An investigative outfit with an advocacy program may raise eyebrows. But in South Africa, amaBhungane has scored major wins for transparency and free speech.
A group of Indian journalists have been calling out the government on social media over its opacity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The collaborative effort continues to press for official answers on overall health preparedness, such as drug availability, access to care, health inventory, and insurance schemes.
Despite government restrictions, journalists around the world are using freedom of information laws to understand the COVID-19 pandemic and the response of international, national, and local authorities. GIJN’s Toby McIntosh outlines how to craft an effective freedom of information request and provides tips and suggestions on where to make requests and important questions to ask.
Frustrated by journalism that gave voice to those in power rather than the voiceless, Yasuomi Sawa was inspired to become an investigative journalist. He shares with Scilla Alecci about the state of journalism in Japan, including the limitations to its existing freedom of information laws and how preventing institutional or individual embarrassment can hinder a relentless free press and uncomfortable public debates.
For our series about journalists’ favorite tools, we spoke with veteran American investigative reporter Ron Nixon. Now the global investigations editor for The Associated Press, Nixon shared the most important tools he uses for research, secure communications, and data analysis on many of his groundbreaking investigations.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from October 21 to 27 finds a panel of leading data visualization practitioners discussing the practice of visualization in an age of disinformation, Kloop exposing how Kyrgyzstani authorities privatized large swaths of a public park with no oversight, and The Guardian highlighting the minimal changes between former British prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal with current PM Boris Johnson’s new deal.
When the Bureau of Investigative Journalism asked to see a contract between property developers and the North London borough of Haringey, its reporters were disappointed to receive a heavily-redacted document. This was part of a drive by the UK nonprofit to test the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, which gives citizens and journalists the right to access the accounts and related documents of city councils and other local authorities.
After nine years and over 60,000 requests, MuckRock — the Massachusetts-based news site that specializes in using the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — has been witness to some pretty impressive efforts to keep public information from the public. In the spirit of Sunshine Week, they compiled some of the weirdest, wildest and downright hilarious redactions they’ve received since launching in 2010.
In GIJN’s Tip of the Day, Kaas & Mulvad editor Nils Mulvad talks about the basics of data journalism. For the full video on Effective Use of Data, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcE81ekvvHk&list=PLrCL-ZiCvKYtgT7nymTez7p_E_9thEH7E&index=3 Visit GIJN’s resource page on Data Journalism: https://helpdesk.gijn.org/support/solutions/articles/14000036505-data-journalism More from Nils Mulvad: https://www.kaasogmulvad.dk/ https://gijn.org/2016/05/06/25-tips-for-everyday-digging/ https://gijn.org/2015/02/25/drilling-down-a-quick-guide-to-free-and-inexpensive-data-tools/ https://gijn.org/2014/07/18/nils-mulvad-data-journalism-is-the-punk-of-our-times/ GIJN’s Global Guide to FOI here: https://gijn.org/2017/09/04/tips-and-resources-for-setting-information-free-gijns-new-global-guide/ Global Investigative […]
Earlier this year, Botswana’s INK Centre for Investigative Journalism tracked down a dossier which detailed the heinous crimes of Gukurahundi — a series of massacres of civilians carried out by the Zimbabwe National Army in the 1980s — which had been kept under lock and key for decades. It was the first time the names of the deceased and blow-by-blow accounts of how the executions were carried out were made available to the public. INK’s Ntibinyane Ntibinyane writes for GIJN on how they did it.
