Reporting Tools & Tips
Mojo Workin’: Editing on a Smartphone
Whether editing on an old Steenbeck or on a smartphone, the focus is still story. In this month’s MoJo Workin’ column, Ivo Burum offers up some basic tips for editing on the go.
Stories
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posts
After Johannesburg: Help Us Choose the Next Global Conference
The local host of the 11th Global Investigative Journalism Conference, to be held in 2019, will be chosen by GIJN member representatives during the week of the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. GIJN is pleased to present GIJC19 proposals for four cities: Dublin, Ireland, from the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund; Hamburg, Germany, from Netzwerk Recherche; Lima, Peru, from Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS); and Riga, Latvia, from OCCRP/Stockholm School of Economics in Riga/The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism(Re:Baltica).
Reporting Tools & Tips
Audience Development Essentials for Journalists
Likes in your social network, praises from friends or numbers of clicks aren’t enough to drive an audience development strategy. Here’s what every independent news media organization needs to know about creating expertise in audience development that will help you measure and maximize your reach.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism’s Top Ten
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from July 24 to 30 has @qz comparing the cost of Trump’s golf trips to transgender healthcare, @visualisingdata sharing a chart-making directory and graphics guru @EdwardTufte applying Ezra Pound’s 23 “don’ts” for writing poetry to design.
Methodology
Lava Jato: A Case Study in Cross-Border Investigation
What appeared to be a case of money laundering done through a network of laundromats and car washes turned out to be the largest corruption network in Brazilian history, and one that ultimately extended to at least 12 countries. If it weren’t for the collaborative efforts of journalists and media houses across the continent – and into Africa – the whole story could not have been told.
Reporting Tools & Tips
How To Monitor Social Media for Misinformation
Trying to make social media monitoring more manageable? First Draft News has some tactics and tools to help journalists sort through the mire on Twitter and Facebook as well as the more edgy 4chan and wildly popular Reddit.
Reporting Tools & Tips
How To Start Up a Fact-Checking Group
How do you set up a fact-checking project? Experts from start-ups Chequeado, ColombiaCheck and UYCheck offer up some tips on getting started, from the basics of the fact-checking process to staffing and sustainability.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #DDJ: This Week’s Top Data Journalism
What’s the global #ddj community tweeting about? Our NodeXL analysis from July 17 to 23 has @ajc intern @stephanierlamm mapping closed data, @zeitonline mapping the path of voluntary rescue boats in the Mediterranean Sea and @PPLAFF on the corruption scandal around Democratic Republic of the Congo President Joseph Kabila.
News & Analysis
Abraji Turns 15, Launches Fight Against Impunity
Fifteen years ago, Abraji — the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism — was first formed. As they celebrate an impressive anniversary, Abraji is launching the ambitious Tim Lopes Project to help protect journalists under fire across Brazil.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #DDJ: This Week’s Top Data Journalism
What’s the global #ddj community tweeting about? Our NodeXL mapping from July 10 to 16 has Dwarshuis on the Airbnb takeover of Amsterdam, @blprnt on taking a systems approach to data and @SPIEGELONLINE and @Correctiv_org on Big Pharma’s payments to doctors.
News & Analysis
Finalists Named for Global Shining Light Award
Twelve extraordinary investigative projects from around the world are finalists in the seventh Global Shining Light Award, a prize that honors investigative journalism in developing or transitioning countries, done under threat, duress or under dire conditions. Winners will be announced at #GIJC17 in November in Johannesburg.
Stiglitz, Mtetwa to Keynote Global Investigative Conference
Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and human rights attorney Beatrice Mtetwa will be the keynote speakers for November’s Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Johannesburg.
News & Analysis
Meet the Next Generation of Human Rights Investigators
University of California, Berkeley hosted the first-ever summit for the growing workforce of college students being trained worldwide to review and verify digital content that could help human rights lawyers prosecute war criminals.
Data Journalism Reporting Tools & Tips
Beginner’s Guide to Extracting Data from PDFs
Whether it’s tables of data embedded in reports or spreadsheets saved as PDFs, journalists get lots of data in PDF format. But until you get that data into a spreadsheet, there’s not much you can do with it. Luckily, there are a few great tools that can liberate your data quickly and with relative ease.
Online Harassment: Lessons from the Philippines
Maria Ressa is a former CNN war correspondent, but none of her experiences in the field prepared her for the destructive campaign of gendered online harassment that’s been directed at her since the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #DDJ: This Week’s Top Data Journalism
What’s the global #ddj community tweeting about? Our NodeXL mapping from July 3 to July 9 has @paulbradshaw with his top picks for data journalism stories for audio, @br_data and @BR_Recherche with a podcast on the tax paradise of Madeira and @EngnRoom with an introductory guide to investigative web research.
Case Studies
Eight Interactive Investigative Stories To Check Out
Need some inspiration on making your next immersive investigative piece pop? This seriously impressive selection from Latin America includes stories about forced sterilization in Peru, the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon and Big Pharma’s stranglehold in the region.
News & Analysis
Investigative Journalism in Japan: Tough Times But Signs of Hope
In the midst of increasing threats to press freedom, the journalism community in Japan met in June for a two-day international symposium at Sophia University and Waseda University to discuss investigative journalism.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #ddj: This Week’s Top Data Journalism
What’s the global #ddj community tweeting about? Our NodeXL mapping from June 26 to July 2 includes a new data journalism handbook by @smfrogers, timeless hits and blocked tweets from @SPIEGELONLINE and data visualization pitfalls to avoid by @tamaramunzner.
Data Journalism
Best of Data Journalism for Video Storytelling
Wondering how to best adapt data journalism for broadcast? UK online journalism expert Paul Bradshaw has done a round-up of impressive examples from five countries — a primer on exploring data storytelling for video and television.
Safety & Security
How to Protect Your Website on the Cheap
If you’re a low-budget independent news site with few resources, you need to learn how to set up security parameters yourself or find technologists who can work pro-bono. The good news is that there are more than a few pro bono cybersecurity specialists willing to help journalists in distress.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #ddj: This Week’s Top Data Journalism
What’s the global #ddj community tweeting about? Our NodeXL mapping from June 19 to 25 includes Germany’s housing discrimination problem by @SPIEGELONLINE and @br_data, data on police interaction with the public from @StanfordEng and @StanfordJourn and a report on big data for gender from @Data2X.
From Turkey to Thailand: GIJN Adds 10 Members
Gutsy online reporting sites from Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Tunisia, data journalism centers in Turkey and Ukraine, and a West African reporting network are among the 10 new members approved by the GIJN Board of Directors this week. The new groups bring GIJN’s membership to 155 organizations in 68 countries.
Data Journalism
FOIA This! Big Stories in Government Data
Data on government workforces might not sound that exciting — that is until you consider the trove of information it can help uncover. Here’s how journalists worldwide are using FOI requests to dig into great stories.
News & Analysis
Germany’s Investigative Conference Attracts 900
With over 136 sessions and 270 speakers and trainers, Germany’s annual Netzwerk Recherche conference covered everything from data journalism and computer-assisted reporting to debates about “fake news,” press freedom and the credibility crisis of media.
Case Studies
Women Journalists, Muslim Countries
Iranian journalist Yeganeh Rezaian confronts the difficulties women reporters face while working in Muslim countries in a paper for Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. In this excerpt, she writes about old-fashioned sexual harassment and the problem with interviewing other women.
News & Analysis
Mexico Wages Cyber Warfare Against Journalists
In an explosive report, Citizen Lab and their Mexican civil society partners identified more than 75 text messages sent to the phones of 12 individuals, most of whom are journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders in an effort to monitor the target’s devices. They say the findings are a flagrant and disturbing example of the abuse of commercial spyware.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #ddj: This Week’s Top Data Journalism
What’s the global #ddj community tweeting about? Our NodeXL mapping from June 12 to 18 includes Google Images quilts from @verge, nerd journalism by @albertocairo, mapping of German’s political party strongholds from @morgenpost and misleading election graphics from @los_replicantes.