A well-designed, properly distributed survey can build a powerful dataset for an investigation. Here are top tips on planning, designing, and executing them from the team at CORRECTIV.
Forensic visual investigation has rapidly become a critical method of journalistic inquiry, thanks to new technologies, innovative skills, and the global ubiquity of social media imagery.
From investigating prisons to stolen sand and child brides, three award-winning journalists share their experiences reporting from a region experiencing a press freedom “crisis.”
Four editors — and veterans of the global push-back against autocracy — discussed effective methods for holding the enemies of democracy accountable.
Three reporters from across the globe discussed the numerous looming threats to democracy — and shared tips for exposing the bad actors behind election disinformation and authoritarian attacks.
Three veteran journalists shared tips on maximizing the potential and navigating the pitfalls of artificial intelligence and cross-border collaborations.
Exploring how the technology can help newsrooms, how investigations have revealed the impact of AI on communities, and how journalists can move beyond narratives of hype or despair.
An investigative data journalist and a former tech lawyer teach you how to spot tricks and hidden disclosures within these interminable documents — and even how to claw back some privacy.
El Faro investigative journalist Jimmy Alvarado offers his favorite tools and techniques for exposing corruption.
Gaming and the news have a history, for decades they have been used to increase engagement and reach younger audiences. Here are some tips for getting started with gamification in your next investigation.
At a panel at NICAR 2023, two digital experts discussed tips and techniques for conducting investigations into suspicious websites and their owners.
Even for journalists who feel they have a good grasp on crypto technology and economics, covering the beat has been undeniably difficult. With over a decade of articles, videos, and podcasts in the rear-view mirror, now is a great time to reflect on some of the hard-learnt lessons of covering the industry.
Investigative journalists intending to cover social media and its societial effects must understand the intricacies of the companies that drive them, and think critically about novel angles of coverage.
At the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, veteran journalists from Africa and the Middle East discussed the power and intimacy of audio and podcast reporting and how it can enable reporters to better access hard-to-cover stories.
Clark Merrefield, from The Journalist’s Resource, shares seven tips on how local journalists can better investigate global trade and its impact on their communities.
The vast majority of people who own properties are not engaged in any misconduct or possible criminal behavior. But land deals or real estate purchases made with inexplicable funding sources can be a telltale sign of corruption.
Based on an interview with Wayback Machine’s director, Mark Graham, ProPublica’s Craig Silverman shares more essential tips on using it, including how to bulk archive pages, compare changes, and see when elements of a page were archived.
For GIJN’s My Favorite Tools series we spoke with Brazilian journalist Tai Nalon, executive director and co-founder of the fact-checking website Aos Fatos, who now leads an award-winning reporting team of nearly 20 people.
It’s increasingly common for criminals to operate across borders. So investigative reporters also need to know how to identify and investigate people whose names use different alphabets, are formed by unfamiliar conventions, or carry unexpected cultural signals. Read these tips from the OCCRP on best practices for investigating names from outside the English-speaking world.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
At the 2023 NICAR conference, GIJN talked with several data journalism experts and learned 10 simple data journalism errors to avoid that could ruin your investigation.
These new reporting tools and apps, which recently debuted at two Bellingcat Hackathons, can help journalists easily archive videos, locate satellite imagery, and track people via online reviews.
There are different tools reporters can use to make video and audio files searchable, they should be an essential part of any investigative journalist’s toolkit.
