Recent shifts in Japan’s legislation have threatened the country’s history of free expression and undermined Japan’s democratic principles. But there are signs of hope. In September, two crucial supporters of investigative journalism in the country were honored by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
In the midst of a slew of emerging newsroom titles, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas is offering a free, four-week online product management for journalists course from October 16. Professor Cindy Royal talked to GIJN about the essential role many newsrooms didn’t even know they’d been missing.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from October 2 to 8 has @source’s overview of two years of mass shooting visualizations in the US, @merbroussard’s callout for information to future-proof data stories and @paulbradshaw shares his four favorite computational thinking examples from @DailyMirror, @puddingviz, @BuzzFeed and @washingtonpost.
Adela Navarro is the director of the weekly news magazine, Zeta, one of the only outlets in Mexico to regularly report on drug trafficking, corruption and organized crime. Over her 27-year career she has seen colleagues killed for their reporting, and lives and works under constant threat. She writes about the crucial role investigative journalists play in Mexico.
At the 12th Congress of Investigative Journalism in São Paulo this summer, journalists tackled the issue of fake news and safety for journalists in Latin America.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from September 25 to October 1 has @FT mapping the route in a day of a London Uber driver, #NICAR18 registration opening up, @Lattif charting Africa’s internet shutdowns using @atlascharts and loads of German election data visualizations.
We are happy to share the full schedule for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, now just six weeks away. We’re still tinkering with it, but you’ll find over 150 events. Thanks to journalists and supporters worldwide, this conference keeps growing: we now expect over 900 participants from 100 countries. There’s still room if you want to join what will be the muckraking event of the year.
While precarious employment, low pay and trumped up defamation lawsuits means Italian journalists are under increasing financial pressure, it’s the constant threat from mafia and organized crime that is putting reporters at risk and making in-depth reporting that much more difficult.
A team of Reuters reporters, editors and data analysts reviewed the results of hundreds of autopsies and filed hundreds of public records requests involving deaths by Taser in the US. The result? Not only did the investigation catalogue 1,005 deaths, but it ended up building the most comprehensive database ever on Taser-related deaths.
In the wake of Hurricane Maria’s devastating impact on Puerto Rico, amid shortages of food, water and electricity, international and local media have set up shop in the island’s Convention Center, creating a de facto newsroom where officials give press conferences and citizens look for resources. Among those leading the way are journalists from GIJN member Centro de Periodismo Investigativo.
Women journalists are far more likely than male journalists to be targets of online harassment, which quickly descends into graphic sexual and physical violence. Here’s what you — and your newsroom — can do to deal with the issue.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from Sept. 18 to 24 features Wikipedia of Data Visualization, the State of Data Journalism, Dear Data Postcard Kit, and German election data.
In 2012, Amr Eleraqi launched a data visualization website to introduce the concept of data visualization to the Arabic-speaking world. Earlier this year, Eleraqi and team of nine launched the first Arab Data Journalists’ Network. Here’s how the group plans on changing the data journalism scene in the region.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from Sept 11 to 17 has @puntofisso using machine learning to map the average face of British politicians, @AftertheFloodco creating a font that turns numbers into sparklines, and @datassist listing seven deadly sins in statistical analysis.
At a time when press freedom is deteriorating in many states participating in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, having a voice to raise journalist cases and hold governments to account is vital. In a recent interview, the organization’s new Freedom of the Media representative Harlem Désir discusses his plans and explains why he is prioritizing journalist safety, fighting impunity and combating violent extremism online.
What member participation activities are most useful to investigative news sites and most rewarding to members? The Membership Puzzle Project asked investigative news startups in Europe what they’ve been trying out.
Journalists who work in authoritarian environments tend to be under electronic surveillance. Sometimes surveillance is being conducted at a mass scale — rather than directed at a specific target — and is intended to track what journalists in general are doing and what stories they are investigating. Here’s how to assess if surveillance is a potential or actual risk to privacy, personal safety, data security and the identities of sources.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from Sept 4 to 10 has @FastCoDesign bringing the #EndtheRainbow argument to the fore, @puddingviz analyzing driving times to abortion clinics in the US and @nsuwatch dissecting a trial involving a German terrorist organization by the numbers.
Mongolia held its first international investigative reporting conference earlier this month, drawing over 100 attendees from 10 countries, including trainers from Germany, Japan and the United States. The event recognized the enterprising work being done by local journalists while launching Central Asia’s first nonprofit investigative newsroom, the Mongolian Centre for Investigative Journalism.
Last week a court in Paris held a hearing in a defamation lawsuit against French broadcast journalists Elise Lucet and Laurent Richard over their 2015 investigative report for the France-2 television show “Cash Investigations” in which Azerbaijan is referred to as a “dictatorship.” Richard will be speaking at #GIJC17 in Johannesburg in November.
This ready-made course by Mike Reilley from The Journalist’s Toolbox is great for beginners or for trainers. It covers Google Earth Pro, Google Earth Engine Timelapse and Google Earth for Chrome and comes complete with ways to implement Google Earth into your own multimedia and specifics on teaching it in data journalism courses — all the way down to suggested assignments.
Today is the final day to get early bird registration for the 10th Global Investigative Journalism Conference. We’re now expecting over 800 of the world’s best journalists from 100+ countries. Find out why hundreds of journalists around the world call the GIJC the best journalism conference they’ve ever attended.
The podcast got a major boost with the wildly popular Serial and hasn’t slowed down since. Susan Valentine rounded up a brief history of the humble podcast, showcasing best practices, useful tools, success stories, some of the latest research findings — and why it’s a great outlet for investigative journalism.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from August 28 to Sept 3 has the most amusing memes you’ll read all day from @xocasgv, a trip with @stuartathompson to the New York Times’ morgue to discover fascinating graphics from the 50s and 60s and crowdsourcing flooded roads by @HoustonChron.
In the run-up to #GIJC17 in Johannesburg in November, we are publishing a series of articles on the state of journalism in Africa to give conference-goers perspective on the continent. In this piece, researcher Jonathan Rozen shows how internet shutdowns in Ethiopia, the Republic of Congo and Cameroon are impacting journalists.
Venezuela is currently in the midst of an economic, political and constitutional crisis. Amid widespread rationing, tensions between President Nicolás Maduro and members of the opposition continue to escalate. Ewald Scharfenberg, cofounder of GIJN member organization Armando.info, talks about the role investigative journalism plays in Venezuelan politics. Scharfenberg will be speaking at #GIJC17 in November in Johannesburg.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from August 21 to 27 has useful digital forensics tools from @bellingcat, mathematician Cathy O’Neil warning us about blind faith in big data and an analysis of Delhi’s insane dowry demands by @htTweets.
