Stories
The Radio Station Under Attack in Putin’s Russia
Often referred to as the only independent radio station in Russia, Echo Moskvy has been subjected to state pressure for some time, but 2017 was particularly bad. One radio host was almost killed, two journalists went into in exile and several more were detained in the course of their work.
News & Analysis
Credibility Is the New Currency. And that’s Good for Independent Media
Communications lecturer and former Columbus Dispatch business journalist James Breiner on how credibility works to the advantage of independent media.
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top 10 in Data Journalism
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 29 to February 4 finds an @UpshotNYT analysis of the influence of Trump’s tweeting on Republicans’ attitudes towards the NFL, a new font typeface made out of human silhouettes created by @albertocairo and a fun Graphic Continuum card set by @jschwabish and @dataviz_catalog to use in the classroom.
News & Analysis
Editor’s Pick: Top Investigative Journalism in Arabic 2017
The Middle East is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an investigative journalist. Which makes this list of top stories from 2017 by GIJN’s Arabic editor, Majdoleen Hassan, that much more impressive.
Reporting Tools & Tips
From the Experts: Tips and Tools for Investigations
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out our new video series on investigative tips and tools. This compact set of crash seminars features leading experts with insights on what investigative journalism is, as well as how to follow public records, investigate with data, understand financial records and the best online search strategies.
How Journalists, NGOs Can — & Should — Collaborate
In an edited extract from the book “Global Teamwork: The Rise of Collaboration in Investigative Journalism,” GIJN’s Program Director Anne Koch talks about the successes — and shortcomings — of the collaboration between Transparency International and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top 10 in Data Journalism
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 22 to 28 finds a gorgeous data visualisation of German streets by @zeitonline, a detailed data analysis of Roger Federer’s tennis career by @srfdata and a look at eight alternatives in redistricting US voting boundaries by @FiveThirtyEight.
News & Analysis
Editor’s Pick: Best Investigative Stories from the Former Soviet Union 2017
From laundromats to propaganda factories, GIJN’s Russian-language editor, Olga Simanovych, rounds up some of the most outstanding investigations out of the Former Soviet Union countries in 2017.
News & Analysis
The Global Backlash Against NGOs (and How To Fight Back)
Authoritarian governments have cleverly used the liberal norm of transparency in order to shut down liberal groups in their countries, according to a new report “Distract, Divide, Detach: Using Transparency and Accountability to Justify Regulation of Civil Society Organizations.”
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top 10 in Data Journalism
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 15 to 21 finds an interactive @voxdotcom piece on American districts which are reducing or perpetuating racial segregation in schools, several data-related good book recommendations by @stephencredmond and @Gapminder and a podcast discussion of memorable visualizations between @michelle_borkin and @datastories.
News & Analysis
Why Journalists Need to Think Like Designers
Emerson College’s Catherine D’Ignazio says defining story “problem” — that is how to tell it and on what platform — from a systems perspective can help journalists and news organizations understand their role within those systems and what form their intervention might take.
Data Journalism
How They Did It: Developing a Data-Driven Navigator on Gun Laws
Last August, Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit research and advocacy group for gun control, launched the Gun Law Navigator, an exploratory data visualization tool explaining how states in America regulate guns. The project, developed by the Boston-based creative digital studio Upstatement, received lots of attention not only for examining such a sensitive topic, but also for successfully telling a visual, data-driven story about a complex subject: legislation.
News & Analysis
10 Acts of Artistic Rebellion
Graffitied pigs, a viola player, a painting of a war zone, underground music, a president as a clown. These are just some of the subversive art works that in the last year have resulted in artists’ imprisonment, prosecution, bans and threats.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Investigating Trump: A How-To Lesson by Fusion GPS
When Glenn Simpson was an investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal, he was among the best in the biz in following dirty money. Now the US Congress has released Simpson’s testimony on his private investigative firm’s role in digging into Donald Trump, and it’s a case study in sources and methods, showing how the firm tracked Trump’s investments and Russian ties using interviews, public records and smart detective work.
News & Analysis
State Censorship: The Other Travel Ban
Governments have arsenals of weapons to censor information. The worst are well-known: detention, torture, extra-judicial killing or surveillance. Another form of censorship gets limited attention, a kind of quiet repression: the travel ban.
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top 10 in Data Journalism
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 8 to 14 finds free font-for-numbers by @InVisionApp, a William Playfair biography book review for @WSJBookReviews and @PublicDataLab’s just-released full version of its fake news field guide.
FOI’s Man in the Middle East
In 2007, Jordan became the first country in the Middle East to enact freedom of information laws — and Musab Al-Shawabkeh is the award-winning journalist who has been taking full advantage of it.
Reporting Tools & Tips
10 Tips for Successful Collaboration Among Journalists
Journalism collaborations across news organizations have reaped countless benefits in recent years, resulting in more accurate and impactful reports, offering protection for professionals in danger and making possible stories which would have been impossible stories to do alone. Here is top notch advice, crowdsourced from collaborations with more than 500 journalists around the world.
Data Journalism
This Week’s Top 10 in Data Journalism
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from January 1 to 7 has data journalism and data visualization roundups by @ddjournalism and @flowingdata, podcasts by @datastories and @fabrider, as well as an analysis on prices corresponding with ski resort altitudes by @duc_qn.
News & Analysis
Guns, Politics and Media: A Look at Czech Investigative Journalism
After the 2008 economic crisis, western media companies sold their interests in the Czech Republic’s biggest media houses, radio stations and newspapers to Czech and Slovak billionaires. But the concentration of media in the hands of a few powerful owners has had an unexpected, positive impact. It has led to the emergence of smaller, independent investigative journalism sites, as well as new initiatives to fund them.
Case Studies
“100 Years of Bondage” — Investigating Slavery in the Amazon
For generations, the workers in the Brazilian Amazon who cut the palm straw used for brooms have been functionally enslaved by a system of loans provided by the bosses. Thais Lazzeri, an investigative reporter for Repórter Brasil, had to win their trust as she delved deeply into this topic for her October 2017 article, “100 Years of Bondage” which was beautifully illustrated with photographs by Fernando Martinho.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Secrets to Searching for Video Footage
Verifying videos is important, but first you have to find them. This Bellingcat guide will provide advice and some tips on how to gather as much video as possible on a particular event, whether it is videos from witnesses of a natural disaster or a terrorist attack.
News & Analysis
Editor’s Pick: The Best Investigative Stories from China 2017
It’s been a year since “post-truth” was chosen as Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries, but the sentiment still resonates. In China, we’ve encountered shifting public opinion, fake news and heavy censorship, but we also saw stories that remind us there are journalists who never give up the pursuit of truth. Here’s a selection of China’s best investigative stories from 2017 — from child abuse to misconduct by major companies — curated by GIJN’s Chinese team.
Data Journalism
Feast Your Eyes on 15 Stunning DataViz
Payman Taei’s round-up of 15 data visualizations that will not only blow your mind, they will give you a clearer understanding of what makes a great visualization. Feast your eyes on these beauties!
News & Analysis
2017’s Award Winning Global Journalism
Drawn from a selection of 15 global and regional journalism awards, this list of best reads from 2017 is an inspiring selection of storytelling, investigative techniques, collaborative enterprises and fearless reporting against all odds.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Your 17 Favorite Tools for Journalism from 2017
Ren LaForme, the tool guy over at Poynter who runs their Try This! — Tools for Journalism newsletter, put together a list of his readers’ favorites from 2017. A quick, fun and helpful must read highlighting journalism tools from the Pipl app to FOIA Slack and a dirt cheap phone tripod.