Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://gijn.org/category/case-studies/)
To expose the massive, cross-border corruption scandal that came to be known as Operação Lava Jato, or Operation Car Wash, journalists from across Latin America had to find ways to work together. In the process, they transformed investigative journalism in the region. This is the story of their epic collaboration.
The Wall Street Journal’s graphic-heavy series “The Price of Climate” took an ambitious look at how financial and economic markers reflect present and future thinking about the climate. One of the editors that worked on it says it was a response to the fact “that a lot of climate change stories feel and look the same.” Here’s how they did it.
The New York Times’ Visual Investigations unit uses social media and open-source tools to create powerful video reports. Here’s how they collected virtual breadcrumbs to retrace the movements of the 15-man Saudi hit team that killed Jamal Khashoggi.
On November 27, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. Central European Time, five separate media organizations broke similar stories on a United Nations cover-up of the murders of their own staff. It took nothing less than the “radical sharing” of information between these rival platforms to expose a global conspiracy of silence.
The documentary “Trafficked in America” investigates a labor trafficking scheme targeting Guatemalan teenagers who were smuggled into the United States and forced to work long hours at an egg farm to pay off their smuggling debts. In an interview with Journalist’s Resource, the film’s authors offer insights into the investigative reporting process and the importance of cultural competency in doing high-quality journalism.
Particularly for media organizations committed to engaging those people “formerly known as the audience,” campaigns are a great way to connect with and build a meaningful relationship with communities, writes The Bristol Cable co-founder Adam Cantwell-Corn.
Chinese journalists have broken stories this year on medical abuses, #MeToo and the environment, leading to government prosecution, consumer uproar and boycott, and disciplinary actions. Here are some of the best investigative journalism work in China in 2018, nominated by practicing Chinese journalists and media professionals, and selected by the GIJN Chinese team.
Paul McNally produced what was South Africa’s first investigative podcast around the story of a wrongful conviction. Here’s what he discovered while writing, producing and editing Alibi — with some advice on how you can avoid making the same mistakes.
Earlier this year, Botswana’s INK Centre for Investigative Journalism tracked down a dossier which detailed the heinous crimes of Gukurahundi — a series of massacres of civilians carried out by the Zimbabwe National Army in the 1980s — which had been kept under lock and key for decades. It was the first time the names of the deceased and blow-by-blow accounts of how the executions were carried out were made available to the public. INK’s Ntibinyane Ntibinyane writes for GIJN on how they did it.
Non-partisan advocacy organization Issue One spent a year combing through thousands of financial filings over a six-year period to figure out where the money for campaign advertisements in the USA was coming from and who it was going to. They ultimately compiled a database that outlined the top 15 “dark money groups” — organizations that receive millions of dollars of donations from companies and businesses to fund campaign ads.
Beyond the moral and social benefits of unveiling corruption and injustice, investigative reporting is actually good business. Need proof? Here’s a pocket-guide to five investigations that have brought millions back into the pockets of the people.
