At least 462 journalists have died from COVID-19, from 56 countries — with Latin American countries accounting for more than half this grim tally and a recent surge striking India and Bangladesh. One NGO tracking these deaths told GIJN that most journalists who died in the pandemic since October 1 were under the age of 60.
The Peruvian investigative journalism outlet Convoca has been exploring what happens to people exposed to lead and other heavy metals. In its latest installment in the series — which is told in comics — the team used interactive images to tell the stories of some of the children and adults affected by high levels of lead in their blood and what has been happening to them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this behind-the-scenes look at an important investigation into sexual abuse by international aid workers, The New Humanitarian investigations editor Paisley Dodds recounts how reporters collected the heartrending stories of abuse from the front lines of the Ebola response.
For this week’s Friday 5, where GIJN rounds up interesting journalism news in English from around the world, we read about the ways journalists investigating financial crimes and corruption are pressured, the ethics behind unpublishing stories, and a new database of European Union arms exports.
In this edition of Document of the Day, we feature a new report out from UNESCO detailing that over the past decade, a journalist has been killed on average every four days. In 2018-2019, UNESCO recorded a total of 156 killings of journalists worldwide. See our roundup with links to the full report in English and links to resources in other languages.
In a GIJN webinar on investigating the police, investigative journalists from Tunisia, South Africa, and the United States shared several effective approaches and tools for holding law enforcement bodies accountable for misconduct. Their tips include open source tools for visual forensic analysis of incidents, strategies for matching police radio audio files with social media video, and easy ways to begin your hunt for CCTV footage.
For this week’s Friday 5, where GIJN rounds up interesting journalism news in English from around the world, we read about Glenn Greenwald’s resignation from The Intercept, a data journalism collaboration on COVID-19 data which reaches across eight newsrooms, and Bellingcat’s already excellent, and now updated, Online Investigation Toolkit.
In this explainer, the team at Splice Media show how they pulled off the fantastic Splice Beta “virtual experience,” a month-long festival which focused on media startups in Asia.
A French freelance journalist tracked down a man accused of being involved in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Here’s how French journalist Théo Englebert delved into the eight-month investigation, including his top tips for finding someone who wants to disappear.
“Superspreading events” have emerged as major drivers of the COVID-19 pandemic. While available data on these events is limited, new information — including an interactive database of 1,500 events — offers reporters the means to map the patterns of past coronavirus outbreaks, and to evaluate the risks of planned gatherings.
For this week’s Friday 5, where GIJN rounds up key reads in English from around the world, we came across the launch of The Media Manipulation Casebook, a piece on how to make your newsletter a key revenue driver, and a supportive — if implemented — UN resolution on the safety of journalists.
The Double Exposure film festival showcases the creative work of reporters and filmmakers who pursue investigations in the public interest. From a film shot in Wuhan’s hospital wards to an investigation into the murder of a member of North Korea’s ruling family, here are five of the top investigative documentaries featured at this year’s festival.
The Peruvian investigative journalism association Ojo Público – a GIJN member — has created a new tool to investigate government contracts. In this piece, data journalist Romina Colman explores what the tool, which is called FUNES, can do and who can use it.
For this week’s Friday 5, where GIJN rounds up key reads from around the world, we read about how researchers verified a chemical weapons attack in Syria, BBC News Labs’ new storytelling graphic for Facebook, and AP Stylebook’s latest election guide.
In this edition of Document of the Day, we feature a new report out today from Freedom House, a US-based think tank, about how the coronavirus pandemic has affected digital freedoms around the world. The report includes details on governments’ actions that have curtailed citizens’ access to open information on the web, and the website features and interactive map where users can see which countries made the “free” list and which ones didn’t.
This summer a Swedish prosecutor announced that a 30-year probe into the killing of a Swedish prime minister would be closed since there was “reasonable evidence” that the assailant had been identified. The man now believed to have carried out the crime was identified two years ago by investigative journalist Thomas Pettersson, who spent 12 years investigating who killed Olof Palme.
The jury for the DIG Awards – an annual celebration of the best investigative documentaries made around the world – has revealed the films and programs that have made it onto the annual shortlist. The final awards will be given as part of DIG’s festival, which is taking place in the historic city of Modena in northern Italy this week.
In this open letter, Berlin-based journalist Sara Schurmann implores her colleagues worldwide to consider the implications of climate change and how to cover it.
For this week’s Friday 5, where GIJN rounds up key reads from around the world, we found a ready-for-prime-time study on financial crimes in the US art market, how misinformation actors are weaponizing the Wayback Machine, and Google’s not-so-altruistic $1 billion for publishers.
What does it mean to pursue independent journalism in an environment of democratic retrenchment? Nic Dawes, a former editor at South Africa’s Mail & Guardian and India’s Hindustan Times, reflects on the role of the media in holding power to account as the US election draws close.
For this week’s Friday 5, where GIJN rounds up key reads from around the world, we found The Markup creating an online privacy tool, suggestions on how to make your maps more neutral, and practical tips for pitching donors during a pandemic.
With traditional media funding models in disarray, membership offers news outlets an alternative way of ensuring their profitability or survival. GIJN spoke to the Membership Puzzle Project’s Ariel Zirulnick about their latest guide and her top tips for organizations considering going down this route.
Digital technologies have changed whistleblowing, with a growth in new tactics and strategies based on the use of encryption-based communication tools. Philip Di Salvo writes for GIJN about his research into new platforms.
For this week’s Friday 5, where GIJN rounds up key reads from around the world, we found a guide for setting up a media membership model, DW Akademie’s handbook for media start-ups, and Google’s latest initiative to support digital news publishers.
From the global coronavirus pandemic to the soul-searching that has come as a result of the Black Lives Matter protests, 2020 has cracked open society’s fault lines. Organizations are questioning their role, and journalism has not been spared this moment of introspection.
For this week’s Friday 5, where GIJN rounds up key reads around the world, we found stories about freelancers commissioned to write for a massive Russian-backed disinformation campaign, how to (not) get your pitch read by an editor, and a guide for reporting on US elections.
From South Africa to Tunisia, France to Australia, the podcasts industry is booming. Here is our list of some of the best global podcasts from 2020 — so far! — that are either investigative in nature, or about investigative journalism, and compiled by GIJN’s global team.
Toxic negative partisanship between Democrats and Republicans is causing media audiences to selectively discount or exaggerate facts presented by reporters ahead of America’s November 3 election. From interviews with audience engagement editors and a survey of research, GIJN identified a dozen techniques that journalists can use to increase the chances that audiences across the divide will at least “hear” the facts they unearth.
