What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the top ten links for August 10 to 23: Africa ddj Initiative (@justinarenstein); mapping UK/Ireland pubs (@CityMetric); Amazon’s end (@InfoAmazonia); L.A. trash (@latimes); NSA patents (@alice_corona); Hacktivist toolbox (@POLITICOEurope).
What happens when a journalist investigates treatment facilities for malaria patients in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo? For Francis Mbala, it led to his arrest and a Kafkaesque tale about the dangers of investigating in one of the world’s most corrupt countries. Mbala’s story comes from the ZAM Chronicle and is reprinted with permission.
Time for a new collection of resources and research reports. Today’s roundup features two online databases — one on nuclear reactors, the other on health — and the latest international research reports from Brussels, London, and Washington. Global Health Facts from the Kaiser Family Foundation is an organized and frequently updated collection of browsable and searchable data.
In spite of official efforts to control news coverage of last week’s deadly explosions in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, Chinese media have responded swiftly not only to cover the fast-moving disaster, but also to probe the why and how of the tragedy. Within hours of the blast, leading Chinese media, both traditional and online, began investigating reasons for the toxic facilities to be built next to residential developments, the ownership of the storage, the failure of government oversight, and the botched response to the disaster.
Web scraping is a way to extract information presented on websites. As I explained it in the first installment of this article, web scraping is used by many companies. It’s also a great tool for reporters who know how to code, since more and more public institutions publish their data on their websites.
With web scrapers, which are also called “bots,” it’s possible to gather large amounts of data for stories. But what are the ethical rules that reporters have to follow while web scraping?
$8 billion in just a few hours earlier this year? It was because of a web scraper, a tool companies use—as do many data reporters. A web scraper is simply a computer program that reads the HTML code from webpages, and analyze it. With such a program, or “bot,” it’s possible to extract data and information from websites.
This October, the membership of the Global Investigative Journalism Network will vote to elect members of the GIJN Board of Directors. The board consists of 15 members. Of these, seven seats are now up for election — all for a period of two years. To be eligible to run, candidates must belong to a GIJN member organization and their candidacy must have the support of that organization.
The local host of the 10th Global Investigative Journalism Conference, to be held in 2017, will be chosen by GIJN member representatives during the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Lillehammer, Norway. GIJN is pleased to present GIJC17 proposals for three cities: Amman, Jordan, from Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism; Johannesburg, South Africa, from the Investigative Journalism Workshop, Wits University; and Vancouver, Canada, from the Global Reporting Centre.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the top ten links for July 23 to 30: mapping money and doctors in Germany (@ZEITONLINE); maps at the Berliner Morgenpost (@moklick); #ddj for francophone African journalists (@Afronline); carsharing in Berlin (@tagesspiegel); and more.
Just as an article or a gallery of photos can shine a light on an issue for the public, so can these in-person gatherings. Some media organizations are putting on full-fledged festivals in the same vein as South by Southwest and TED. These gatherings include panels of experts, one-on-one conversations with major newsmakers and presentations that explore ground-breaking topics. In other words, they’re an entirely new way of informing and providing information — undoubtedly journalistic functions.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the top ten links for July 16 to 23: 2490 D3 Visualizations (@d3visualization); corrupt techniques on evidence presentation (@edwardtufte); examples of fiscal data visualization (@OKFN); Australia’s mining footprint (@ICIJorg); and more.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the top ten links for July 9 to 16: +300 sites with free geographic datasets (@sciremotesense ); graphing German YouTube (@SPIEGELOLINE); Australia’s mining footprint (@ICIJorg); democratizing data (OKFN); and more.
Information stored on your computer or mobile is at risk. You could leave it on a train; it could be seized at an airport security checkpoint; or by the police or courts. And of course hackers can access your data. You need to be aware of all the risks and ways to protect your information, your sources and yourself.
A unique database of more than 300 investigative journalism reports from across Latin America was launched this week by The Institute for Press and Society (Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, or IPYS). Called BIPYS (Banco de Investigaciones Periodisticas, or Bank of Investigative Journalism) the UNESCO-backed initiative was announced July 6 at the annual conference of Abraji, Brazil’s investigative journalism association.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the Top Ten links for Jul 2 – 9: San Fermin’s Running of the Bulls (@elmundodata); democratizing the data revolution (@OKFN); #ddj at Netzwerk Recheche’s Conference (@berndoswald); prison phone calls (@IBTimes); 12 tips for #ddj; and more.
Monday July 6 saw the launch of The Ferret, a new Scottish investigative journalism platform, which joins an expanding list of media business models benefitting from crowdfunding. Given the seemingly increased popularity of this funding route many media players will understandably be asking if this source of income is for them. In this article we explore some of the benefits – and potential pitfalls – anyone exploring these channels needs to consider.
China’s leading investigative news company, Caixin.com, is pushing the boundaries of data journalism in that country. In this exclusive look, Caixin Data Editor Huang Chen writes on how its journalists are using data in one of the toughest countries in the world to report on. Caixin’s challenges will sound strikingly familiar to Western data journalists: messy formats, unreliable data, and problems with access. Despite this, the team at Caixin is pushing forward in ways that should bring a cheer from its colleagues around the world.
In this just-released video, investigative reporter Mark Schapiro goes in-depth on how to use investigative techniques in probing often complex environmental issues. Schapiro, a veteran of the original Center for Investigative Reporting, gave this talk in Hamburg at NR15, the July 2015 annual conference of Netzwerk Recherche, Germany’s investigative journalism association.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the Top Ten links for June 26- July 2: Lobbyists in Brussels (@POLITICOEurope); +200 data visualizations on fiscal data (@OKFN); European population growth (@morgenpost); election costs in Mexico (@Univ_Data); and more.
This is a busy weekend for muckrakers: investigative journalists are meeting in Brazil, Germany, and the UK for seminars, training sessions, and networking. The events, sponsored by GIJN members Abraji, Centre for Investigative Journalism, and Netzwerk Recherche, have brought together more than 1200 journalists from around the world. All three events include a range of practical sessions on investigative techniques, data journalism, and new models of muckraking.
Nils Mulvad, co-founder and board member of GIJN, and Helena Bengtsson, editor for the Data Projects Team at the Guardian, share twelve tips on how to use data for stories. These were presented at the 2015 Netzwerk Recherche Conference in Hamburg.
We’re proud to announce that eight organizations have joined the Global Investigative Journalism Network. This brings GIJN’s membership to 118 organizations in 54 countries. Our new members include groups that support investigative reporting based in Eastern Europe (Hungary’s Direkt36, Montenegro’s Center for Investigative Journalism, and Ukraine’s Slidstvo and Svidomo), the United States (Internews, ProPublica, and Public Herald), and Italy (DataNinja).
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the Top Ten links for June 18-26: The Migrant Files’ Money Trail; global access to medicine (@civio); the German arms trade (@welt); Swiss Election Data (@DataLeTemps); Mapping Rents in Munich (@SZ); and more.
Krautreporter proved it: donation-financed journalism is possible. Not only in the United States, but also in Germany – and possibly everywhere. It started a campaign for its own online magazine for in-depth journalism with experienced writers. Within one month it raised around 1 million Euros (about US$1.1 million). But 19% of this money was gone the moment it was raised. Devoured by sales tax.
For the last seven years I have been interviewing and profiling successful entrepreneurial journalists in various countries of various socioconomic classes. I’ve talked to publishers and editors with staffs of as many as a hundred as well as some one-man/one-woman bands. The ones that survive and thrive after several years share some common practices.
