FOI’s Man in the Middle East
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.
Stories
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Reporting Tools & Tips
10 Tips for Successful Collaboration Among Journalists
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.
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top 10 in Data Journalism
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.
News & Analysis
Guns, Politics and Media: A Look at Czech Investigative Journalism
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.
Case Studies
“100 Years of Bondage” — Investigating Slavery in the Amazon
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.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Secrets to Searching for Video Footage
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.
News & Analysis
Editor’s Pick: The Best Investigative Stories from China 2017
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.
Data Journalism
Feast Your Eyes on 15 Stunning DataViz
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!
News & Analysis
2017’s Award Winning Global Journalism
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.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Your 17 Favorite Tools for Journalism from 2017
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.
Research
Bridging the Gap: Rebuilding Citizen Trust in the Media
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.
News & Analysis
Iraqi Muckraking: Investigative Journalism in One of the World’s Most Dangerous Countries
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.
Journalism Fellowships to Investigate Migration, Labor Issues in Gulf Countries
Deadline to Apply: January 15, 2018
Are you an enterprising journalist based in one of the Gulf countries? Looking for a chance to develop your investigative journalism skills and cover issues on immigrant workers and forced labor? We’re here to help.
GIJN’s Top Reads for 2017
It’s been a year of great reads on GIJN, from “how they did it” to the best tips and tools on everything from mojo to mapping. Here’s a curated list of top ten reader favorites from stories published in 2017.
Member Profiles
Online to Print: Ojo Público Experiments to Raise Human Rights Awareness
While traditional news outlets are migrating to digital platforms, Peru’s Ojo Público is taking the opposite path to reach its goal. It’s utilizing print to grow beyond its digital audience and appeal to people who read physical newspapers, as well as those who like special editions, providing a complementary product to their online publication.
IndonesiaLeaks: New Platform for Whistleblowers and Muckrakers
Ten media houses and five civil society organizations have come together to form IndonesiaLeaks, a digital platform for whistleblowers. The secure online platform is crucial in Indonesia due to the lack of whistleblower protection schemes. Those who take risks leaking information on offenses happening in their institutions are often prosecuted and intimidated.
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top 10 in Data Journalism
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from December 4 to 10 has @Reuters documenting the deplorable living conditions at refugee camps in Bangladesh, Financial Times’ @theboysmithy transforming bad charts into useful ones and the impressive work of the 2017 @infobeautyaward winners.
News & Analysis
Investigative Journalism Awards to Apply For Now!
Worked hard to produce investigative projects this past year? Consider submitting your story for these prominent journalism awards, which are listed below and ordered by the nearest deadline. But hurry, some deadlines are coming soon!
Help GIJN Train the World’s Investigative Journalists
Won’t you join Professor Stiglitz in supporting our work? Our job is providing truth-telling journalists with the training, strategies, and networks that hold the powerful accountable and give voice to those who otherwise have none. Your support today can help GIJN meet the tremendous demand for these capacity-building efforts in the months to come.
Reporting Tools & Tips
The New Journalist: 13 Media Sites to Keep You in the Know
There is a growing number of media and journalism schools and research centers investigating new trends, helping to understand digital disruption and its impact. With their newsletters, websites and interactive online training, they can inform you about inspiring innovations, share academic research, spot threats, provoke critical thinking, highlight valuable journalistic endeavors and report on moves in the industry that will affect how stories reach people. Here are 13 you don’t want to miss.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Journalism Bots: A Quick History and Ideas for Use in Your Newsroom
Bots in newsrooms are becoming increasingly commonplace as a growing number of publishers experiment with various automated services to expand their coverage, help journalists do their jobs better or improve relationships with readers. Here’s a quick history of the bot in newsrooms, and ideas for employing them in yours.
Q&A with the Muckraker Extraordinaire Who Made the Politico 28
Anuška Delić is not someone who goes unnoticed. Opinionated, brazen and bold, her tenacity and relentlessness has made her the foremost investigative reporter in Slovenia and among the most influential in Europe. This week, she’s made the POLITICO 28 Class of 2018, “the list of doers, disrupters and dreamers who will transform European life, politics and ideas.”
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top Ten in Data Journalism
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from November 27 to December 3 has @journocode’s festive data-driven advent calendar with tutorials and interviews, @FT mapping cities at risk of natural disasters affecting property prices, and a #VisualizationUniverse by Google News Lab and Adioma.
News & Analysis
ARIJ Awards Top Investigative Journalists in Mideast, North Africa
Journalists from Egypt, Yemen and Jordan who exposed human rights abuse and state-run mass surveillance took top prizes for the best investigations in print, film and multimedia in 2017 at the 10th Forum for Arab Investigative Journalists this weekend.
News & Analysis
Stiglitz Keynote: Media Power in Post-Truth World
At the keynote event of the 2017 Global Investigative Journalism Conference, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz addresses speaks on “Media Power in a Post-Truth World.” Stiglitz is interviewed by Sheila Coronel, academic dean of the Columbia Journalism School.
Data Journalism
Bringing Data Journalism to China
Zhimin Huang is widely cited as one of the first people to do data journalism in China. He spoke with Storybench about the state of data journalism in China and his perspective on data accessibility in the country.
#GIJC17: Spotlight on Africa
Almost 500 African journalists met with their global counterparts in Johannesburg at #GIJC17, the largest international gathering of investigative journalists, to sharpen their skills for a new era of digging out the muck.
Case Studies
How They Did It: Methods and Tools Used to Investigate the Paradise Papers
Fabiola Torres López writes about the tools and programs that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists team who worked on the Paradise Papers — 383 reporters from 67 countries — became familiar with during the investigation. They are divided into three categories: digital security, document search and data connections.