Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://gijn.org/)
The following stories, selected by GIJN Arabic, are not just a list of impressive investigative reports from 2020. We chose them for their significance, their use of investigative tools and techniques, and their commitment to social accountability.
At the end of the year, GIJN compiles a list of its most viewed stories and resources. Here’s the listing for 2020’s top performing resources, including information on how to find satellite imagery and land ownership records for your investigations, as well as tips and strategies for freelancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.
Open source investigation teams around the world sprang into action as they watched a pro-Trump mob violently storm the US Capitol on January 6. A senior investigator with Bellingcat told GIJN how his team was able to scrape and preserve hundreds of social media videos from the attack, and shared ten tips on how any reporter can grab visual evidence during breaking news events.
Scenes of supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump storming the US Capitol building dominated news headlines and filled social media feeds last week. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 4 to 10 found Reuters producing a play-by-play summary of what happened, and FiveThirtyEight examining the stark difference in reaction by the authorities to the Capitol mob compared to Black Lives Matter protesters. Also in this edition, we feature National Geographic’s cartography archive, Data Crítica’s investigation into under-counting of Indigenous COVID-19 infections, and The Markup’s analysis of the impact of Facebook’s political ads.
A new report maps ambitious COVID-era efforts around the world to save journalism, including ideas from the United States, South Africa, Denmark, and Singapore.
In this review of the best investigations in Russian and Ukrainian last year, the GIJN Russian team selected the stories that shed light on systemic societal problems in many countries in the region, and those which may inspire journalists in other parts of the world to investigate corruption, money laundering, and other topics using the same investigative methods and tools.
In this second edition of the revamped “Toolbox” series, GIJN walks readers through how to use Echosec and CrowdTangle to discover content posted to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. We also discuss the now-defunct Facebook graph search and ways to still crack the case regardless.
