Stories
GIJN Webinar — Investigating the Pandemic: Tracking Billions in COVID-19 Contracts
Governments have already spent more than 40 billion dollars to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, so how can journalists investigate how the money is being used and who is getting the contracts? GIJN’s latest webinar, Tracking Billions in COVID-19 Contracts, focuses on how to investigate the contracting process, what red flags to look out for and how to find out where the money is going.
News & Analysis
How a Canadian Newsroom Launched a Co-Op to Save Itself from Bankruptcy
After the group that owned half of Quebec’s daily newspapers went bust, Canada’s Le Soleil newspaper was part of a group that created Canada’s largest newsroom cooperative, counting on the support of their readers and their own staff to ensure their survival. One year on, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, they are thriving.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism Top 10: Humanizing COVID Deaths, Coronavirus Searches, Climate Change Songs, Brazil’s Cursing Cabinet
The devastating consequences of the coronavirus pandemic can get lost in the mass of numbers presented. Journalists are working hard to humanize the data. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from May 18 to 24 finds The New York Times with a moving tribute to lives lost to COVID-19; Schema Design, the Google News Initiative, and Axios visualizing coronavirus-related Google searches; and The Atlantic revealing the US CDC conflated results of two types of coronavirus tests.
My Favorite Tools
My Favorite Tools with Katherine Eban
For our series about journalists’ favorite tools, we spoke with Katherine Eban, who has won awards for her work on gun trafficking, pharmaceutical counterfeits, and CIA interrogations. She described some of the low-tech tools and old-school strategies that have helped her break major stories on the COVID-19 pandemic.
News & Analysis
How to Tackle the Global Undercount in COVID-19 Deaths: Reporters Offer Tips and Techniques
Around the world, official death tolls from the pandemic have been compromised by data lags, lack of testing, and sometimes deliberate distortions, leading to significant undercounts. In response, investigative reporters are using new tools and creative approaches to provide a clearer picture of direct and indirect deaths associated with the pandemic, and to hold governments accountable for inadequate responses.
Reporting Tools & Tips
9 Ways To Find Stories in Company Accounts
Investigative journalists can discover story leads from scrutinizing financial or asset disclosures. Data journalist Paul Bradshaw shares nine ways to find stories in companies’ accounts, including looking out for conflicts of interest, and mapping connections between companies and directors.
GIJN Webinar — Investigating the Pandemic: Masterclass on Online Research with Paul Myers
Reporting on the ground and interviewing people face-to-face have become high-risk activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. But there are ways to continue investigative work using your computer and cutting-edge online techniques – critical skills at all times. Join us for this GIJN webinar, Online Research with open source sleuth Paul Myers, part of GIJN’s series Investigating the Pandemic.
News & Analysis
What We’re Reading: Who Killed Léo Veras, China’s Twitter Propaganda, and COVID-19 Collaboration
This week’s Friday 5, where we round up our favorite reads from around the online world in English, includes Abraji’s report on the investigation into the murder of journalist Léo Veras, a guide to decoding Chinese state propaganda on Twitter, a study into bot-generated coronavirus activity on Twitter, and Hostwriter’s tool to help connect editors to local journalists worldwide.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism Top 10: Herd Immunity, Coronavirus in Prison, Elder Abuse, Journalism Rock Stars, Layoffs
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve seen heated debate on whether to best solve the health crisis through “herd immunity” — the indirect protection that occurs when much of a population becomes immune to infection. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from May 11 to 17 finds FiveThirtyEight creating a simulation calculator which shows that getting to herd immunity without a vaccine isn’t quite that simple; The Marshall Project tracking COVID-19 cases and deaths in prisons across America; the BBC’s Media Show highlighting data journalists as the media’s latest rock stars; and Istories and MediaZona examining elder abuse in Russia, which experts fear may worsen during the pandemic with so many people staying home.
News & Analysis
South African Investigative Awards: Diverse Subjects, Nonprofit Surge, and Thanks to Whistleblowers
Outstanding investigative stories on subjects from land reform and roads to sexual abuse and corruption were among the finalists at this year’s Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism. Panel convener Anton Harber said the diversity of stories and media showed the core strength of South African investigative reporting, which was now being deployed to tackle the coronavirus pandemic fallout.
Member Profiles
The Tunisian Journalists Who Built a Business Model That Frees Them to Investigate
Following the 2011 Tunisian revolution, the loosening of free speech created a vibrant marketplace of ideas but investigative reporting still lagged. A group of Tunisian journalists set out to change this by founding independent media outlet Inkyfada, which has experimented with data and audio storytelling and worked hard to diversify its revenue in order to guard its independence. Layli Foroudi profiled Inkyfada for GIJN.
Tips for Investigating COVID-19 in Africa
Africa’s investigative journalists are playing a critical role in unpacking the continent’s expanding pandemic and have already snapped some governments out of their early complacency on COVID-19 preparedness. However, amid warnings about the potential impact of the virus on the continent’s 1.1 billion citizens, four leading African journalists shared strategies for coverage in this critical time in a webinar attended by reporters from 57 countries.
Case Studies
Exposing How US Universities Profited from Indigenous Land
A joint investigation by a historian and a journalist revealed that a number of US universities were beneficiaries from land expropriated from Indigenous communities. The authors, Robert Lee and Tristan Ahtone, reveal what tools helped them uncover the story. They built a geodatabase and traced the money to find out where the land had come from and how much was paid for it.
Reporting Tools & Tips
A Secret Weapon for Media Independence: Paying for Subscribers
Entrepreneurship coach Phillip Smith explains how publishers who seek to grow their membership can invest in paid lead acquisition tactics and predict the rate of return on their investment.
News & Analysis
What We’re Reading: F@%# the Pulitzer, Tough Questions for “Plandemic”, and the Ethics of Showing Your Work Pre-Pub
This week’s Friday 5, where we round up our favorite reads from around the online world in English, includes Meduza’s report on Russian editor Roman Badanin’s Pulitzer-charged rant against The New York Times, ProPublica’s sober response to the “Plandemic” viral video, and Poynter’s point about an ethics policy that includes guidelines for pre-publication source review.
GIJN Webinar — Investigating the Pandemic: Tracking Medicine, Masks and other Supplies
This webinar on COVID-19 Supply Chains, the ninth in GIJN’s series Investigating the Pandemic, focuses on how to follow vital products from their origin to where they are needed. Two extraordinary investigative journalists will share their strategies and tips on how to follow the supply chain trail, and explain why some of the most vulnerable people in society are at risk.
Data Journalism
Data Journalism Top 10: Coronavirus Super-spreaders, Massive Unemployment, COVID-19 Life Expectancy, Violent Cops
Economies around the world have taken a big hit as countries implement lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from May 4 to 10 finds The New York Times looking into businesses that could be potential infection super-spreaders, and the alarmingly high unemployment rate, while German news media NDR and ZDF heute have examined lost life expectancy due to COVID-19 and the importance of intensive care beds. While Reuters published an important analysis into the use of little-known law that is increasingly being used to grant immunity to police who have used excessive force.
How Nigeria’s ICIR Pushes for Accountability in the COVID-19 Response
An investigative journalism nonprofit based in Nigeria, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, has pushed the envelope with its approach to investigating the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Executive Director Dayo Aiyetan talks about how the unit has carried out its investigations in the midst of the lockdown and how reporters are holding the government to account over its response.
Why Reporters Need to Carefully Assess the Evidence on COVID-19
Reporters investigating the coronavirus pandemic are confronted with a mountain of medical research papers, statistical models, and government figures that purport to be true. But experts insist that even investigative journalists without health backgrounds can readily assess their truthfulness and relevance, if they follow the right principles and tools.
How an Innovative Health Website in South Africa Is Covering COVID-19
Mia Malan is the founding editor-in-chief of the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, a pioneering, donor-funded media start-up in South Africa. In this interview Malan gives an overview of the work of her colleagues and gives some tips on how to cover the current crisis.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Reporting on COVID-19 in Africa: A Collaborative Story Idea List
What is the best way into the COVID-19 story? Pick an angle. No matter what your beat is, the pandemic is seeping into almost every story. In response, the Kampala-based African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) created a running list of story ideas on COVID-19 which stretches across beats: from agriculture and food to the economy, education, religion, sports, and arts and entertainment.
News & Analysis
Telling Real News from Propaganda: A Reader’s Guide to Chinese Media
Here’s a guide to understanding how the government in China regulates and controls the media. Jin Ding explains the relationship between Chinese news publications and the state’s ruling Chinese Communist Party, the methods of censorship, media funding, and notable publications to follow.
GIJN Webinar — Investigating the Pandemic: The Threat to Africa
In this latest of GIJN’s webinar series, experienced African journalists will share their assessment of the COVID-19 coverage to date, offer suggestions for future investigations, and share their strategies, tips and tools to help journalists to investigate the most important pandemic stories on the continent.
Case Studies
Using a Mobile Phone Survey to Investigate South Sudan’s Conflict
In South Sudan, conflict and government repression make it difficult to do on-the-ground reporting, so a team of journalists designed a mobile phone survey to gather data on forced displacement and destruction across the country. Carolyn Thompson explains why their award-winning investigation may offer lessons to others working in repressive environments or facing movement restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.