Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://gijn.org/category/methodology/)
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.
The full scale of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya’s jaunts abroad since he took power 35 years ago had never been calculated until now. Journalist Emmanuel Freudenthal details how he and two of his colleagues painstakingly pored over almost 4,000 newspaper pages to establish the number of days Biya had spent overseas on private trips and the amount the lavish trips cost the country.
OpenStreetMap is the self-proclaimed Wikipedia of maps. It’s a free and open-source sketch of the globe, created by a volunteer pool that essentially crowdsources the map, tracing parts of the world that haven’t yet been logged. But despite its democratic aims, it’s still much like the mapping world overall — overwhelmingly dominated by male cartographers. That’s starting to change.
There are lots of different tools to measure analytics in the newsroom, but Google Analytics is one of the most widely used. Plus it’s free. Here are some ideas to help those working in organizations that don’t have access to expensive audience monitoring services to move beyond page views to measure the success of their digital content. A GIJN original.
The Global Investigative Journalism Network is always on the lookout for contributors interested in writing stories about innovation in journalism, as well as tips, tools and how-tos around investigative reporting. Experts in investigative journalism, journalists who write about media, academics in media studies, media trainers as well as GIJN members are encouraged to contribute.
More than 30 journalists set out to film and observe every foot of the border with Mexico, from Texas to California. The result was a fully interactive map with about 20 hours of aerial footage of the border, a seven-chapter story about the journey, 14 additional stories about the consequences of the wall, 14 mini-documentaries and an explanation of the history of the border itself. Here’s how they did it.
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.
This week we’re launching a new series on GIJN’s YouTube channel, Talking Investigative Journalism, which features one-on-one interviews with groundbreaking investigative journalists around the world. We’re bringing you four videos featuring the 2017 recipients of the Global Shining Light Award.
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.
Show me the money! Experts from around the world shared their tips about how to track looted wealth at the 2017 Global Investigative Journalism Conference.
In September, the Danish national newspaper Berlingske, in partnership with the OCCRP and other international media partners, exposed a complex money laundering scheme led by Azerbaijan’s elite. The stories revealed that, between 2012 and 2014, $2.9 billion connected to the country was siphoned through European companies and banks. Here’s how they got the story.
