in the West Bank, a new documentary produced by Zeteo claims it has uncovered evidence that enabled them to identify the Israeli soldier who shot her. The IDF said in 2022 that it was not possible to “unequivocally determine” the source of the gunfire. According to “Who Killed Shireen,” the 20-year-old Alon Scagio fired the fatal shot. Scagio was transferred to another unit following the IDF's investigation into the shooting, and was killed by an explosive in the West Bank town of Jenin in 2024.
The journalism department at Wits University in Johannesburg has opened the call for fellowship applications for AIJC2025, which will be held from 5-7 November. This year AIJC is running two fellowship tracks: one for early-career journalists under the age of 30 with five or fewer years of experience, and one for mid-career journalists with five or more years of experience, and also welcomes applications from freelance journalists. The fellowship covers major travel costs, shuttles, accommodation, conference fees, and meals. The deadline for applications is May 23, 2025.
The Press and Society Institute (IPYS) and Transparency International (TI) have announced the 2025 edition of the Javier Valdez Latin American Investigative Journalism Award, open to all investigative work on matters of public interest. Journalists can apply as individuals or as a research team, with one or multiple pieces of work published in a media outlet in Latin America and the Caribbean — in Spanish, Portuguese, or English. Works published between July 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025, in print, radio, television, or electronic media are eligible, and materials must be submitted in digital format.
The US Justice Dept. has rescinded a Biden-era policy that prevented officials from searching journalists’ phones when conducting investigations into leaks from government personnel to news media. Attorney general Ban Bondi said the Justice Dept. would only search reporters’ phone records when all other methods have been exhausted, but media advocacy groups have expressed concern that this policy weakens First Amendment rights and will herald a return to the previous Trump administration’s attempts to use the courts to obtain phone and email records of journalists at The Washington Post, CNN, and The New York Times.
Source: International Press Institute
An Athens court dismissed a SLAPP case brought by Grigoris Dimitriadis, the Greek prime minister’s nephew, against journalists who had reported on Dimitriadis’s connection to a spyware scandal. The court ruled in favor of Nikolas Leontopoulos, Thodoris Chondrogiannos, and Christoforos Kasdaglis from Reporters United and Dimitris Terzis of newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton, concluding that their reporting — which revealed that Dimitriadis’s phone number had been used to target 11 individuals with spyware hacks — had been accurate. The reporting did not suggest Dimitriadis was responsible for the hacking, only that his phone number had been used.
Following Trump’s executive orders to defund and wind down operations at Voice of America and other US-funded news services — placing over 1,300 VOA employees, including about 1,000 journalists, on leave — a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore all jobs and funding. The judge found that the administration had likely violated the International Broadcasting Act and Congress's power to appropriate funding, ordering the administration to take steps to restore employees and contractors to the jobs they had before the executive order, and to do the same for Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
The 2025 Africa Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC) is inviting suggestions for speakers, panels, themes, or training to be held at the conference. The AIJC, Africa’s largest gathering of working journalists that showcases the continent’s best investigative reporting, will be held at Wits University in Johannesburg from November 5-7, 2025, and like previous years will feature talks, panel discussions, masterclasses, workshops, and networking sessions. Proposals should be submitted via a link on the AIJC website by May 30. AIJC2025 will be the conference’s 21st iteration. Last year, the event yet drew 450 journalists from 55 countries.
Source: The Self-Investigation
Registration is open for the 2025 Mental Health in Journalism Summit. Organized by non-profit The Self-Investigation, the summit’s second iteration will be a three-day online event dedicated to building collective resilience, exchanging strategies for healthier workplaces, and examining the latest trends and case studies on mentally healthy workspaces in journalism. Managers, editors, reporters, freelancers, media professionals, academics, and mental health experts are welcome to attend. The summit will feature one day of sessions in Spanish and days of sessions in English, and will be held October 8-10, 2025.
The investigative journalist — who has covered Iraq’s secret sex trade, the Yemen war, and the Sanaa funeral bombing — shares insights from working on a difficult beat.
Brazilian freelance reporter Hyury Potter recently won the Pulitzer Center’s Breakthrough Journalism Award.
In a career spanning more than 20 years, Le Monde reporter Stéphane Horel has brought a creative and, at times, humorous approach to groundbreaking environmental investigations.
The managing editor of HumAngle, which covers the human costs of conflict and terrorism, discusses the challenges of investigative coverage in Nigeria.
Ten outstanding data-driven journalism projects, from as many countries, were chosen by a diverse Prize Committee of 17 judges from 498 entries from 80 countries.
GIJN, the new home of the Sigma Awards, is proud to announce the 2025 shortlist for the best data journalism projects and portfolios in the past year.
The US government’s detained immigrant population flatlined in April, but there’s more to the numbers than meets the eye. Here’s what journalists need to know about the data.
The wide range of international environmental data that the OECD offers, though often Eurocentric, is still extensive in scope and comparatively reliable.
The team at the award-winning data journalism outlet suspected that Russia would invade — they could see clues in the data. We profile the team and their work combating false conflict narratives.
In the aftermath of a car bombing that killed one of Malta’s leading investigative reporters, her family set up an organization to fight for justice and ensure her legacy lives on.
The nonprofit newsroom — whose founders and senior leadership are all women — has taken a innovative, youth-focused approach to covering corruption.
GIJN member Mongabay is leading the way in environmental journalism with a innovative global-plus-local approach to watchdog reporting.
Our third regional spotlight series examines the challenges facing our members and other outlets in the Middle East and North Africa, such as war, backsliding democracies, self-censorship, exile, surveillance and imprisonment of journalists, and the hostile legal environment — and why this reality on the ground makes investigative journalism there all the more essential.
Our second regional spotlight series examines the successes and challenges facing our members in Africa and others reporting from the continent. These articles tell the stories of growing journalistic collaboration, courage, and innovation in the face of repression, legal intimidation, lack of access to information, and even physical threats.
Our first regional spotlight series celebrates the achievements of our members in Latin America and others reporting from the region. These articles tell the stories of reporters across the continent, digging into the investigations that matter, and detailing how outlets are creating innovative reporting projects amid their own specific local challenges.
Global elections in 2024 will affect more citizens than in any previous year, and will likely reset humanity’s liberty compass for years ahead. This project features an elections reporting guide, stories on cutting-edge tools for investigating campaigns and candidates, and lessons learned from the best in local watchdog reporting from around the world.
A webinar exploring how investigative journalists can document human rights abuses in war zones, with a focus on methods to ensure the information gathered can later be used by legal investigators or international courts.
Satellite imagery has become a game-changer for investigative journalism, offering powerful tools to uncover hidden stories.
The 2024 elections marked a seismic year for democracies worldwide, presenting investigative journalists with unique challenges and opportunities.
In Africa, more than in most other parts of the world, the hurdles that journalists have to overcome to report beyond their own countries or continent are numerous.
