Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://gijn.org/category/news/)
Applications are open for the coveted Latin American Investigative Journalism Awards. Organized by the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) and Transparency International, the competition offers US$30,000 in awards, including a grand prize of $15,000. Deadline to apply is June 14. The awards will be presented at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Rio this October. Continue Reading →
The percentage of the global population living in countries with a free press is at the lowest level in more than a decade, according to the findings of Freedom of the Press 2013: A Global Survey of Media Independence, a new report by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Freedom House. The report found that just 14 percent of the world’s population — about one in six people—live in societies “where coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to onerous legal or economic pressures.” The overall decline in press freedom is highlighted by various cases. As a region, Latin America experienced a further tightening of controls on the media, led by Ecuador and Paraguay, which dropped from Party Free to Not Free. Moreover, there was an important downturn in Mali and a significant deterioration in Greece. The report also notes uneven conditions in the Middle East in 2012, which again ranked as the world’s worst region for press freedom. Continue Reading →
Join us today in honoring World Press Freedom Day and lend your support to free and independent media around the world. This year, the annual event focuses on the theme of “Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media.” As part of that, UNESCO has released an infographic on the dangers of being a journalist in a culture of impunity. Each week, on average, a journalist dies while doing his or her job. Yet, over the past 10 years, only 1 in 10 cases of crimes against journalists, media workers, and online producers has led to a conviction. Join GIJN by supporting World Press Freedom Day — there are events worldwide you can find by checking this collaborative map. Continue Reading →
It’s time again. Every two years since 2001, the world’s investigative journalism community has joined together in a different city, and the results have been extraordinary. We’ve spread investigative reporting and data journalism around the world, sparked the creation of dozens of investigative reporting centers, and led to hundreds of great stories and collaborations. Registration is now open for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference. You’ll find our registration and conference pages available in the three main languages of the conference: English, Portuguese, and Spanish. Continue Reading →
So you’ve amassed terabytes of data, reams of documents and hours of expert testimony, all backing up your conclusions. What’s the best way to convince people you’re right? Tell them a story. Ideally, a compelling, colorful tale weaving in memorable anecdotes and striking details. Printed in a clear, legible font. Oh, and it helps – no kidding – if it rhymes. At least according to Nobel-prizewinning economist Daniel Kahneman, author of the outstanding Thinking, Fast and Slow, who’s made a career out of understanding - experimentally – how our brains take in information and make decisions. It isn’t always pretty, but it does help explain why storytelling is a centuries-old means of passing on information. Continue Reading →
Can the worst of times for media and political freedoms in post-Soviet Russia also be the best of times for watchdog reporting? Elizaveta Osetinskyaya, the editor of Forbes Russia, the most prominent business magazine in that country, seemed to think so. It’s a paradox, she said. The Russian media is confronting some of the most formidable political and financial challenges it has faced since the fall of communism. Yet she thinks investigative reporting has never been more vibrant nor its quality better. Continue Reading →
It's certainly one of the single biggest leaks of documents in the history of investigative reporting. Over the last 15 months, 86 journalists in 46 countries have been poring over a cache of 2.5 million documents on offshore holdings obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. ICIJ coordinated the investigation from DC, using a secure messaging system to communicate with a worldwide team of journalists and free-text retrieval software and programmers on three continents to mine the information from the documents. Continue Reading →
The European Fund for Investigative Journalism was created in 2008 to fill a glaring need in European journalism: providing grants to reporters working on investigative projects, especially on cross-border issues. Since then, Journalismfund.eu, as it’s called, has made dozens of grants that have produced groundbreaking stories ranging from human slavery and arms trafficking to property corruption and document fraud. Behind its grant-making is a jury of four experienced–but anonymous–”personalities knowledgeable in the field of journalism and media.” The jury is unnamed to guarantee its complete independence. The membership is rotating, and once a member steps off the jury, her or his name is made known. Continue Reading →
In a never-ending fight for resources – with editors, owners, donors, and developers – we investigative journalists need to make our case more effectively than ever before. Despite knowing that what we do makes a difference, we often don’t marshal the data and arguments that show why investigative reporting is worth the investment. Continue Reading →
Hit by the twin blows of economic crisis and collapsing business models, newspapers and TV stations eliminated or downsized their investigative units. Yet at the same time, the muckraking spirit remains alive. Continue Reading →