Resource Guide
Guide to Investigating Organized Crime in Africa
Organized crime is a global phenomenon. But Africa, with its deep-seated corruption and “resource curse,” is particularly hard hit.
Resource Center
GIJN’s Resource Center is here to help journalists expand their knowledge and skills. The Center holds more than 2,000 items in 14 languages – from tip sheets and guides to instructional videos. Use the menu on the right to navigate it or the search box below to find topics you’re interested in.
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Resource
Top 10 Guides and Tipsheets from GIJN’s Resource Center in 2022
From investigating elections around the world to tracking the fallout from the war in Ukraine to digging into organized crime in the Golden Triangle, here are the best guides and tipsheets from GIJN Resource Center’s in 2022.
Resource Guide Chapter
Guide to Investigating Organized Crime in the Golden Triangle — Introduction
GIJN’s new guide to investigating organized crime in Asia’s Golden Triangle, with this introductory chapter offering historical context about the region and a preview of subsequent chapters.
Resource Guide Chapter
Guide to Investigating Organized Crime in the Golden Triangle: Chapter 1 — Drug Trafficking
GIJN’s new guide to investigating organized crime in Asia’s Golden Triangle, with this chapter covering how drug trafficking works in the region, the major players involved, and resources for background information.
Resource Guide Chapter
Guide to Investigating Organized Crime in the Golden Triangle: Chapter 4 — Human Trafficking
GIJN’s guide to investigating organized crime in Asia’s Golden Triangle. This chapter focuses on human trafficking in the regio
Resource
Simple Tips for Verifying if a Tweet Screenshot Is Real or Fake
Shayan Sardarizadeh, a reporter who covers online misinformation for BBC Monitoring, offers several tips for verifying or debunking suspect Twitter screenshots.
Resource Guide
GIJN’s Guide to Undercover Reporting
In countries without public record transparency rules or strong source protection laws, going undercover can be one of the few tools reporters have to reveal public interest stories.
Resource Guide
GIJN’s Guide to Investigating Sea Level Rise
For journalists, explaining the causes and consequences of rising sea levels is a critical and challenging assignment.
Resource Tipsheet
Tips for Optimizing Google Search in Investigations, from Online Expert Henk van Ess
At a recent GIJN online workshop, open source research expert Henk van Ess offered key tips and techniques for optimizing the use of Google search in your investigations.
Resource Tipsheet
Free, Game-Changing Data Extraction Tools that Require No Coding Skills
In this edition of GIJN Toolbox, we examine the latest advancements from the IRE22 conference on data extraction and optical character recognition (OCR) tools for turning unwieldy documents into searchable spreadsheets.
Resource
Remote Sensing and Data Tools for Environmental Investigations
This edition of the GIJN Toolbox explores global databases and remote sensing resources that reporters can use to investigate local environmental threats.
Resource
How Journalists Can Investigate on Telegram
Telegram is an invaluable research tool, helping journalists mine for information, investigate groups of people whose content is otherwise banned or limited on social media, and track protests and political movements in authoritarian countries. Here’s how to get started using it.
Resource
10 Lessons from Bellingcat’s Logan Williams on Digital Forensic Techniques
Bellingcat’s Logan Williams, who presented a panel on digital forensic reporting labs at the 2022 International Journalism Festival 2022 in Perugia, Italy, gives his top tips for journalists interested in open source digital investigations.
Resource Guide
GIJN’s Elections Guide for Investigative Reporters
This guide offers a broad array of tools, techniques, and resources — beyond the primary local sources you find — to help watchdog reporters dig into almost any election.
Resource Guide Chapter
Lessons Learned from Syrian Journalists Investigating Russian War Crimes
Syrian journalists have gained extensive experience documenting possible human rights violations and war crimes by the Russian military. GIJN spoke with several of these reporters to understand the lessons they learned, and how investigative journalists can cover the Ukraine invasion more effectively.
Resource Guide
Investigating Russia and the War in Ukraine
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, GIJN has published a series of stories and tipsheets for investigative journalists covering the war.
Resource
Resources for Female-Identifying Journalists – A GIJN Guide
Female-identifying journalists often encounter obstacles, whether when they’re out reporting or even back in their newsrooms. GIJN has gathered resources for female-identifying journalists that want to connect, handle harassment, and address discrimination issues. We also provide advice and tips from great women investigative journalists that will serve as inspiration.
Resource Guide Chapter
Guide to Investigating Methane — A Key to Fighting Climate Change (Short Version)
Reducing methane emissions is the single fastest way to fight climate change, according to climate scientists. In this guide, identify specific sources of methane and hold companies and countries accountable.
Resource Guide
Climate Change Accountability: Guide to Investigating Methane
This guide was written by Toby McIntosh, senior advisor to GIJN’s Resource Center. Editing was by Reed Richardson and Laura Dixon. Illustrations were created by Marcelle Louw.
Resource Guide Chapter
Essential Steps for Journalists in Emergency Situations
Journalists receiving threats often have to flee their homes in a matter of a few hours. Conflicts, though, are often foreseeable and that’s why those in fragile regions should have an exit plan in place and crucial documents ready to go. We’ve listed what documents journalists should gather as well as which organizations support journalists with relocation.
Resource Guide
Reporting on Migration in the Gulf: A Revised and Expanded GIJN Guide
This updated and expanded guide was written in cooperation with Migrant-Rights.org. Illustrations are by Marcelle Louw. The project manager was Majdoleen Hasan. Editing by Reed Richardson.
Resource Guide
How to Set Up a Video Unit: A GIJN Guide for Small Organizations
How to hire staff and plan out your shoots to tips for better photography and helpful case studies.
Resource
Investigative Audio: 8 Tips from Podcasting Innovators
In a GIJC21 session on investigative podcasts, journalists and producers who have created award-winning podcasts shared ideas on how to leverage this audio storytelling technique to better connect with the audience and tell impactful stories.
Resource Guide
A Guide to Fact-Checking Investigative Stories
Bulletproofing your story demands much more than getting the facts right. It requires a meticulous approach from the start in order to pass quality control.
Resource
GIJN Launches Journalism Security Assessment Tool
Increasingly, investigative journalists are being hacked, doxxed, harassed, and assaulted by external threats, so GIJN — with generous support from the Ford Foundation — is proud to launch a first-of-its-kind safety guide for newsrooms at GIJC21: the Journalist Security Assessment Tool (JSAT).
Resource
Business Tools for Newsrooms: A GIJN Guide
This guide was produced thanks to support from the Google News Initiative. It was researched and written by Talya Cooper, a researcher based in New York who has worked as the archivist of the Edward Snowden archive at The Intercept and as archive manager at StoryCorps. She is the co-author, with Alison Macrina, of “Anonymity,” a […]
Resource
Data Security & Encryption Tools for Journalists
GIJN is publishing a new business tools guide focused on helping news outlets solve their administrative needs. Written by Talya Cooper and illustrated by Chafiq Faiz, the guide includes useful software and applications – many of which are free – for small newsrooms. Tools included cover administration, management, communication, file sharing, accounting, SEO, audience engagement, audiovisual, content management, subscriber management, design and data visualization, social media and email marketing, site security, and password management.
Resource
Tips for Reporters Seeking to Reveal the Scale of Inequality
Data on the gap between rich and poor, privileged and marginalized, tends to be nuanced or hard to find. But amid warnings that the COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate the gap between rich and poor, investigative reporters need new tools to show the scale and implications of these gaps. From audiographs to drone imagery, and featuring tips from South Africa and Brazil, we share some of these methods here.