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Stories

2833 posts

Data Journalism

Data Journalism Top 10: Herd Immunity, Coronavirus in Prison, Elder Abuse, Journalism Rock Stars, Layoffs

by Eunice Au & Connected Action • May 21, 2020

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve seen heated debate on whether to best solve the health crisis through “herd immunity” — the indirect protection that occurs when much of a population becomes immune to infection. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from May 11 to 17 finds FiveThirtyEight creating a simulation calculator which shows that getting to herd immunity without a vaccine isn’t quite that simple; The Marshall Project tracking COVID-19 cases and deaths in prisons across America; the BBC’s Media Show highlighting data journalists as the media’s latest rock stars; and Istories and MediaZona examining elder abuse in Russia, which experts fear may worsen during the pandemic with so many people staying home.

News & Analysis

South African Investigative Awards: Diverse Subjects, Nonprofit Surge, and Thanks to Whistleblowers

by Anton Harber • May 21, 2020

Outstanding investigative stories on subjects from land reform and roads to sexual abuse and corruption were among the finalists at this year’s Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism. Panel convener Anton Harber said the diversity of stories and media showed the core strength of South African investigative reporting, which was now being deployed to tackle the coronavirus pandemic fallout.

Member Profiles

The Tunisian Journalists Who Built a Business Model That Frees Them to Investigate

by Layli Foroudi • May 20, 2020

Following the 2011 Tunisian revolution, the loosening of free speech created a vibrant marketplace of ideas but investigative reporting still lagged. A group of Tunisian journalists set out to change this by founding independent media outlet Inkyfada, which has experimented with data and audio storytelling and worked hard to diversify its revenue in order to guard its independence. Layli Foroudi profiled Inkyfada for GIJN.

Tips for Investigating COVID-19 in Africa

by Rowan Philp • May 20, 2020

Africa’s investigative journalists are playing a critical role in unpacking the continent’s expanding pandemic and have already snapped some governments out of their early complacency on COVID-19 preparedness. However, amid warnings about the potential impact of the virus on the continent’s 1.1 billion citizens, four leading African journalists shared strategies for coverage in this critical time in a webinar attended by reporters from 57 countries.

Case Studies

Exposing How US Universities Profited from Indigenous Land

by Robert Lee and Tristan Ahtone • May 19, 2020

A joint investigation by a historian and a journalist revealed that a number of US universities were beneficiaries from land expropriated from Indigenous communities. The authors, Robert Lee and Tristan Ahtone, reveal what tools helped them uncover the story. They built a geodatabase and traced the money to find out where the land had come from and how much was paid for it.

News & Analysis

What We’re Reading: F@%# the Pulitzer, Tough Questions for “Plandemic”, and the Ethics of Showing Your Work Pre-Pub

by Tanya Pampalone • May 15, 2020

This week’s Friday 5, where we round up our favorite reads from around the online world in English, includes Meduza’s report on Russian editor Roman Badanin’s Pulitzer-charged rant against The New York Times, ProPublica’s sober response to the “Plandemic” viral video, and Poynter’s point about an ethics policy that includes guidelines for pre-publication source review.

GIJN Webinar — Investigating the Pandemic: Tracking Medicine, Masks and other Supplies

by GIJN Staff • May 14, 2020

This webinar on COVID-19 Supply Chains, the ninth in GIJN’s series Investigating the Pandemic, focuses on how to follow vital products from their origin to where they are needed. Two extraordinary investigative journalists will share their strategies and tips on how to follow the supply chain trail, and explain why some of the most vulnerable people in society are at risk.

Data Journalism

Data Journalism Top 10: Coronavirus Super-spreaders, Massive Unemployment, COVID-19 Life Expectancy, Violent Cops

by Eunice Au & Connected Action • May 14, 2020

Economies around the world have taken a big hit as countries implement lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from May 4 to 10 finds The New York Times looking into businesses that could be potential infection super-spreaders, and the alarmingly high unemployment rate, while German news media NDR and ZDF heute have examined lost life expectancy due to COVID-19 and the importance of intensive care beds. While Reuters published an important analysis into the use of little-known law that is increasingly being used to grant immunity to police who have used excessive force.

How Nigeria’s ICIR Pushes for Accountability in the COVID-19 Response

by Benon Herbert Oluka • May 13, 2020

An investigative journalism nonprofit based in Nigeria, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, has pushed the envelope with its approach to investigating the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Executive Director Dayo Aiyetan talks about how the unit has carried out its investigations in the midst of the lockdown and how reporters are holding the government to account over its response.

Why Reporters Need to Carefully Assess the Evidence on COVID-19

by Rowan Philp • May 13, 2020

Reporters investigating the coronavirus pandemic are confronted with a mountain of medical research papers, statistical models, and government figures that purport to be true. But experts insist that even investigative journalists without health backgrounds can readily assess their truthfulness and relevance, if they follow the right principles and tools.

Reporting Tools & Tips

Reporting on COVID-19 in Africa: A Collaborative Story Idea List

by ACME • May 12, 2020

What is the best way into the COVID-19 story? Pick an angle. No matter what your beat is, the pandemic is seeping into almost every story. In response, the Kampala-based African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) created a running list of story ideas on COVID-19 which stretches across beats: from agriculture and food to the economy, education, religion, sports, and arts and entertainment.

News & Analysis

Telling Real News from Propaganda: A Reader’s Guide to Chinese Media

by Jin Ding • May 12, 2020

Here’s a guide to understanding how the government in China regulates and controls the media. Jin Ding explains the relationship between Chinese news publications and the state’s ruling Chinese Communist Party, the methods of censorship, media funding, and notable publications to follow.

GIJN Webinar — Investigating the Pandemic: The Threat to Africa

by GIJN Staff • May 11, 2020

In this latest of GIJN’s webinar series, experienced African journalists will share their assessment of the COVID-19 coverage to date, offer suggestions for future investigations, and share their strategies, tips and tools to help journalists to investigate the most important pandemic stories on the continent.

Case Studies

Using a Mobile Phone Survey to Investigate South Sudan’s Conflict

by Carolyn Thompson • May 11, 2020

In South Sudan, conflict and government repression make it difficult to do on-the-ground reporting, so a team of journalists designed a mobile phone survey to gather data on forced displacement and destruction across the country. Carolyn Thompson explains why their award-winning investigation may offer lessons to others working in repressive environments or facing movement restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

News & Analysis

What We’re Reading: The Problem with Preprints, Publishing’s Missing Money, and State-sponsored Misinformation Labels

by Tanya Pampalone • May 8, 2020

This week’s Friday 5, where we round up our favorite reads from around the online world in English, delves into the perils of reporting on preprint research platforms, a snapshot of end-to-end digital advertising and publishing supply chains, and how the French government took down a “fake news” page after being accused of “overstepping its constitutional role and infringing on press freedoms.”

Reporting Tools & Tips

6 Tips for Using Open Source Tools When Reporting from Home

by Rowan Philp • May 8, 2020

The use of open source tools, user-generated content, and advanced search filters has allowed reporters to break major stories on the COVID-19 pandemic from home quarantine. In a recent GIJN webinar, three investigative researchers shared key insights on the tools and techniques that have unearthed facts and visuals beyond the reach of traditional field reporting.

Case Studies

Exposing Chaos and Repression in Wuhan with User-Generated Content

by Rowan Philp • May 7, 2020

An Australian documentary team used user-generated footage to create a film about Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of China’s COVID-19 outbreak. They used clips filmed on mobile phones that showed people with the virus being dragged into vans by police, and bodies left on the street and on hospital floors, using different tools to verify the material.

Data Journalism

Data Journalism Top 10: Hidden COVID-19 Deaths, Post-Lockdown Traffic, Pandemic Data Overload, Wealth Inequality

by Eunice Au & Connected Action • May 7, 2020

What will life be like after the coronavirus lockdown measures are relaxed? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from April 27 to May 3 finds German news outlets ZDF heute and RBB24 looking into pedestrian traffic in Germany post-quarantine, the Financial Times and The New York Times highlighting the complexities of getting an accurate COVID-19 death toll and the problem of undercounting fatalities, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention setting up a dashboard to track statistics related to the coronavirus across the region.

News & Analysis

Indian Journalists Challenge Government Over Coronavirus Transparency

by Sukhada Tatke • May 6, 2020

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.

COVID-19’s Toll on Journalists: At Least 64 Dead in 24 Countries

by Rowan Philp • May 6, 2020

Like health professionals, care givers, and other essential workers, journalists face heightened and grave health risks as they pursue crucial stories on the COVID-19 crisis. But measuring coronavirus deaths among media workers poses many of the same problems as counting true mortality figures in the general population. The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), a nonprofit focused on press freedom, recorded 64 deaths in 24 countries by May 5.

GIJN Webinar — Investigating the Pandemic: Evaluating the Evidence

by GIJN Staff • May 5, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic narrative is dominated by numbers — mountains of data and seemingly endless statistical models. Yet most of the figures are uncertain at best, often highly flawed and simply untrue at worst. How to deal with the many claims on the truth that are made every day? What should journalists do if the evidence is poor?

Reporting Tools & Tips

Tips for Running an Online Event in the Time of COVID-19

by Alan Soon • May 5, 2020

Splice Media have been running “check-in” sessions with the media startups they support in Asia to find out how organizations and individuals are coping through the coronavirus pandemic. Here are his tips for hosting an online media event like this. His takeaway? The technology is the easy part.

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