Case Studies
How Women Are Driving a Golden Age of Data Journalism in Kenya
Eunice Magwambo, Purity Mukami, and Juliet Atellah discuss their work and challenges facing data journalists in their home country of Kenya.
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News & Analysis
Investigations into Lottery Corruption, Whistleblower’s Assassination Share Taco Kuiper Journalism Prize
Separate investigations into corruption at the national lottery and the brazen assassination of a government whistleblower jointly won the 2022 Taco Kuiper Award, recognizing the best of watchdog reporting in South Africa.
Case Studies
How an Award-Winning Investigation Exposed a State Welfare Scandal
In our latest “How They Did It” series, GIJN profiles investigative reporter Anna Wolfe’s recent exposé on corruption inside the Mississippi state welfare office, which was honored with the 2023 Goldsmith Prize.
Data Journalism Data Journalism Top 10
Data Journalism Top 10: Abortion Pill Access, India Surpasses China, Pandemic Pets Boom
This week’s data journalism roundup digs into abortion pill access in the US, India’s population surpassing China, the illusion of reforestation as a solution for climate change, and the boom in owning pets during the pandemic.
Press Freedom Reporting Tools & Tips
Avoiding Censorship: How to Move Anonymously on the Internet
The methods and tools that governments employ to censor and control the internet, and the tools and ways to get around censorship, are a constantly shifting battleground. But there is a set of evergreen best practices and helpful software that are useful.
Methodology News & Analysis
How Investigative Journalists Are Using Substack Newsletters
To get a better sense of the investigative journalism landscape on Substack, GIJN spoke with watchdog reporters who use the platform to publish original investigations and who are not part of a larger news or media organization.
Data Journalism Data Journalism Top 10
Data Journalism Top 10: Bitcoin’s Energy Impact, LGBTQ Rights in Africa, Pensions & Lattes, Taylor Swift’s Big Tour
This week’s data journalism roundup highlights a New York Times investigation into the energy and environmental impacts of bitcoin mining, Reuters’ look at anti-homosexuality laws across the African continent, mapping of Switzerland’s residential density, and a visualization of Lionel Messi’s decorated football career.
Case Studies News & Analysis
Refugee Pushbacks, Uyghur Mistreatment, and Sports Corruption: Europe’s Cross-Border Investigative Journalism Winners
Investigations on topics as diverse as corruption in sports, illegal “pushbacks” of refugees, and the mass internment of Uyghurs in China were recognized at the IJ4EU Impact Awards, the annual prize of the Investigative Journalism for Europe fund.
News & Analysis
5 Questions for Venezuelan Journalist Ronna Rísquez on Overcoming Fear, Covering Organized Crime, and Working as a Woman Journalist
Venezuelan journalist Ronna Rísquez has covered violence and organized crime in South America for more than 20 years. In conversation with LatAm Journalism Review, Rísquez talks about the challenges she has faced practicing journalism as a woman and about the threats she received before publishing her first solo book.
Reporting Tools & Tips Research
New Document Tools to Unearth Redacted Text, Personal Information, and More
DocumentCloud now includes many more cutting-edge functions — which include extracting personal identification information embedded in large files, importing data from programs like Google Drive, transcribing YouTube audio, and even peering through weak blackout redactions.
Data Journalism Data Journalism Top 10
Data Journalism Top 10: AR-15 Gun Violence, US Mortality, Water Scarcity, Russian Atrocities
In this week’s Data Journalism Top 10, The Washington Post did a 10-story deep dive on issues related to gun violence and the deadly AR-15 weapon after yet another school shooting. Our weekly roundup also features a look at global water scarcity hotspots, Russian war atrocities, and the enduring appeal of British television shows.
Sustainability
How Mother Jones Uses Reader Support to Fund Investigative Journalism
Mother Jones is a US outlet known for “smart, fearless journalism.” Monika Bauerlein, its CEO, believes that the kind of investigative journalism they do cannot be funded by traditional commercial means. That’s why it operates as a nonprofit with a heavy focus on reader donations as a revenue stream.
Methodology Reporting Tools & Tips
Tips to Amplify Investigative Impact
Impact experts say there are several ways to help direct the attention of change-makers — as well as other media — to your key findings, and even nudge them to action.
10 Questions
Lessons Learned from Mexican Investigative Journalist Anabel Hernández
Anabel Hernández is one of the most prominent investigative journalists in Mexico. With more than 30 years of experience, she has dedicated her career to investigating organized crime and the complicity of politicians, the military, and businessmen in the war on drugs in Mexico and beyond.
Data Journalism Data Journalism Top 10
Data Journalism Top 10: Organ Donations, EU Drug Use, Layoffs Language, and Russian Censorship
GIJN’s weekly curation of the most popular data journalism stories on Twitter features a look the impact of changes to organ donation rules in the US, drug usage in Europe based on wastewater analysis, a text analysis of layoff memos written by tech industry chief executives, and an examination of protests across Russia in 2022.
Reporting Tools & Tips Safety & Security
The Latest on Coping with Internet Shutdowns and Online Censorship
The National Press Club recently hosted a panel of cybersecurity and digital experts to discuss the latest in government internet shutdowns and online censorship — and how journalists can work around these challenges.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Testing the Potential of Using ChatGPT to Extract Data from PDFs
Converting text documents like PDFs to spreadsheets is tedious and expensive work. To see how well AI tool ChatGPT can extract data from PDFs, data journalist Brandon Roberts wrote a Python script to convert two document sets to spreadsheets.
Data Journalism News & Analysis
Honoring the Best in Data Journalism: Winners of the 2023 Sigma Awards
Winning entries at this year’s Sigma Awards focused on the war in Ukraine, air pollution, rising sea levels, political candidates, and road accidents involving schoolchildren, and used data, satellite imagery, gaming techniques, and 3D imagery to create compelling stories.
News & Analysis Sustainability
Mastering the Rollout: Increasing the Impact of Your Investigative Story
GIJN social media editor Holly Pate looked into best practices for increasing impact and audience engagement of investigative stories, gathering real-life examples from journalism sites around the world.
Data Journalism Data Journalism Top 10
Data Journalism Top 10: Climate Crises, Tech Layoffs, Border Fences, and Banned Books
This week our top ten in data journalism features stories digging into the link between Ebola outbreaks and deforestation, on the stark impact of global warming on everything from crop yields to species loss, and the undeniable increase in the number of hot nights in Singapore.
How to Report Under a Dictatorship: Lessons from Nicaragua and Beyond
Veteran Nicaraguan journalist and editor Carlos F. Chamorro delivered the memorial lecture at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. His speech reveals how press freedom has been eroded in Nicaragua, and the challenges of producing journalism under the ‘totalitarian regime’ of President Daniel Ortega.
News & Analysis
How a Team from Reuters Investigated Child Labor Abuses in the American South
A Reuters investigation uncovering how large corporations use child labor for chicken processing and auto supply manufacturing was a finalist for the 2023 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. Here the reporters give insights to other journalists who want to explore illegal labor practices in their coverage areas.
Case Studies Member Profiles
Danwatch: How a Danish Investigative Site Exerts Global Reach
GIJN member Danwatch was launched in 2007 by civic groups in Denmark with a focus on both research and journalism. Danwatch has since grown to have one of the largest specialized investigative journalism teams in Denmark, with 13 reporters, one of them based in South America.
Reporting Tools & Tips
New Investigative Tools for Monitoring Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms are among the most difficult sites to scrape for data across the internet. A recent session at NICAR23 unveiled several dynamic new tools — including Junkipedia, a possible CrowdTangle replacement — that can perform a wealth of social media monitoring tasks, from tracking down who is behind harmful ads to identifying conspiracy groups or influencers spreading disinformation.
Data Journalism Data Journalism Top 10
Data Journalism Top 10: Gendered Street Names, Remote Work, Heating the US, Oscars History
In the week in which International Women’s Day is celebrated worldwide, data teams around the world took the opportunity to explore issues related to women, whether mapping streets named after women in Europe, analyzing leisure spaces they are able to enjoy in Southeast Asia, or the distances needed to travel for abortion access in the US.
How They Did It
Tracking Far-Right Suspects Across Continents: A 10-Year Hunt for Spanish Fugitives
As Spain transitioned to democracy, a series of attacks were carried out by the far-right. In some cases, the culprits were never found. To provide some measure of accountability, two journalists from El País have worked for a decade tracking down fugitives in cases forgotten or closed by the authorities.
Case Studies News & Analysis
Travel Woes: The Challenges Investigative Reporters Face When Crossing Borders
In an era where corruption, financial crime, and illicit trade routinely span the globe, so too must the investigations that uncover them. But one of the least discussed and often unexpected obstacles in that pursuit involves the difficulties investigative journalists can face when traveling and physically crossing borders.
Press Freedom
Independent Media Rebuilds Inside and Outside Myanmar After Violent Coup
Three years after the Myanmar military’s violent coup, journalists continue to struggle with press freedom and are trying to rebuild independent media voices in support of democracy both inside and outside the country.