OCCRP Data, part of the Investigative Dashboard, offers journalists a shortcut to the deep web. It now has over 170 public sources and more than 100 million leads for public search – news archives, court documents, leaks and grey literature encompassing UK parliamentary inquiries, companies and procurement databases, NGO reports and even CIA rendition flights, among other choice reading.
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!
This step-by-step guide explains how to do a reverse image search right on your mobile phone to check whether the photo you saw on social media is the real thing.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out our new video series on investigative tips and tools. This compact set of crash seminars features leading experts with insights on what investigative journalism is, as well as how to follow public records, investigate with data, understand financial records and the best online search strategies.
When Glenn Simpson was an investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal, he was among the best in the biz in following dirty money. Now the US Congress has released Simpson’s testimony on his private investigative firm’s role in digging into Donald Trump, and it’s a case study in sources and methods, showing how the firm tracked Trump’s investments and Russian ties using interviews, public records and smart detective work.
Journalism collaborations across news organizations have reaped countless benefits in recent years, resulting in more accurate and impactful reports, offering protection for professionals in danger and making possible stories which would have been impossible stories to do alone. Here is top notch advice, crowdsourced from collaborations with more than 500 journalists around the world.
Verifying videos is important, but first you have to find them. This Bellingcat guide will provide advice and some tips on how to gather as much video as possible on a particular event, whether it is videos from witnesses of a natural disaster or a terrorist attack.
Ren LaForme, the tool guy over at Poynter who runs their Try This! — Tools for Journalism newsletter, put together a list of his readers’ favorites from 2017. A quick, fun and helpful must read highlighting journalism tools from the Pipl app to FOIA Slack and a dirt cheap phone tripod.
There is a growing number of media and journalism schools and research centers investigating new trends, helping to understand digital disruption and its impact. With their newsletters, websites and interactive online training, they can inform you about inspiring innovations, share academic research, spot threats, provoke critical thinking, highlight valuable journalistic endeavors and report on moves in the industry that will affect how stories reach people. Here are 13 you don’t want to miss.
Bots in newsrooms are becoming increasingly commonplace as a growing number of publishers experiment with various automated services to expand their coverage, help journalists do their jobs better or improve relationships with readers. Here’s a quick history of the bot in newsrooms, and ideas for employing them in yours.
The creative use of social media has given journalists new ways to solicit tips as well as tap readers’ expertise, opinions and personal experiences. GIJN’s Toby McIntosh has rounded up some of the best examples of community engagement in stories as well as a list of resources and ideas for crowdsourcing.
A staggering 40 million people in the world exist in some form of slavery today. Learn how to investigate this inherently secretive industry from top journalists in the field.
Show me the money! Experts from around the world shared their tips about how to track looted wealth at the 2017 Global Investigative Journalism Conference.
In September, the Danish national newspaper Berlingske, in partnership with the OCCRP and other international media partners, exposed a complex money laundering scheme led by Azerbaijan’s elite. The stories revealed that, between 2012 and 2014, $2.9 billion connected to the country was siphoned through European companies and banks. Here’s how they got the story.
For the inception of a BBC’s R&D project to explore alternatives to conventional news formats, the BBC’s Tristan Ferne conducted a review of the landscape of digital news, looking for innovations in article and video formats online. Here’s the 12 categories he came up with — along with a few others that didn’t quite fit his model.
In the wake of Hurricane Maria’s devastating impact on Puerto Rico, amid shortages of food, water and electricity, international and local media have set up shop in the island’s Convention Center, creating a de facto newsroom where officials give press conferences and citizens look for resources. Among those leading the way are journalists from GIJN member Centro de Periodismo Investigativo.
Women journalists are far more likely than male journalists to be targets of online harassment, which quickly descends into graphic sexual and physical violence. Here’s what you — and your newsroom — can do to deal with the issue.
What member participation activities are most useful to investigative news sites and most rewarding to members? The Membership Puzzle Project asked investigative news startups in Europe what they’ve been trying out.
This ready-made course by Mike Reilley from The Journalist’s Toolbox is great for beginners or for trainers. It covers Google Earth Pro, Google Earth Engine Timelapse and Google Earth for Chrome and comes complete with ways to implement Google Earth into your own multimedia and specifics on teaching it in data journalism courses — all the way down to suggested assignments.
The podcast got a major boost with the wildly popular Serial and hasn’t slowed down since. Susan Valentine rounded up a brief history of the humble podcast, showcasing best practices, useful tools, success stories, some of the latest research findings — and why it’s a great outlet for investigative journalism.
More than 20 journalists worked across four countries to uncover the hidden abuses behind the production of sugar, cacao, bananas, coffee and African palm with slave-like conditions for workers, illegal business practices and sustained environmental damage. Here’s how they did it.
Membership programs are in a state of rapid evolution as more organizations see them as an imperative way to diversify revenue. The Membership Puzzle Project, a public research project into membership models, spoke to publishers around the world who have membership programs to find out what they have learned.
Collaboration with newsroom developers and journalists is key to improving journalism. Hackastory spoke to 19 newsroom developers and journalists around the world for their best advice. Here are their top tips.
Whether editing on an old Steenbeck or on a smartphone, the focus is still story. In this month’s MoJo Workin’ column, Ivo Burum offers up some basic tips for editing on the go.
Likes in your social network, praises from friends or numbers of clicks aren’t enough to drive an audience development strategy. Here’s what every independent news media organization needs to know about creating expertise in audience development that will help you measure and maximize your reach.
Trying to make social media monitoring more manageable? First Draft News has some tactics and tools to help journalists sort through the mire on Twitter and Facebook as well as the more edgy 4chan and wildly popular Reddit.
How do you set up a fact-checking project? Experts from start-ups Chequeado, ColombiaCheck and UYCheck offer up some tips on getting started, from the basics of the fact-checking process to staffing and sustainability.
