Many people have been using some of the most common OSINT tools and techniques unwittingly. There’s one tool in particular that anyone with an internet connection has used: Google, or other search engines. Here are examples of how good ol’ Google search queries can be more effective than any fancy reverse image search tool.
If you’re like most people, there are bits of information about you scattered around the internet. These breadcrumbs can be used to “dox” journalists, which is when malicious actors track down and share private information. Here’s how to dox yourself and safeguard your information before someone else can dox you.
Writing a nonfiction book is nothing like writing an article — or is it? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Frankel argues that the research process is not so very different. Here’s how he unearthed the fascinating stories behind two iconic western movies, “The Searchers” and “High Noon.”
Keeping track of research is often the most important, but most overlooked component of online investigations, as is the ability to verify the material that you have already found. In this month’s edition of the GIJN Toolbox, we look at tools for keeping real-time records of online research, some tools for verifying videos and examples of how they can be used, as well as a search engine that offers a number of different ways to view search results.
There are no silver bullets, no hard-and-fast rules, no magic answers to running a membership-driven news organization. It takes a lot of effort, coordination and putting members at the core of everything. Media consultant Tim Griggs shares 10 essential ingredients for making it work.
The reporters behind French TV show Cash Investigation know a thing or two about producing investigative journalism for television: Over the past six years, their show has become a major player in France’s journalism landscape by tackling complex topics and making them understandable to a wide audience. GIJN’s French Editor Marthe Rubio sat down with editor-in-chief Emmanuel Gagnier, who shared tips on how to produce investigative reports for TV.
Quiztime is a Twitter game beloved by journalists and other online sleuths who play it to hone their geolocation skills. Every day, one of the quizmasters tweets a mysterious image, and participants try to figure out where in the world it was taken by examining the minutest of clues.
Newsrooms are increasingly embracing newsletters as they seek to engage and grow their audiences. But there’s more than one way to tackle the form. Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at what goes into creating newsletters for nonprofit newsrooms that explore single-subject issues, like education or gun violence.
Media outlets’ communities have a lot to offer — and often, they would like to help. Here are 25 jobs that community members can do to aid newsrooms and examples of how to best include them.
It is unfortunately becoming easier and easier to harass journalists online through the use of technology such as bots, with the intent to intimidate and silence truth-tellers. These attacks can be relentless and if left unchecked, can be a real threat to journalists’ mental health and reputation. To deal with these online “pests,” TrollBusters created an infographic that offers clear steps on how to deal with various types of cyberviolence ranging from doxing to sexually explicit photos.
A reader asked ProPublica Illinois how the media organization finds new story ideas. Reporter Jodi S. Cohen, who was just as curious as the reader, spoke to her colleagues to find out where they got their inspiration. From fleshing out ideas found in other colleagues’ stories to digging into data anomalies, and even paying extra attention to an idle truck parked at an abandoned gas station, their answers show that there are a myriad of ways in which inspiration for your next big story could strike.
When it comes to doing mobile journalism, is there a big difference between expensive Androids and iOS phones? Is using an old phone fine and, if not, which phone should one upgrade to? Mobile journalism trainer Ivo Burum offers up the skinny on phone basics, the truth about pixels, lenses and more to help journalists decide the best phone to get the story done well.
What’s the best way to protect you and your sources from commercial spyware? When the actual systems and applications used in everyday communications aren’t transparent and lack adequate security measures, using open source programs with encryption can be the best line of defense. Katarina Sabados rounded up some options for open source digital security for GIJN.
Measuring the impact of journalism can help newsrooms reconnect with its audience and attract new funders. But the wider journalism ecosystem has yet to embrace the concept of keeping track of journalism’s impact. Impact Makers Bernadette Kuiper talks to the European Journalism Centre about why journalists should care about impact, how to create it and where to draw the line between journalism and advocacy.
Effective digital investigative research relies heavily on gathering small pieces of information on a person or group and combining those to build a more comprehensive picture. Being able to find things like email addresses, usernames and sites with which they have accounts helps build out a profile that can be used for further investigation. GIJN’s Alastair Otter rounds up some tools worth checking out.
Many in the journalistic profession fear Artificial Intelligence will leave them without a job. But AI could become the savior of the trade, making it possible to better cover the increasingly complex, globalized and information-rich world we live in. Open Society Foundations’ María Teresa Ronderos writes about the ways some of the world’s newsrooms are using it now.
In September 2017, the lead producer for the BBC Internet Research & Future Services, Tristan Ferne, identified 12 different story formats used in digital news. With new formats constantly emerging, Emma-Leena Ovaskainen, a visual journalist for Finland’s biggest daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, has modified the list and made her own additions.
Paywalls, live events, special print editions, paid newsletters, the list goes on. From new editorial products to exclusive experiences, news organizations of all types and sizes are looking for new revenue streams. Paula Montañà Tor offers six questions that you should consider before launching a membership program.
As collaborative journalism becomes a common practice across the media industry, news outlets may need clear documentation to guide their projects. Drafting a memorandum of understanding between collaborating partners can help get everyone on the same page. Stefanie Murray, from the Center for Cooperative Media, gathered six MOU template examples as a guide.
How do freelancers carry out a yearlong investigation when they only get paid at the end? Investigative reporter Samantha Sunne has a tiered approach to keep you from spending precious time and resources.
It’s not difficult to figure out if your story is understandable — if your grandmother can’t understand it, you have failed. At this summer’s MezhyhiryaFest, the annual investigative journalism festival in Kyiv, the OCCRP’s Ilya Lozovsky offered up some tips to help investigative journalists tell better stories. GIJN’s Olga Simanovych pulled them together.
When it comes to doing investigations using online tools, there is no one tool that will answer all of your questions. Instead you’ll most likely need to build slowly towards the answer using a jumble of jigsaw pieces — a name here, a connection there. The good news is that there are dozens of tools that can be used to find the pieces to your puzzle. GIJN’s Alastair Otter has pulled together tools that can be used to help build a profile of someone — or their business.
Over the past two years, words like “bots,” “botnets” and “trolls” have entered mainstream conversations about social networks and their impact on democracies. Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab laid out some of the working definitions and their methodologies to help identify, expose and explain disinformation online.
Pick your collaborators like you pick your friends, if you can help it — trust is critical. Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University funded six collaborative reporting projects across the United States and gathered some of the lessons learned and main takeaways for other media considering collaborative reporting projects.
With daily headlines about massive data hacks, everyone should be worried about digital security. But investigative journalists may even be deliberately targeted. Digital security expert Chris Walker shared his top tips.
Want to track what Chinese businesses — big or small — are up to in Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia? These tips from reporters from The New York Times, The Guardian and The South China Morning Post will help.
Hundreds of billions of dollars flow from the US government to contractors around the world, but knowing how to dig into these contracts can be daunting. Here’s Michael Morisy from MuckRock with tips on how to dig in.
California officials and firefighters are becoming increasingly concerned that the drier, windier conditions spurred on by the warming climate will make wildfires more devastating and their seasons longer. But are enough people paying attention to their root causes and dire consequences? Here are eight ways US journalists have been chronicling this year’s wildfires.
