As co-founder and inaugural executive director of the Global Investigative Journalism Network, David Kaplan has led the organization from an initiative with a few hundred followers in 2012 to a “network of networks” spanning some 244 groups in 90 countries. WAN-IFRA sought his insights on the future of investigative journalism in a divided world.
Several years ago a whistleblower reached out to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung with an enticing message: “Hello, this is John Doe… Interested in data?” That story would become the Panama Papers, the first in a number of international collaborations for investigative reporter Frederik Obermaier. Read his tips and advice about investigative reporting.
SIRAJ founder Mohammad Bassiki collaborated with OCCRP and Lighthouse Reports to investigate the illicit smuggling of sanctioned Syrian phosphates into Europe.
These new reporting tools and apps, which recently debuted at two Bellingcat Hackathons, can help journalists easily archive videos, locate satellite imagery, and track people via online reviews.
GIJN is offering a unique cyber reporting training program specifically tailored for investigative reporters. The course is free and limited to 20 participants. It will take place each Monday and Thursday for six consecutive weeks at 10 am EDT, starting on May 08, 2023. Apply here.
Our weekly curation of the most popular data journalism stories on Twitter features stories on the future impact of deadly cold temperatures, ATM explosions in Germany, mapping buildings damaged by the earthquake in Turkey, and several open source mapping alternatives to Mapbox.
The subject of sexual violence remains a sensitive if not taboo subject in much of the world and often goes unreported. Watchdog journalism has started digging deeper into sexual violence, but these investigations are still few relative to the estimated number of cases worldwide. GIJN has now updated its reporting guide for this hard-to-cover subject.
There are different tools reporters can use to make video and audio files searchable, they should be an essential part of any investigative journalist’s toolkit.
In the 12 months since Russia invaded Ukraine, investigative journalists have navigated enormous information challenges and personal risks to expose everything from war crimes and sanctions busting to hidden oligarch loot and Russian “filtration” camps.
Watchdog reporters should discard the idea that damage from natural disasters is simply due to “acts of nature,” and rather think of it as a mix of hazardous events and human actions.
