Image: Shutterstock
How Tos for Investigative Journalists, Part 1: From Plane Spotting to PDF Extraction
Image: Shutterstock
What tools do you need to master as you head into your next investigation? We’ve rounded up some of GIJN’s most popular how tos from our story archives — as well as select items from our growing Resource Center — to offer up solid tutorials on a range of tools that could help you in your investigations, whether you need to track planes, extract data from PDFs, or build a GIF using satellite image imagery.
See part 2 of GIJN’s how tos on reporting and storytelling techniques, from podcasts to data teams.
Reporter’s Tipsheet for Acquiring Free Satellite Images
Online Research Guide with Henk van Ess
Remote Sensing and Data Tools for Environmental Investigations
Advanced Guide on Verifying Video Content
Reporter’s Tipsheet for Acquiring Free Satellite Images
How Old-School Field Reporting Powers High-Tech Visual Investigations
Experts Discuss Investigating Social Media Companies Like Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok
New Reporting Tools to Archive Videos, Find QAnon Networks, and Track Targets via Online Reviews
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Read Next
Tipsheet Investigative Techniques Reporting Tools & Tips
Reporter’s Tipsheet for Acquiring Free Satellite Images
There is a treasure trove of compelling visual evidence out there that is going unused by many watchdog journalists. Here’s how to find it.
GIJC23 Reporting Tools & Tips
How Old-School Field Reporting Powers High-Tech Visual Investigations
Forensic visual investigation has rapidly become a critical method of journalistic inquiry, thanks to new technologies, innovative skills, and the global ubiquity of social media imagery.
News & Analysis Reporting Tools & Tips
Experts Discuss Investigating Social Media Companies Like Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok
Investigative journalists intending to cover social media and its societial effects must understand the intricacies of the companies that drive them, and think critically about novel angles of coverage.
Methodology Reporting Tools & Tips
New Reporting Tools to Archive Videos, Find QAnon Networks, and Track Targets via Online Reviews
These new reporting tools and apps, which recently debuted at two Bellingcat Hackathons, can help journalists easily archive videos, locate satellite imagery, and track people via online reviews.