An investigation into the assassination of the section commander of Cape Town’s anti-gang unit and a story about a midwife drugging patients without consent were among those recognized in the 2020 Taco Kuiper Awards, South Africa’s prestigious prize for investigative reporting, which were handed out on April 15.
Driving an electric car and buying solar panels are things individuals can do to help slow climate change. But according to a new study, most people don’t realize that achieving a real impact on greenhouse emissions requires significant lifestyle sacrifices. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from April 12 to April 18 found a story by the Financial Times showing that the best way in individual can reduce their carbon footprint is to have one less child. We also feature an explainer of Ramadan fasting by Al Jazeera, a look into China’s polysilicon factories by Bloomberg, and Chinese tycoon Jack Ma’s jet-setting ways.
GIJN is pleased to introduce the first of two webinars focused on Asia with online search expert Paul Myers. In this free two-hour session, aimed at journalists in South Asia but open to all, Myers will share tips on Google advanced search and techniques for digging up information online.
Maeve McClenaghan realized no one was collecting the relevant data to build a nationwide picture of how many homeless people were dying across the UK, sparking an 18-month investigation involving a network of over 1,000 contributors.
In this chapter from a new book on investigative journalism and civil society in sub-Saharan Africa, the advocacy head for CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organizations, describes the campaign to raise awareness about the persecution of human rights defenders and journalists.
At the recent NICAR21 data journalism conference, organized by Investigative Reporters and Editors, experts shared dozens of new tools and plugins that can save time or add efficiency and insight to any investigation.
To fight climate change, we need to protect sea life. Whales, plankton, and seagrasses have a key impact on the Earth’s carbon cycle. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from to April 5 to April 11, which tracks the most popular data journalism stories on Twitter each week, found a piece by Reuters Graphics explaining how these species interact underwater as well as capture and transform carbon. In this edition, we also feature an atlas of emotions by Google Arts & Culture, a look at the COVID-19 endgame by the Financial Times, and some great board games to inspire data visualization enthusiasts.
Researchers have found evidence that attacks on press freedom — such as jailing journalists, raiding their homes, shutting down printing presses, and using libel laws to thwart reporters — have measurable effects on a nation’s economic growth.
No law enforcement agency announced any criminal investigation into the attempted murder of Russia’s leading opposition figure, Alexey Navalny, after he was poisoned with a chemical weapon in Russia last year. Instead, investigative journalists stepped forward. In a GIJN webinar, journalists from Bellingcat and Russia’s The Insider explained how, and why, they used black market data to help expose the true culprits behind that attack.
This webinar will provide strategies and tips to engage and build audiences. It features a strategist with two decades of experience in media investing and growth, an expert on maximizing audiences via social media, and two digital specialists leading successful investigative outlets.
As COVID-19 cases surged throughout the past year, so did data visualizations. Data-minded scientists, journalists, health care providers, and philanthropists discussed how the pandemic and data journalism have shaped each other at a US symposium, and shared new visualization tools.
In 2020, journalism students at Roosevelt University in Chicago embarked on a project to highlight the lives of 51 women who were murdered over the course of 17 years in the US city. Dorian Geiger of Oxygen detailed the project, and the growing effort to revive dignity and justice for neglected victims.
The consequences of the global pandemic, including job crises and deepening inequalities, have ignited a new wave of protest movements over the past year. But over the past decade, there were at least 900 protest events that each drew more than 10,000 participants, according to a project by Al Jazeera’s graphics team. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from March 29 to April 4, which tracks the most popular data journalism stories on Twitter, also features an analysis of migration trends by The Financial Times, a story about the next generation of face masks by The Wall Street Journal, and a remarkable sound visualization of COVID-19’s impact in Switzerland using a music box.
Carrie Lozano is a talented storyteller, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, and recently became the director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program. She spoke to GIJN’s Spanish editor, Andrea Arzaba, about the challenges and opportunities for documentary filmmakers and how her background has shaped her work.
The pandemic has posed an additional threat to news media around the world, underscoring the need for legacy media to go digital. In a recent series of GIJN workshops on media transformation, experts spoke about their journey and the need for a shift in mindset across every area of the business.
When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit Brazil, a team of data journalists set out to illustrate what the death toll looked like by creating a data visualization that presented something beyond the numbers. The team considered various ways of displaying the story. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how they created At the Epicenter.
At GIJN we’re fortunate to come across various books and reports on the state of the news media and great investigative reporting. Here are 12 of the more interesting recent volumes we’ve found that investigative journalists might want to pick up in 2021, as well as a novel written by an investigative reporter for a little light relief.
For nearly a week, a giant container ship stranded in the Suez Canal blocked one of the busiest trade routes in the world. The Ever Given, a Rotterdam-bound vessel, was finally freed from the shoreline on Monday, and international media have closely followed the story and the consequences of the blockage. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from March 22 to 28, which tracks the most popular data journalism stories on Twitter, found a visual story by the Reuters Graphics team that illustrated how the incident affected global trade. In this edition, we also feature an examination of bias in the beauty industry by The Pudding, a look into how the pandemic changed society by Al Jazeera, and a guide to drawing data visualizations by DataJournalism.com.
In a GIJN webinar on audience engagement, editors and digital marketing experts shared tips and resources on how to reach and engage with audiences by maximizing the impact of stories, and by using carefully curated newsletters.
In this excerpt, drawn from “The Data Journalism Handbook,” GIJN’s Eunice Au and sociologist Marc Smith explain how the widespread use of the #ddj hashtag among data journalism communities has made it a prominent resource for sharing projects, as well as the ability to track the evolution of data journalism work.
In this excerpt from his new book on protecting democracy, Larry Diamond, founding co-editor of the Journal of Democracy, outlines 10 steps to combat kleptocracy around the world. Among them is the need to end the use of anonymous shell companies and “increase international support for investigative journalism.”
When Nino Bakradze was growing up in Georgia in the ’90s, the country was embroiled in a civil war and a post-USSR economic crisis. In a media landscape dominated by state TV, investigative journalism just didn’t happen. The situation hadn’t changed much when she graduated, so she set up iFact to turn the tables. GIJN’s Alexandra Tyan spoke to the team.
A lack of comprehensive data can seriously hinder efforts to track illicit activities. But persistent reporters will always find a way to get a glimpse of the real picture. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from March 15 to 21 found Oxpeckers investigating the trafficking of tigers in Europe and journalist Ben Heubl offering advice on investigating illegal fishing. We also feature an analysis of the global aviation crisis by the Financial Times, a guide to color scales by visual storytelling expert Lisa Charlotte Rost, and a look into the burden of unpaid domestic work by data analyst Hassel Fallas.
Community news co-op advocates see the new model they’re shaping as having a high chance for success in places where existing approaches to digital sites might struggle or fail, including in many news deserts. The Banyan Project’s Tom Stites writes about how news co-ops work, pointing out the pros and cons of the model.
The Global Investigative Journalism Network is pleased to welcome eight new member organizations based in eight countries, including GIJN’s first members in Greece and Zambia. With these new members, our network now includes 211 organizations in 82 countries.
The 2021 Global Investigative Journalism Conference will be held online this November. But the re-scheduled conference will take place in-person in Sydney, Australia’s harbor city, in October 2022.
