Case Studies
FOIA This! Using FOIA to Report on Ransomware
The massive ransomware attack WannaCry hit institutions in some 150 countries. Here’s how to use national freedom of information laws to develop news stories around cyber security threats.
Stories
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The FBI’s Obsessive Inquiry Into Edward R. Murrow
During the height of the “Red Scare,” the FBI built an elaborate case alleging America’s favorite newsman was a Communist. MuckRock sifted through 700 pages of Bureau documents that tracked Murrow’s acquaintances, movements and alleged involvement with Communist-front organizations.
Reporting Tools & Tips
A Marketing Strategy for Arabic Investigative Stories
Some crucial stories have been uncovered by investigative journalists in the Arab world but they don’t get the attention – or the traction – they deserve. What they could use is some lessons in marketing.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #ddj: The Week’s Most Popular Data Journalism Links
Here are top data journalism tweets for May 8-14, per our NodeXL mapping: race against fastest marathoner (@alastairotter); mapping the ransomware attacks (@nytimes); French election data dive (@DataspotTLG and @ftdata); Alberto Cairo interview (@chytomo); and more.
Case Studies
Death of a Prosecutor: 40,000 Audio Recordings, Two Years, One Team
Here’s how the data team at Argentina’s La Nación dug into 40,000 audio recordings collected by prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was murdered while investigating a Buenos Aires terrorist attack tied to Iran.
News & Analysis
West African Journalists Launch Investigative Hub
The April gathering in Ouagadougou marked the start of operational activities of the Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa, an investigative hub where journalists can access grants, resources, mentoring and form cross-border collaborations.
News & Analysis
Marcela Turati: Expose the Hidden Interests of Big Media Companies
The topic of big media ownership is often left unquestioned, but Mexican investigative journalist Marcela Turati believes that it is important to unveil the hidden interests of big companies because companies that disguise their business strategies as journalism can do much harm.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #ddj: The Week’s Most Popular Data Journalism Links
Here are top data journalism tweets for May 1-7, per our NodeXL mapping: delayed cherry blossoms (@TheEconomist); dataviz how-to (@albertocairo); 20 million starving (@washingtonpost); Munich route planner code (@Munichrocker); FB German filter bubble (@SZ); Open Data Index (@pinardag); and more.
Data Journalism Methodology
La Nación Maps Pollution on Argentina’s Matanza River
There is a huge amount of data available on pollution and disease caused by the Matanza River – widely known as River Riachuelo – the problem was transforming it into information that those affected could easily understand. In a special multimedia report, La Nación used open data and data visualization to illustrate the extent of the problem.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #ddj: The Week’s Most Popular Data Journalism Links
Here are top data journalism tweets for Apr 24-30, per our NodeXL mapping: draw it yourself interactives (@br_data); visualizing Google searches (@albertocairo); opinion polls analysis (@SZ); Politibot’s graphics (@politibot); French election (@BIQdata); ProPublica jobs (@ProPublica); and more.
News & Analysis
GIJN Honored with Freedom of Expression Award
Today, on World Press Freedom Day, GIJN was honored with its first award, the Difference Day Honorary Title for Freedom of Expression. Awarded by two prominent Brussels universities, VUB and ULB, the Honorary Title is given annually “to a journalist, writer, artist, cultural thinker or any other person, association or institution that has made a vital contribution to protect and promote freedom of thinking and expression in an ever changing, democratic society.”
News & Analysis
World Press Freedom Day: Critical Minds, Critical Times
This year, World Press Freedom Day’s theme “Critical Minds for Critical Times” drives home the need for everyone to sharpen their minds to defend the freedoms — free, independent, and pluralistic media — that are essential for justice and peace. Without audiences demanding well-researched and conflict-sensitive narratives, critical reporting will be increasingly side-lined. Every citizen has a direct stake in the quality of the information environment.
News & Analysis
Why Digital Journalism’s Next Era May Be Our Most Exciting Yet
It has only been 26 years since the world’s first website and server went live. Since then, digital journalism has evolved quickly through the portal era, the search era, and the social era. At present, digital journalism has entered a new phase — the Stories as a Service (SaaS) era — where journalism is paid for by readers, for readers, which will likely result in quality journalism, trustworthiness, and the building of new communities.
News & Analysis
Global Press Freedom Plummets to 13-Year Low
Global press freedom has continued its decline, now at its lowest point in 13 years in 2016 due to unprecedented threats to journalists and media outlets in major democracies, intensified crackdowns by authoritarian states, and moves by Russia and China to increase their influence beyond their borders, according to Freedom of the Press 2017, the latest edition of Freedom House’s annual report on media freedom worldwide.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #ddj: The Week’s Most Popular Data Journalism Links
Here are top data journalism tweets for Apr 17-23, per our NodeXL mapping: French voting (@lamontagne_fr); music festival gender (@pitchfork); mapping US homeless (@FastCompany); Scottish fact checking (@FerretScot); Spanish voting (@Politibot). tilegrams (@bhaskar_vk); & more.
News & Analysis
RSF’s Press Freedom Index: Media Freedom Falling in Democracies
Reporters Without Borders this week released its 2017 World Press Freedom Index of 180 countries, and the news is not good. The report found media freedoms falling in democracies and that “nothing seems to be checking that fall.” Nearly two thirds (62.2%) of countries measured had deteriorated freedoms, while the number of countries where the media freedom situation was “good” or “fairly good” fell by 2.3%.
News & Analysis
A Bumper Crop of Award-Winning Investigations
‘Tis the season of media awards with lots of great investigative journalists — and great investigative stories — getting honored for their muckraking. We’ve picked some notable winners and finalists from the European Press Prizes, the Pulitzers, and the IRE Awards. Big congratulations to the winners and finalists, who have showcased grit and determination in exposing injustices and corruption across the globe. Despite all the challenges we face, muckraking has never been in better hands.
Case Studies
How Univision Revealed Flaws in Costa Rica’s Judicial System
Four years of work and 8,000 judicial rulings later, the team at Univision Data shows how in Costa Rica, a person is more likely to be convicted of a crime if they are assigned a public defense attorney than if they have a private one. Their methodology included web scraping, R and logistic regression — a statistical method common in social sciences but practically unexplored in newsrooms.
Member Profiles
The 5th Element: A Mexican Investigative Reporting Lab
The dependence of Mexican media on official advertising, reductions in newsrooms and the search by media outlets to “fill spaces,” meant that investigative journalism is increasingly forgotten, and the little that is done is failing to create the impact it should. In order to rectify this, reporters Alexandra Xanic, Daniel Lizárraga, Ignacio Rodríguez Reyna and Marcela Turati set up Quinto Elemento Lab – to work with and mentor investigative journalists through the progress of investigations.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #ddj: The Week’s Most Popular Data Journalism Links
Here are top data journalism tweets for Apr 10-16, per our NodeXL mapping: Brittany’s posh hotels (@dataspotTLG); Flourish #dataviz tool (@FastCoDesign); US health insurance (@NPR); hexagonal Europe (@MusMekh); visual vocabulary (@ftdata); data internships (@ONS); China’s rising water (@kimmelman); & more.
News & Analysis
GIJN Members in the News
It’s been a busy first quarter of 2017 for GIJN members — from picking up Pulitzer Prizes to launching crowdfunding campaigns. There have also been new projects and new collaborations forged. Here are some noteworthy splashes made by GIJN members around the world.
Member Profiles
Ojo Público Experiments with Digital Narratives
For Ojo Público, the search for new narratives and formats to tell a story is constant. The Peruvian investigative outlet believes in experimenting and betting on new formats to reach new audiences. With this mindset and commitment to innovation, the team has produced stories in an interactive comic format, created an award-winning database and is looking to develop news games this year.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #ddj: The Week’s Most Popular Data Journalism Links
Here are the top data journalism tweets for Apr 3-9, per our NodeXL mapping: #fakenews guide (@PublicDataLab); election bots (@d1gi); data story rules (@surendranb); China climate risk (@nytimes); UK jobs (@sole24ore); #PerugiaPledge (@dw_innovation); & more.
Helena Bengtsson: Bringing People Back to Facts
When faced with data journalism, journalists often say “Oh, I can’t do that, it’s too complicated” [or] “I hated math in school, I really can’t take the time to learn how to do this”. However, data expert Helena Bengtsson stresses that data journalism is not that hard, and insists that every journalist should have basic knowledge of how to sort and filter a spreadsheet, and do simple calculations.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Mojo Workin’ — Essential Mobile Journalism Tools
We’re delighted to launch a new column — Mojo Workin’ — on tips and tools for mobile journalism by noted mojo expert Ivo Burum. Ivo’s workshops are a popular feature of GIJN conferences. The Australia-based journalist brings over 30 years of experience producing prime-time programing across genres. He’ll be profiling the latest techniques with investigative journalists in mind, so here’s a great chance to get your mojo workin’.
Indonesia’s Tempo Leads Asia into Cross-Border Collaborations
Newsrooms in Asia have traditionally worked alone, guarding their sources and tip-offs fiercely and keeping their stories and investigations in-house. However, after attending GIJN’s Asian Investigative Journalism Conferences and participating in the global Panama Papers investigation, Indonesia’s top newsweekly and leading investigative outlet Tempo have been inspired to pursue their own cross-border collaborations.
Data Journalism
Top Ten #ddj: The Week’s Most Popular Data Journalism Links
Here are the top data journalism tweets for Mar 27- Apr 2, per our NodeXL mapping: interactive graphics (@driven_by_data); ridiculous news (@twisteddoodles); Malofiej Infographics Awards (@malofiej); Germany’s radio masts (@stimmeonline); Republicans voting with Trump (@FiveThirtyEight); & more.