Stories
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top Ten in Data Journalism
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from October 2 to 8 has @source’s overview of two years of mass shooting visualizations in the US, @merbroussard’s callout for information to future-proof data stories and @paulbradshaw shares his four favorite computational thinking examples from @DailyMirror, @puddingviz, @BuzzFeed and @washingtonpost.
News & Analysis
Investigative Journalism in a Dangerous Country
Adela Navarro is the director of the weekly news magazine, Zeta, one of the only outlets in Mexico to regularly report on drug trafficking, corruption and organized crime. Over her 27-year career she has seen colleagues killed for their reporting, and lives and works under constant threat. She writes about the crucial role investigative journalists play in Mexico.
News & Analysis
Brazil’s Journalists Seek Solutions to Fake News
At the 12th Congress of Investigative Journalism in São Paulo this summer, journalists tackled the issue of fake news and safety for journalists in Latin America.
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top Ten in Data Journalism
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from September 25 to October 1 has @FT mapping the route in a day of a London Uber driver, #NICAR18 registration opening up, @Lattif charting Africa’s internet shutdowns using @atlascharts and loads of German election data visualizations.
Global IJ Conference Program Released
We are happy to share the full schedule for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, now just six weeks away. We’re still tinkering with it, but you’ll find over 150 events. Thanks to journalists and supporters worldwide, this conference keeps growing: we now expect over 900 participants from 100 countries. There’s still room if you want to join what will be the muckraking event of the year.
News & Analysis
Mafia and the Media: Italian Journalists Face Threats
While precarious employment, low pay and trumped up defamation lawsuits means Italian journalists are under increasing financial pressure, it’s the constant threat from mafia and organized crime that is putting reporters at risk and making in-depth reporting that much more difficult.
Case Studies
How They Did It: Reuters’ Database of Taser Deaths
A team of Reuters reporters, editors and data analysts reviewed the results of hundreds of autopsies and filed hundreds of public records requests involving deaths by Taser in the US. The result? Not only did the investigation catalogue 1,005 deaths, but it ended up building the most comprehensive database ever on Taser-related deaths.
News & Analysis Reporting Tools & Tips
Despite Losses, Puerto Rican Journalists Keep Reporting After Hurricane
In the wake of Hurricane Maria’s devastating impact on Puerto Rico, amid shortages of food, water and electricity, international and local media have set up shop in the island’s Convention Center, creating a de facto newsroom where officials give press conferences and citizens look for resources. Among those leading the way are journalists from GIJN member Centro de Periodismo Investigativo.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Female Journalists Fight Online Harrassment
Women journalists are far more likely than male journalists to be targets of online harassment, which quickly descends into graphic sexual and physical violence. Here’s what you — and your newsroom — can do to deal with the issue.
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top Ten in Data Journalism
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from Sept. 18 to 24 features Wikipedia of Data Visualization, the State of Data Journalism, Dear Data Postcard Kit, and German election data.
Data Journalism
Behind the First Arab Data Journalists’ Network
In 2012, Amr Eleraqi launched a data visualization website to introduce the concept of data visualization to the Arabic-speaking world. Earlier this year, Eleraqi and team of nine launched the first Arab Data Journalists’ Network. Here’s how the group plans on changing the data journalism scene in the region.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism’s Top Ten
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from Sept 11 to 17 has @puntofisso using machine learning to map the average face of British politicians, @AftertheFloodco creating a font that turns numbers into sparklines, and @datassist listing seven deadly sins in statistical analysis.
News & Analysis
Q&A with New OSCE Rep on Freedom of the Media
At a time when press freedom is deteriorating in many states participating in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, having a voice to raise journalist cases and hold governments to account is vital. In a recent interview, the organization’s new Freedom of the Media representative Harlem Désir discusses his plans and explains why he is prioritizing journalist safety, fighting impunity and combating violent extremism online.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Investigative News Startups Talk Membership Models
What member participation activities are most useful to investigative news sites and most rewarding to members? The Membership Puzzle Project asked investigative news startups in Europe what they’ve been trying out.
Safety & Security
How Journalists Can Detect Electronic Surveillance
Journalists who work in authoritarian environments tend to be under electronic surveillance. Sometimes surveillance is being conducted at a mass scale — rather than directed at a specific target — and is intended to track what journalists in general are doing and what stories they are investigating. Here’s how to assess if surveillance is a potential or actual risk to privacy, personal safety, data security and the identities of sources.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism’s Top Ten
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from Sept 4 to 10 has @FastCoDesign bringing the #EndtheRainbow argument to the fore, @puddingviz analyzing driving times to abortion clinics in the US and @nsuwatch dissecting a trial involving a German terrorist organization by the numbers.
News & Analysis
Mongolia Holds Pioneering IJ Conference
Mongolia held its first international investigative reporting conference earlier this month, drawing over 100 attendees from 10 countries, including trainers from Germany, Japan and the United States. The event recognized the enterprising work being done by local journalists while launching Central Asia’s first nonprofit investigative newsroom, the Mongolian Centre for Investigative Journalism.
News & Analysis
French Journalists on Trial for Calling Azerbaijan a Dictatorship
Last week a court in Paris held a hearing in a defamation lawsuit against French broadcast journalists Elise Lucet and Laurent Richard over their 2015 investigative report for the France-2 television show “Cash Investigations” in which Azerbaijan is referred to as a “dictatorship.” Richard will be speaking at #GIJC17 in Johannesburg in November.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Get Your Google Earth On: A Trainer’s Guide
This ready-made course by Mike Reilley from The Journalist’s Toolbox is great for beginners or for trainers. It covers Google Earth Pro, Google Earth Engine Timelapse and Google Earth for Chrome and comes complete with ways to implement Google Earth into your own multimedia and specifics on teaching it in data journalism courses — all the way down to suggested assignments.
GIJC17: Early Bird Registration Ends Today
Today is the final day to get early bird registration for the 10th Global Investigative Journalism Conference. We’re now expecting over 800 of the world’s best journalists from 100+ countries. Find out why hundreds of journalists around the world call the GIJC the best journalism conference they’ve ever attended.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Podcast Rising: From Novelty to Blockbuster
The podcast got a major boost with the wildly popular Serial and hasn’t slowed down since. Susan Valentine rounded up a brief history of the humble podcast, showcasing best practices, useful tools, success stories, some of the latest research findings — and why it’s a great outlet for investigative journalism.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism’s Top Ten
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from August 28 to Sept 3 has the most amusing memes you’ll read all day from @xocasgv, a trip with @stuartathompson to the New York Times’ morgue to discover fascinating graphics from the 50s and 60s and crowdsourcing flooded roads by @HoustonChron.
News & Analysis
Africa’s Internet Shutdowns Stifling Press Freedom
In the run-up to #GIJC17 in Johannesburg in November, we are publishing a series of articles on the state of journalism in Africa to give conference-goers perspective on the continent. In this piece, researcher Jonathan Rozen shows how internet shutdowns in Ethiopia, the Republic of Congo and Cameroon are impacting journalists.
News & Analysis
Investigative Journalism and the Crisis in Venezuela
Venezuela is currently in the midst of an economic, political and constitutional crisis. Amid widespread rationing, tensions between President Nicolás Maduro and members of the opposition continue to escalate. Ewald Scharfenberg, cofounder of GIJN member organization Armando.info, talks about the role investigative journalism plays in Venezuelan politics. Scharfenberg will be speaking at #GIJC17 in November in Johannesburg.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism’s Top Ten
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from August 21 to 27 has useful digital forensics tools from @bellingcat, mathematician Cathy O’Neil warning us about blind faith in big data and an analysis of Delhi’s insane dowry demands by @htTweets.
Data Journalism
Top Ten Developments in Data Visualization This Year
Data visualization specialist Andy Kirk took a look at the most significant developments in the field so far this year and found the rise of the datagif, impressive work at the Hindustan Times and some beauties over at Periscopic. Here’s his top ten list in data visualization from January to June 2017.