“There certainly appears to be a worrying trend around the world where powerful companies or public officials attempt to censor public participation on matters of public interest through lawsuits, for instance in the law of defamation,” explained Dario Milo, a South Africa-based attorney who specializes in communication law and is a member of the European Union’s Expert Group on SLAPPs.
Covering drug trafficking is inherently difficult and can be dangerous. Information is also scant. In most cases, it is best to begin by getting the best data possible. However, in all cases, proceed with caution: data on drug trafficking, especially drug seizures, gives you only a small part of the picture and can even distort reality in some cases.
Tracking the most popular data journalism stories on Twitter from August 30 to September 5, using NodeXL mapping and our own human curation, we found a series of infographics by Al Jazeera illustrating the scale of the looming crisis. In this edition, we also feature a New York Times investigation into Bitcoin’s energy use, an examination of the Black mortality gap in the United States by The Marshall Project, and a look at the varying successes of the actors who have played James Bond by The Times (UK).
GIJN’s forthcoming guide to investigating organized crime features a chapter on what we call mafia states – countries that essentially operate as a criminal cartel and run the affairs of state much as a crime syndicate runs rackets. To explore this topic, we asked GIJN’s executive director David Kaplan to interview Drew Sullivan, co-founder and editor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
The practice of independent journalism is facing enormous challenges, ranging from authoritarian regimes implementing regressive laws that stifle speech to journalists being unable to make a living from their work. In order to meet those challenges, journalists can benefit from understanding the protections provided by international law.
Afghan journalist Zahra Joya, 28, is not hopeful of a bright future for women journalists in her country. In November 2020, she used her personal savings to recruit five women journalists and start Rukhshana Media. They wanted to go around the country and tell the stories of maternal mortality, domestic violence and women’s reproductive health. Since then, they have published stories on the taboo of menstruation, child marriage, street harassment, gender discrimination and what it means to live as a survivor of rape.
Seventy stories and still counting. This is the main result of an ongoing struggle waged since 2017 for the disclosure of all pension and retirement payments by the Brazilian government. On the front line is GIJN member Fiquem Sabendo, a journalism agency specializing in that country’s Freedom of Information Act.
Could news media use drones to better inform the public? To procure new data or do remote fact-checking with small unmanned aircraft? Could drones protect journalists, who have been targets for violence? Enthusiasm waxed. And — a decade later — waned.
As calls for change grow louder in light of the latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report and in the run up to COP26 conference in Glasgow this November, it’s time to focus on how data visualization can help people grasp the challenges that lie ahead.
The digital security risk to investigative journalism was reaffirmed this month with the release of the Pegasus Project. This involved collaborative reporting by 17 global media outlets on a list of thousands of leaked phone numbers allegedly selected for possible surveillance by government clients of Israeli firm NSO Group. At least 180 journalists are implicated as targets. It also sheds light on four chilling cases profile here.
