Open data can bring much value to China, especially with regard to government efficiency and effectiveness, data-informed decision-making, and increasing the public’s trust through greater engagement. Although there have been improvements in the quality and availability of government open data in China, data expert Yolanda Ma states that there are still many more challenges to overcome.
The old news business model has been serving advertisers and investors at the expense of the most important people in the media equation — the public, the readers, the users. But now that digital media have broken up that arranged marriage of advertising and news content, publishers are rediscovering the importance of focusing on serving readers.
The media, civil society, and democracy are under unprecedented duress around the world. Protecting the independent media and the public sphere presents an “epic challenge,” but there is great opportunity for philanthropy to step up and help. Bruce Sievers and Patrice Schneider detail five avenues worth pursuing in funding news media and argue that charitable donors should significantly increase their investment in the media.
From time immemorial, media, both good and bad, have published false official “truths” dictated by authoritarian governments and propaganda by private interests. Now, what is even more a threat to journalism is the increasing shady interests committed to news forgery. There are no easy solutions but journalism is fighting back with new fact-checking initiatives, new media alliances and the creation of new platforms to check sources.
Many media investors see disaster everywhere they look, as traditional media lose audience, revenues, and relevance. However, the importance of media is “absolutely obvious” and media companies need more support from democratic societies than they are getting.
Despite growing state controls and censorship, Chinese journalists are still finding ways to publish groundbreaking investigative reports about issues that matter to the Chinese people. In this piece, GIJN China has selected nine enterprising stories that showcase the best of Chinese muckraking last year.
Divine intervention appears to be the only thing protecting journalists in Iraq these days. Local reporters are sent off to do conflict reporting with no prior training and equipped with bad, cheaply made and easily penetrable vests. Mustafa Sa’adoun, director of Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, details the dangers of being an Iraqi war reporter.
To secure the work of independent media, direct assistance from either individual contributions or funding agencies are important as a bloodstream to keep us alive. Here are five reasons why direct assistance is so important to the success of independent media.
For high-quality journalism to thrive after the collapse of the traditional business model for media, independent media outlets need to leverage on their social capital to generate revenue and ensure editorial independence. The economic value of social impact can be used to justify and attract investments from foundations, NGOs, businesses, the public, and even government.
The Global Investigative Journalism Network is calling on Nigerian authorities to immediately drop all charges against the publisher and a reporter for the investigative news site Premium Times. In a letter sent to Nigerian officials today, GIJN Executive Director David E. Kaplan called the charges “an attempt to intimidate Premium Times from independent inquiry.”
The post-election Presidential transition in the United States has raised many questions and concerns among the international development community about the future direction of funding for and engagement with overseas media and democracy assistance. Here, three experts offer their views about the potential for major cuts in funding and politicization of international media support.
December might be when thoughts turn to the holidays, but this year it’s also when anti-corruption activists and advocates for transparency and accountability came together at two major international events: the 17th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) and the 2016 Open Government Partnership summit.
The second-annual Hitchens Prize—honoring the memory and legacy of the late Vanity Fair contributing editor and columnist Christopher Hitchens—was given to Marty Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post, at a dinner held at New York City on November 28, 2016. This year’s citation acknowledged Baron’s long career in journalism and his work as editor at The Washington Post and earlier at The Boston Globe (featured in the Academy Award-winning movie Spotlight this year). In accepting the Hitchens Prize, Marty offered words of wisdom for journalists in the Trump Era.
Editor’s Note: It is with great sadness that we at GIJN announce the passing of David Donald, a much-treasured colleague and teacher in our community. David died on Saturday after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 64. We asked his longtime friend, GIJN Board Chair Brant Houston, to write this remembrance.
Five Arab journalists who exposed torture and injustice in their societies won the 2016 ARIJ Prizes at the end of the 9th Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) forum during a gala dinner on Dec 3. The awardees shone a spotlight on important stories and tackled them with courage and dedication, taking care to highlight the depth of human feelings in their stories.
Investigations into extrajudicial killings, violent conflicts over land and timber, and trafficking of cultural heritage items took home the top three prizes at the 2016 Latin American Investigative Journalism Award (#COLPIN2016), held in Panama last weekend. The jury also highlighted the existence of networking, collaborative, and transnational work methodologies streaming from data journalism
Investigative reporting has never been a profitable business, especially when it relies on the support of governments or non-profit foundations. But now the funds are dwindling and costs are on the rise. Donors have new priorities, not least a global and intensifying refugee crisis and de-radicalization. However, Arab journalists fought to initiate free speech and honest reporting in the Arab region and continue to fight to maintain them, with no intention of giving up now.
Even as the Panama Papers disclosures have sparked almost 150 official investigations in at least 76 countries, they have also provoked pushback from individuals and governments displeased with revelations of the hidden economic holdings of the global elite. Politicians, business executives and thousands of their supporters have responded with vitriol, threats, cyber attacks and lawsuits. But one of the benefits of collaboration is the way journalists can band together to overcome these issues.
In a post-truth future, it can be frustratingly hard to fight fake news and rumors beyond one’s immediate reach. In a system where no source is deemed fully trustworthy, research and citations are diminished to just another set of opinions. This has been China’s story for decades. In 2016, it is starting to be the U.S.’ story as well.
Last week, Google announced funding for 124 European media projects in the second round of its Digital News Initiative (DNI) Innovation Fund. Among the awardees are seven members of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN): Correct!v, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI), the RISE Project, the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism, Direkt36, and Atlaszlo.hu.
Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election has given rise to questions about credibility of traditional media outlets, the role of the media in shaping public opinion, and a changing media landscape. Even the future existence of free media as it is known today is a cause of concern for many in the media community if Trump’s attacks against the press during his election campaign are taken into account. GFMD has complied a selection of articles encompassing these wide-ranging issues.
This year’s African Investigative Journalism Conference, boasting about 250 attendees from 28 countries, concluded an enthusiastic three days of workshops and presentations on Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa. Now in its eleventh year, the AIJC is the largest gathering of investigative journalists in Africa. With 70 sessions, the conference was, as one attendee put it, “a candy store for journalists.”
Earlier this month the Indian news site Newslaundry won a prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for a series of stories based on Right to Information (RTI) requests. The information — over 2,000 letters from Indian state-owned enterprises revealed how political leaders routinely misused up to US$15 million in public funds by asking for media ads or sponsorships for their pet organizations. Here’s the inside story of how the piece almost didn’t come to light.
For International Day to End Impunity, our excerpt today is an annex from a new UN report. It makes for a chilling read — an updated list of the status of judicial inquiries into journalist killings from 2006 to 2015. Out of 827 journalists killed in the past decade, only 63 have been resolved. The message right now is clear: opponents of a free press can literally get away with murder. Until we fix the problem of impunity, it will be impossible to meet the UN development goal of ensuring public access to information.
Today, November 2, marks International Day to End Impunity. Since 2014, the UN and press freedom groups have commemorated the day to spotlight the glaring number of unresolved journalists’ murders and the lack of punishment for their perpetrators around the world. This year’s awareness campaign is aptly titled “My Killers Are Still Free.”
On Wednesday, the UN and press freedom groups worldwide will mark International Day to End Impunity, commemorated since 2014 to highlight the glaring number of unresolved journalists’ murders and the lack of punishment for their perpetrators. As part of a series to mark the occasion, GIJN is pleased to excerpt “The Assault on Reporting” from a new report by David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression.
Corruption is one of the most dangerous beats for journalists, and one of the most important for holding those in power to account. There is growing international recognition that corruption is also one of the biggest impediments to poverty reduction and good governance. This is why journalists on this beat must be protected, including by multilateral lending institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
The first Southern African Investigative Journalism Conference in Botswana took place in that country’s capital Gaborone from October 7-8 this month. About 175 journalists from 10 countries participated in the event, which featured talks ranging from the dangers of reporting on corruption and the Panama Papers in Africa to personal testimonies of reporters who have faced persecution and threats of violence for their reporting.
