Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://gijn.org/series/doc-of-the-day/)
An internal report of Danske Bank, the largest financial institution in Denmark, found a series of “major deficiencies in controls and governance” that allowed $235 billion in questionable transactions to be made in its branch in Estonia.
The “Finding the Missing Millions” handbook, by Global Witness and Resources for Development Consulting, offers ten tests to help journalists spot potential losses (or “red flags”) in extractive sector payments to governments.
The Reuters Institute surveyed 74,000 people in 37 countries to find out how consumers around the world are using digital news. The findings are included in its 2018 Digital News Report, revealing insights about digital news consumption that could help inform newsrooms on their digital news strategies. The report focuses on the issues of misinformation, new business models, rise of messaging apps and new audio growth.
Here’s 76 pages — filed in US federal court today — of excruciating detail on how former Trump presidential campaign chief Paul Manafort laundered millions of dollars from Ukraine and elsewhere between 2006 and 2015, using scores of “corporations, partnerships, and bank accounts” in the US, Grenadines, and UK.
If you host your investigative documentary or journalism video on YouTube, check out this useful graphic on YouTube SEO statistics created by tech enthusiast Saksham Kumar. Knowing the ranking factors that YouTube takes into account could give you ideas on how to optimize your video to reach the largest audience it can.
The United States Census Bureau’s HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base compiles information from various sources on HIV and AIDS incidences worldwide from 1960 to 2017. The database is designed to provide users with information that is helpful as a reference tool and a resource for policy, research and evaluation.
A comprehensive study released earlier this week delved into the nonprofit news sector following the flurry of funding into the troubled US news industry in what has become known as the Trump Bump. Co-published by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Northeastern University’s School of Journalism, the study analyzed 32,422 journalism and media-related grants totaling $1.8 billion between 2010 and 2015. Here are some of the major findings.
The US Treasury Department hit Russian oligarchs and their companies with a host of new sanctions today, zeroing in on the country’s energy sector and cronies of President Vladimir Putin. Among those blacklisted: seven oligarchs, 12 companies and 17 senior government officials, including metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, who is tied in media reports to Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort. Here’s a look at the actual documents.
Bellingcat, a UK-based open source and social media investigation site, put together a seriously impressive comprehensive list of open source verification and research tools. It includes satellite and mapping services, tools for verifying photos and videos, websites to archive hyperlinks and much more. Dig in!
Paper trails have always been of great interest to investigative journalists. Digging into documents can tell a great deal about people, organizations, and what they’re up to. Here’s today’s Doc of the Day, a contract recently filled by the U.S. Secret Service, the law enforcement group charged with protecting the president and other political VIPs. It’s for “Dark Web Data Subscription.” More than 90% of the Web is thought to be unsearchable by Google and other common search engines. This is often called the dark or deep Web, and it includes sites behind firewalls and passwords, unusual formats, criminal and other hidden networks, and lots and lots of databases.
