
News & Analysis
Credibility Is the New Currency. And that’s Good for Independent Media
Communications lecturer and former Columbus Dispatch business journalist James Breiner on how credibility works to the advantage of independent media.
Communications lecturer and former Columbus Dispatch business journalist James Breiner on how credibility works to the advantage of independent media.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 29 to February 4 finds an @UpshotNYT analysis of the influence of Trump’s tweeting on Republicans’ attitudes towards the NFL, a new font typeface made out of human silhouettes created by @albertocairo and a fun Graphic Continuum card set by @jschwabish and @dataviz_catalog to use in the classroom.
The Middle East is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an investigative journalist. Which makes this list of top stories from 2017 by GIJN’s Arabic editor, Majdoleen Hassan, that much more impressive.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out our new video series on investigative tips and tools. This compact set of crash seminars features leading experts with insights on what investigative journalism is, as well as how to follow public records, investigate with data, understand financial records and the best online search strategies.
In an edited extract from the book “Global Teamwork: The Rise of Collaboration in Investigative Journalism,” GIJN’s Program Director Anne Koch talks about the successes — and shortcomings — of the collaboration between Transparency International and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 22 to 28 finds a gorgeous data visualisation of German streets by @zeitonline, a detailed data analysis of Roger Federer’s tennis career by @srfdata and a look at eight alternatives in redistricting US voting boundaries by @FiveThirtyEight.
From laundromats to propaganda factories, GIJN’s Russian-language editor, Olga Simanovych, rounds up some of the most outstanding investigations out of the Former Soviet Union countries in 2017.
Authoritarian governments have cleverly used the liberal norm of transparency in order to shut down liberal groups in their countries, according to a new report “Distract, Divide, Detach: Using Transparency and Accountability to Justify Regulation of Civil Society Organizations.”
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 15 to 21 finds an interactive @voxdotcom piece on American districts which are reducing or perpetuating racial segregation in schools, several data-related good book recommendations by @stephencredmond and @Gapminder and a podcast discussion of memorable visualizations between @michelle_borkin and @datastories.
Emerson College’s Catherine D’Ignazio says defining story “problem” — that is how to tell it and on what platform — from a systems perspective can help journalists and news organizations understand their role within those systems and what form their intervention might take.
Last August, Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit research and advocacy group for gun control, launched the Gun Law Navigator, an exploratory data visualization tool explaining how states in America regulate guns. The project, developed by the Boston-based creative digital studio Upstatement, received lots of attention not only for examining such a sensitive topic, but also for successfully telling a visual, data-driven story about a complex subject: legislation.
Graffitied pigs, a viola player, a painting of a war zone, underground music, a president as a clown. These are just some of the subversive art works that in the last year have resulted in artists’ imprisonment, prosecution, bans and threats.
When Glenn Simpson was an investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal, he was among the best in the biz in following dirty money. Now the US Congress has released Simpson’s testimony on his private investigative firm’s role in digging into Donald Trump, and it’s a case study in sources and methods, showing how the firm tracked Trump’s investments and Russian ties using interviews, public records and smart detective work.
Governments have arsenals of weapons to censor information. The worst are well-known: detention, torture, extra-judicial killing or surveillance. Another form of censorship gets limited attention, a kind of quiet repression: the travel ban.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 8 to 14 finds free font-for-numbers by @InVisionApp, a William Playfair biography book review for @WSJBookReviews and @PublicDataLab’s just-released full version of its fake news field guide.
In 2007, Jordan became the first country in the Middle East to enact freedom of information laws — and Musab Al-Shawabkeh is the award-winning journalist who has been taking full advantage of it.
Journalism collaborations across news organizations have reaped countless benefits in recent years, resulting in more accurate and impactful reports, offering protection for professionals in danger and making possible stories which would have been impossible stories to do alone. Here is top notch advice, crowdsourced from collaborations with more than 500 journalists around the world.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 1 to 7 has data journalism and data visualization roundups by @ddjournalism and @flowingdata, podcasts by @datastories and @fabrider, as well as an analysis on prices corresponding with ski resort altitudes by @duc_qn.
After the 2008 economic crisis, western media companies sold their interests in the Czech Republic’s biggest media houses, radio stations and newspapers to Czech and Slovak billionaires. But the concentration of media in the hands of a few powerful owners has had an unexpected, positive impact. It has led to the emergence of smaller, independent investigative journalism sites, as well as new initiatives to fund them.
For generations, the workers in the Brazilian Amazon who cut the palm straw used for brooms have been functionally enslaved by a system of loans provided by the bosses. Thais Lazzeri, an investigative reporter for Repórter Brasil, had to win their trust as she delved deeply into this topic for her October 2017 article, “100 Years of Bondage” which was beautifully illustrated with photographs by Fernando Martinho.
Verifying videos is important, but first you have to find them. This Bellingcat guide will provide advice and some tips on how to gather as much video as possible on a particular event, whether it is videos from witnesses of a natural disaster or a terrorist attack.
It’s been a year since “post-truth” was chosen as Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries, but the sentiment still resonates. In China, we’ve encountered shifting public opinion, fake news and heavy censorship, but we also saw stories that remind us there are journalists who never give up the pursuit of truth. Here’s a selection of China’s best investigative stories from 2017 — from child abuse to misconduct by major companies — curated by GIJN’s Chinese team.
Payman Taei’s round-up of 15 data visualizations that will not only blow your mind, they will give you a clearer understanding of what makes a great visualization. Feast your eyes on these beauties!
Drawn from a selection of 15 global and regional journalism awards, this list of best reads from 2017 is an inspiring selection of storytelling, investigative techniques, collaborative enterprises and fearless reporting against all odds.
Ren LaForme, the tool guy over at Poynter who runs their Try This! — Tools for Journalism newsletter, put together a list of his readers’ favorites from 2017. A quick, fun and helpful must read highlighting journalism tools from the Pipl app to FOIA Slack and a dirt cheap phone tripod.
Journalists in many countries are experimenting with how to build trust and engage with audiences. Now, a new study, Bridging the Gap: Rebuilding Citizen Trust in the Media, profiles organizations working to build bridges with readers, viewers and listeners and deliver relevant news to local audiences. The study surveys 17 organizations from Argentina to Zimbabwe.
A study by Iraqi professor Dr Bushra Al-Hamdani found that journalists in Iraq are often targeted by either pro-government militias or militant opposition groups and have little protection against threats. They also face legal obstacles and a lack of government transparency.