This week's newsletter from the Open Contracting Partnership about stories covering the use and abuse of government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic features investigations into spending in Europe, Nigeria, Honduras, and more. You can subscribe to this helpful newsletter about government COVID-19 contracts from around the world.
Source: Open Contracting Partnership
Membership Puzzle Project and Media Development Investment Fund announced the reopening of the Membership in News Fund, a global fund to catalyze membership design in newsrooms around the world. Registrations of interest accepted until 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 6, 2020. Selectees will be notified by Nov. 13 if they have been invited to formally apply to the fund. The entire selection process will conclude before the end of 2020, with funding and support to be received beginning in January.
Source: Membership Puzzle Project
The results of the first large-scale global survey on how journalists are coping in the pandemic was released this week. The survey, which included 1,400 English-speaking journalists from 125 countries, found that 81% of journalists said they encounter disinformation at least weekly; 30% said that their news organizations had not supplied field reporters with protective equipment; and some 70% identified the mental health impacts of covering COVID-19 as the most difficult challenge.
Source: ICFJ
The 16th African Investigative Journalism Conference has gone virtual and takes place all this month. The annual gathering is bringing together hundreds of participants from across Africa and worldwide. The program features over 25 sessions, including online workshops and masterclasses. GIJN is partnering with the conference conveners – the Wits Journalism program at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg -- for sessions on investigating police, sustainability strategies, and the latest in data journalism.
Source: AIJC20
"News organizations in Texas don’t report on Indigenous communities," writes The Texas Observer, a GIJN member. "The Texas Observer intends to be different." With that, the Observer announced today the launch of an innovative Indigenous Affairs Desk at the long-standing, Austin-based newspaper. As part of the launch, the team has released the Anti-Indigenous Handbook, a global collaboration with Indigenous journalists around the world. The handbook's roots go back to a GIJN workshop for Indigenous reporters at the 2019 Global Investigative Journalism Conference.
Source: Texas Observer
Tactical Tech is accepting applications from European Union-based investigators for the "Exposing the Invisible" Investigative Institute, a three-week online workshop to be held in November-December 2020 or January-February 2021. The purpose of the workshop is to enhance and share skills and techniques for secure investigations and digital research methods. The application deadline is November 1, 2020, at midnight CET.
Source: Tactical Tech
