GIJN in 2025, by the Numbers

The year 2025 was a groundbreaking moment for the Global Investigative Journalism Network, as we entered into our third decade supporting and training accountability reporters and editors from around the world. Below are some of the key metrics from all our work.

• Convened the first-ever Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Asia, in partnership with our member Malaysiakini, and attracted more than 1,500 attendees from 135 countries and territories to GIJC25 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Assembled our most diverse slate of expert conference speakers at GIJC25, representing nearly 100 countries — including triple the prior number of conference panelists from Asia, as well as a significant increase in the number of speakers from Africa, MENA, and Latin America. In all, the conference featured nearly 400 speakers, including two Nobel laureates (Maria Ressa and Joseph Stiglitz), and more than 150 practical panels and workshops.
• Brought nearly 130 fellows from 80 countries and territories to GIJC25 in Malaysia.
• Surveyed more than 450 of those who came to GIJC25 and found that 90+% of the attendees rated GIJC25 “very useful” or “extremely useful” and 97% of attendees would attend another GIJC.
• Responded to more than 2,000 queries and assistance requests from journalists around the world.
• Published more than 250 stories on the English-language gijn.org website (and dozens more on our regional sites), featuring the latest investigative tips and techniques. Among those, an in-depth story on the USAID funding crisis and its impact in independent journalism that was linked to more than 220 times by more than 100 separate sites around the world.
• Launched two regional focus projects, one in April with five in-depth pieces examining MENA, as well as one in October that was our largest ever, featuring 10 Asia-specific stories looking at critical issues from state-connected corruption to environmental exploitation to human smuggling to a guide for examining Chinese companies from outside the country.
• Produced 11 GIJN reporting guides, focusing on topics as wide-ranging as food insecurity, detecting AI-generated content, fossil fuels, caste and land conflicts in South Asia, and foreign lobbying.
• Coordinated the full-day Investigative Agenda for Technology Journalism workshop, hosting 100-plus technology journalists, editors, and investigative networks.
• Led 60-plus training activities (via conferences, lectures, and webinars) in investigative techniques, tools, and technology, to benefit more than 3,800 journalists. Topics included digital threats, data journalism, journalistic collaborations, “follow the money” research techniques, and more.
• Completed the fourth cohort of our GIJN Digital Threats training course, training another 31 journalists and bringing the total alumni to 107 journalists who have benefited from this free, remote training by expert instructors in the vital field of digital deception.
• In partnership with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, we implemented asynchronous training on Digital Security for Journalists in Times of Crisis, with 3,000-plus participants from 142 countries and territories.
• Conducted seven webinars throughout the year, which averaged 288 attendees from 77 different countries and territories.
• Grew our global membership to 263 nonprofit member organizations, in 97 countries — including the addition of GIJN’s first member newsrooms from Eswatini and Cyprus.
• Took over the administration of the world’s premier international data journalism prize and hosted the fifth iteration of the Sigma Awards, which attracted 498 entries from 80 countries.
• Broke a new record for traffic to the GIJN website, with 1.085 million users, including significant growth in visits from East Asia and Southeast Asia.
• Welcomed one of the world’s leading investigative journalists — former Forbidden Stories editor-in-chief Sandrine Rigaud — as GIJN’s new Program Director.
• Attracted 410 entries from 97 countries for the Global Shining Light Award, which honors watchdog journalism carried out in perilous conditions.
• Announced The Netherlands as the host country for the 15th Global Investigative Journalism Conference in 2027, and De Vereniging van Onderzoeksjournalisten (VVOJ — The Dutch-Flemish Association of Investigative Journalists) as our co-host, as well as the European Journalism Centre, and Free Press Unlimited as local partners.