News & Analysis
Tips for Hosting a Successful Digital-Only Conference
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.
Stories
2803
posts
How They Did It News & Analysis
How They Did It: Tracking Down a Rwandan Genocide Suspect
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.
News & Analysis
Tracking the Superspreader Events Driving the COVID-19 Pandemic
“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.
Tools for Campaign Sources, Disinfo Spying, AI Search, and Election Day Scenarios from #gijnElectionWatchdog
In week six of GIJN’s project to arm US reporters with the tools for the toughest election stories, #gijnElectionWatchdog shared tools to unmask groups behind political ads, an AI-powered search function for any dataset, the list of rules restricting poll watchers in swing states, and a database of election sources searchable by state and category.
News & Analysis
What We’re Reading: Media Manipulation, Newsroom Newsletters, Successful Pitches, and a UN Resolution on Journalist Safety
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.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism Top 10: Visualizing Hurricanes, Predicting Wildfires, Social Media Algorithms, Trump Loyalty Index
How does climate change increase the likelihood of weather extremes? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from October 12 to 18 finds ProPublica examining how the warming global climate exacerbates wildfire activity, and designer Will Chase visualizing some of the most destructive hurricanes with an interactive wheel graphic. The Financial Times is summarizing key trends of the pandemic using charts, maps, and graphics, while The Markup announced its latest project looking into the black box algorithms of social media platforms.
News & Analysis
Double Exposure: 5 Investigative Documentaries to Watch
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.
Data Journalism
How Data Journalists Can Use Anonymization to Protect Privacy
For data journalists there is a balancing act between publishing information vital to a story and protecting the person behind that information. Vojtech Sedlak explains the pitfalls and offers tips on how journalists can protect the people that feature in the data without compromising the story.
GIJN Webinar — Investigating Autocracy: Strategies and Tips
Authoritarianism is on the rise around the world, from failing democracies to despotic regimes. In this global GIJN webinar, we bring together four extraordinary journalists from Russia, Egypt, South Africa, and the Philippines to share strategies for staying effective and true to the journalism profession’s highest standards.
News & Analysis
Calculating Corruption: Peru’s Ojo Público Creates Tool to Gauge Contracting Risks
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.
Tools for Spotting Bots, Working Tough Sources, and Combatting Fresh Disinformation from #gijnElectionWatchdog
In week five of GIJN’s project to arm US reporters with tools for the toughest election stories, #gijnElectionWatchdog shared a tool to spot Twitter bots, a live dashboard to combat the hottest election disinformation efforts as they arise, a free cybersecurity toolkit for reporters, and tips for finding hard-to-access election sources.
News & Analysis
What We’re Reading: Disinformation Wargames, Chemical Weapons in Syria, Automated Graphic Storytelling, and AP Stylebook’s Election Guide
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.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism Top 10: A Stunning COVID Data Blunder, Beautiful News, Arctic Fires, Eviction Abuses, Isolating Students
The advancement of technology and availability of complex data tools has been a real boon to society, but utilizing the wrong tools for the job can have dire consequences. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from October 5 to 11 finds British media organizations the BBC and the Guardian reporting on a blunder by the English national health authority: it used the wrong Excel file format to store data, resulting in the loss of thousands of COVID-19 test data results. Meanwhile, German television news program ZDF heute highlighted how the Arctic has reached record high temperatures this year, DCist and Spotlight DC examined problems in the process of evictions, and we find Information is Beautiful offering a daily feed of uplifting news among the gloom of 2020’s news cycle.
News & Analysis
Pandemic Accelerates Global Decline in Digital Freedom
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.
How They Did It News & Analysis
How They Did It: Solving the Mystery of Who Killed Sweden’s Prime Minister
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.
Tools for Mistrust, Deepfakes, and Nightmare Scenarios from #gijnElectionWatchdog Week 4
In week four of GIJN’s project to arm reporters with tools for the toughest election stories, #gijnElectionWatchdog shared a dataset of individual swing state electors, tools for exposing deepfake videos, an app to push back against online harassment of female reporters, and key tips on impact in a low-trust landscape.
News & Analysis
What to Watch: DIG’s Investigative Documentary Shortlist
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.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism Top 10: Black Voter Suppression, K-Pop, Data Privacy Rights, and Global Coronavirus Deaths
Personal data is big business, and not only for private firms. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from September 21 to 27 finds a number of troubling investigations: Channel 4 News revealed that Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign used personal data from Facebook and Cambridge Analytica to deter Black voters from casting their ballot; Consumer Reports found that companies were making it difficult for people to opt out of having their data sold despite a landmark California law that protects individual data rights; and Noteworthy and The Business Post highlighted a concerning lack of clear regulation surrounding access to, and use of, genetic and patient data by private firms.
Investigating the Police: Reporting Tips & Tools
In this global GIJN webinar, “Investigating the Police: Reporting Tips and Tools,” co-organized with the African Investigative Journalism Conference, we bring together four experienced journalists: two from Africa and two from outside the continent, who have investigated law enforcement. They will share their experience and reporting techniques ranging from source development to forensic analysis.
News & Analysis
Journalists Need to Start Taking the Climate Crisis Seriously
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.
Tracking Down the Disappeared: Top Tips from Investigative Reporters on the Front Lines
In this summary of GIJN’s webinar series on investigating disappeared persons, you’ll hear top tips from the award-winning journalists whose work shined a light into the shadows and gave hope to the families of those who mysteriously vanished.
Democracy Really Is on the Ballot, Says GIJN Election Panel
In the first of three GIJN webinars focusing on the US 2020 election, Sarah Blaskey of the Miami Herald, Pulitzer-winning reporter David Cay Johnston, and AP’s race and ethnicity writer Kat Stafford set out the shocking stakes of the election, and offering key tips on how to tackle, and “land”, the stories that really need telling.
News & Analysis
What We’re Reading: Financial Crimes in the US Art Market, Wayback Weaponization, and Google’s $1 Billion for Publishers
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.
Tips on Far Right and Dirty Tricks Groups from #gijnElectionWatchdog
In week three of GIJN’s project to arm reporters with tools to tackle the toughest US election stories, #gijnElectionWatchdog includes three little-known election “killer apps” – one to zero in on coordination behind disinformation; one to assess foreign interference; and one to dig into far right groups bent on intimidating voters.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism Top 10: Death and Wealth, Internet Privacy Tool, COVID Under Control, Dataviz Colors
“Death is the great equalizer,” or so the saying goes. But our NodeXL #ddj mapping from September 21 to 27 finds an investigation by The Boston Globe Spotlight team that proves otherwise: race and income influences how and when people die. In this Top 10 #ddj edition, we also found The Markup launching its new privacy tool, the Financial Times examining how Finland, and the cities of Madrid and New York City handled the pandemic, as well as a great guide by Datawrapper’s Lisa Charlotte Rost to choosing better colors for your charts.
News & Analysis
Focus on the Risks to Democracy: Lessons from Abroad for US Election Coverage
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.