As 2013 nears an end, we’d like to share our top ten stories — the stories that you, our dear readers, found most compelling. The list ranges from impassioned calls for journalists to fight back to the dangers of big data, from the latest techniques for tracking business across borders to the arcane practice of plane-spotting. Please join us in taking a look at The Best of GIJN.org.
Amid media crackdowns, civil war, and social unrest, 350 journalists from Tunisia to Iraq gathered in Jordan earlier this month for the annual conference of Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ). Despite arduous conditions across much of the Middle East and North Africa, the conference provided strong evidence that the region’s best journalists are continuing to fight the good fight — pushing hard against censorship and bringing world-class investigative reporting to the Arab world. The event, ARIJ’s sixth annual gathering, took place in Amman from December 6-8.
Our just-released newsletter, the Global Network News, includes highlights of the 8th Global Investigative Journalism Conference, as well as a big thanks to all of you who made it possible. You’ll also find an update on the big decisions that came from the Rio meeting of GIJN’s Steering Committee, made up of our 90 member organizations.
Let me tell you how I think it will go from here. Free speech – always a lonely and sickly child in the Arab world – is already back in intensive care throughout the region.
Street protests will gradually die out. Dissenters will continue to be arrested and given harsh sentences. Sustained government propaganda will convince any waverers that political stability and economic prosperity are far more important than personal freedoms, rule of law, universal human rights, and democratic values.
Despite the wishful thinking of the crowds, the final chapter of the Arab Spring is being written: it is about over.
Online is no refuge: The PEN American Center, an association of writers and others working to defend free expression, created this interactive report to showcase the global rise of digital repression, using data from its case files over the past 12 years.
Investigative stories are just a click away. But to find them, you need to look in the right place. Marty Steffens, from the University of Missouri, and Paul Radu, from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project in Romania, presented some of the best search tools on the Internet other than Google at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference. They are often used as the starting point for almost all research on international business.
Impunity is defined as “without punishment, without consequences.” It has become a shorthand way to describe the thousands of attacks on journalists and freedom of expression around the world each year. IFEX, the global network of 88 groups defending free expression, each year organizes an International Day to End Impunity. This year it takes place November 23, with events every day this month. Over the past ten years, more than 500 journalists have been killed, and in 9 of 10 cases their killers have escaped — with impunity.
Participants at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference last week got a preview of the newly redesigned Investigative Dashboard, a research tool to help journalists get access to business records around the world. Developed by GIJN member Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, this week OCCRP formally launched ID at the Conflict in a Connected World conference sponsored by Google Ideas, which has supported development of the new tool.
Journalists from across the Middle East and North Africa flocked to Rio for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference (#GIJC13), joining more than than 1,300 colleagues from 90 countries. Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) brought its largest-ever delegation to the global conference with 16 fellows and members speaking and networking on covering conflict, terrorism, fraud, and more.
Journalists from Azerbaijan, South Africa, and Pakistan were honored with the fifth Global Shining Light Award at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Rio de Janeiro Monday night. The prize honors investigative journalism conducted in a developing or transitioning country, done under threat, duress, or in the direst of conditions. The award drew 65 submissions from 28 countries.
In conjunction with the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Rio de Janeiro, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University has published a new e-book, Muckraking Goes Global: The Future of Cross-Border Investigative Journalism, that may be of interest to you and your colleagues. The publication includes a number of articles that address many of the challenges faced by watchdog journalists worldwide today.
More than 1300 journalists from 87 countries have flocked to Rio de Janeiro for the 8th Global Investigative Journalism Conference this weekend. This is the largest ever international gathering of investigative journalists, and there’s lots of excitement, networking, and big stories in the air. For coverage of the 150 panels, workshops, and special events, check out our website, http://gijc2013.org/
The Global Investigative Journalism Conference is getting close! We have more than 800 journalists from more than 80 countries heading to Rio, and we’re delighted you’re joining us. We’ve compiled a list of useful information for everyone.
The Steering Committee of the Global Investigative Journalism Network — consisting of representatives of GIJN’s member organizations — will gather for its biennial meeting at the 8th Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Rio de Janeiro on October 14. The meeting is open, but voting will be limited to a single representative from each of GIJN’s member organizations. GIJN’s membership includes 91 nonprofits, NGOs, and educational institutions in 41 countries. Its missions include sponsoring global and regional conferences, training, and promoting best practices in investigative and data journalism.
Ready for Rio? We’ve got more than 800 journalists from 75 countries descending on Rio de Janeiro in three weeks — for the 8th Global Investigative Journalism Conference. Want to join us? There’s still plenty of room, and registration is open. Follow this story for links to register, navigate the conference site, and check the program for the big event, packed with 150 panels, workshops, and special events.
Eight finalists have been selected for consideration in the fifth Global Shining Light Award, a unique prize which honors investigative journalism in a developing or transitioning country, done under threat, duress, or in the direst of conditions. The award will be announced and presented at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference this October 14 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The winner will receive an honorary certificate and $1,000.
Great news! We not only reached our crowdfunding goal of raising $12,000 — we’ve now surpassed it. We’re already using those funds to bring three great young journalists to the Global Investigative Journalism Conference — from Myanmar, Nigeria, and Peru. Big thanks to everyone who helped. To date we’ve received an extraordinary 105 contributions from 22 countries.
I may have misled people for the last few years by saying that investigative journalism is not a business but a public service. Investigative journalism does, in fact, have commercial value. While investigative journalism may not produce the web traffic of popular topics, a media organization reaps intangible but valuable benefits. Jeff Bezos, for one, seems to appreciate that value.
If you want to study journalism, you have more choices today, at lower cost, and of higher quality than ever. Sometimes you will get that at a university and sometimes not. That represents a challenge for universities. In a lecture at a journalism conference in Puebla, Mexico, I described a personal experience taking a course in data visualization from one of the world leaders in the field, Alberto Cairo, author of “The Functional Art.” This kind of course represents a major challenge for universities, because their monopoly on expertise and certification is eroding. Just as occurred in the news business, competitors are emerging who are offering attractive alternatives.
