The boom of internet technology and social media networks have allowed journalists to access information which had previously been out of reach. Apps, sites and devices let ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances become reporters. However, internet research expert Paul Myers cautions that investigative journalists need to be incredibly sensitive when running stories and never expose innocent people to attack and ridicule.
Here are the top data journalism tweets for Feb 27-Mar 5, per our NodeXL mapping: #NICAR17 readings (@albertocairo); fake news guide collaboration (@jwyg); US visa restrictions (@ddjournalism); statistics’ interactive viz (@BrownUniversity); Guardian’s 10-point guide to ddj (@smfrogers); & more.
Freedom of information requests can generate unique stories on a wide range of subjects. Here’s a sampling that covers fishing, Uber, football and a suspect land deal. They’re united in revealing the potential for developing stories based on requesting information — about government permits, local crime statistics and official correspondence.
From time immemorial, media, both good and bad, have published false official “truths” dictated by authoritarian governments and propaganda by private interests. Now, what is even more a threat to journalism is the increasing shady interests committed to news forgery. There are no easy solutions but journalism is fighting back with new fact-checking initiatives, new media alliances and the creation of new platforms to check sources.
Egyptian traffic cops found a mobile launcher lying in a piece of pile near the airport of Cairo. The story was quickly dismissed by Egyptian media. But others believed it. In this detective & research adventure recorded by web research specialist Henk van Ess, you’ll learn how to find the truth midst of an information war.
Here are the top data journalism tweets for Feb 20-26, per our NodeXL mapping: risky extrapolation (@albertocairo); US Congress Facebook analysis (@pewresearch); keys to good data stories (@ddjournalism); data journalism’s potential (@jburnmurdoch); Venezuela minimum wage (@CamburYMedio); & more.
The Global Investigative Journalism Conference is the premier international gathering of investigative and data journalists, held once every two years. This year, the 10th conference will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from November 16 to 19, and features more than 120 exciting panels, workshops, and networking sessions, ranging from cross-border collaboration and corruption to advanced data analysis. We’re offering over 100 fellowships for journalists from developing and transitioning countries to join us.
Even as the attention span of readers gets shorter, Latin American media have taken the risk of producing long-form journalism for the internet and struggling to impose itself in the midst of overproduction of content more easily consumed on the internet.
As GIJN has grown to 145-strong member organizations, we’re finding a wealth of unique methods they’re using to increase revenue, expand outreach, and support investigative work. Here are a few out-of-the-box ideas and programs implemented by GIJN members that are worth a second look.
Many media investors see disaster everywhere they look, as traditional media lose audience, revenues, and relevance. However, the importance of media is “absolutely obvious” and media companies need more support from democratic societies than they are getting.
Here are the top data journalism tweets for Feb 13-19, per our NodeXL mapping: France’s capital of celibacy (@LeTelegramme); Ode to Hans Rosling (@ddjournalism); Portugal’s tax-free Madeira (@BR_Recherche); Love/hate pie charts (@storywithdata); Dutch ddj guide (@henkvaness); & more.
Despite growing state controls and censorship, Chinese journalists are still finding ways to publish groundbreaking investigative reports about issues that matter to the Chinese people. In this piece, GIJN China has selected nine enterprising stories that showcase the best of Chinese muckraking last year.
As the Syrian civil war has played out on the battlefields with gunshots and mortars, a parallel conflict has been fought online. In this interview, Al Jazeera’s Juliana Ruhfus details the methodology and challenges of her investigation into an “invisible” cyberwar and the process of transforming the investigation into an online game.
Here are the hottest data journalism tweets for Feb 6-12, per our NodeXL mapping: data tips (@pilhofer); Trump tweets (@DataRemixed); 165 years of Swiss Immigration (@duc_qn); Lisa Charlotte Rost’s data blog (@lisacrost); open corporate data (@ddjournalism); & more.
The Global Investigative Journalism Conference is the world’s premier international gathering of investigative journalists. Held every two years, the conferences have trained more than 5,000 journalists, sparked hundreds of investigations and collaborative projects, and played a key role in the global spread of investigative reporting over the past 16 years. If your organization would like to host the next GIJC after this year’s conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, now is the time to assemble and submit a proposal.
Divine intervention appears to be the only thing protecting journalists in Iraq these days. Local reporters are sent off to do conflict reporting with no prior training and equipped with bad, cheaply made and easily penetrable vests. Mustafa Sa’adoun, director of Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, details the dangers of being an Iraqi war reporter.
FOIA is the solar-powered flashlight of the journalism world — it offers direct access to primary source material which sometimes leads to a big scoop. MuckRock executive editor JPat Brown shares the compelling, and sometimes hilarious, stories that results from MuckRock’s FOIA requests.
Here are the hottest data journalism tweets for Jan 30-Feb 5, per our NodeXL mapping: Visual Trumpery (@albertocairo); dataviz colour functions (@FastCoDesign); How to Lie with Statistics (@PenguinBooks); mapping 13m climate change tweets (@CarbonBrief); OpenStreetMap (@datenjournalist); & more.
Transnational investigations pose a different set of additional challenges. Coordinating journalists across borders, who have different priorities, and making them work as if they were sitting in the same newsroom, is not an easy task. Here are some lessons Investigate Europe has to share based on their experience.
This is a list of winning stories drawn from 16 major global or regional journalism awards given in 2016, which hopefully might serve as a source of inspiration for you to find original stories, to innovate in how to tell them, or to find a thread to develop a fresh angle. Take heart that the quality of work by solo reporters or fledgling investigative teams can sometimes stand out as much as that of huge media outlets.
We’re delighted to announce that GIJN has launched two new initiatives with our members: GIJN in Russian, in partnership with the Regional Press Development Institute (RPDI); and GIJN Arabic, in partnership with Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ). We’ll be sharing the best investigative tips & tools, groundbreaking stories, grants & fellowships, data sets and more.
Here are the hottest data journalism tweets for Jan 23-29, per our NodeXL mapping: 100 Years of infographics (@NatGeoMag); Trump’s wall size (@thetruesize); Women’s March (@womensmarch); journocoding (@journocode); dataset viz 25 ways (@flowingdata); dataviz stocktake (@eagereyes); & more.
Filing right to information requests can be a very frustrating process, but the reward can be a valuable exclusive article. Here are four examples from India, Northern Ireland and the U.S., in which journalists successfully developed stories using national freedom of information and right to information laws.
To secure the work of independent media, direct assistance from either individual contributions or funding agencies are important as a bloodstream to keep us alive. Here are five reasons why direct assistance is so important to the success of independent media.
Here are the hottest data journalism tweets for Jan 16-22, per our NodeXL mapping: dataviz catalog (@flowingdata); Inaugurations compared (@pewresearch); big data & polls (@ddjournalism); Hispanics in America (@UniNoticias); Le Monde data (@decodeurs); Obama’s record (@nytimes); & more.
For high-quality journalism to thrive after the collapse of the traditional business model for media, independent media outlets need to leverage on their social capital to generate revenue and ensure editorial independence. The economic value of social impact can be used to justify and attract investments from foundations, NGOs, businesses, the public, and even government.
Your nonprofit board of directors can be a dynamic catalyst to bring in new major donations. People who are passionate about what your institution does and have a lifetime of connections can make the difference between “basic survival” fundraising or breaking out into the green fields of major gifts fundraising. Here are three ways to help your board shed their fears of fundraising and find their unique role in this aspect.
The Global Investigative Journalism Network is calling on Nigerian authorities to immediately drop all charges against the publisher and a reporter for the investigative news site Premium Times. In a letter sent to Nigerian officials today, GIJN Executive Director David E. Kaplan called the charges “an attempt to intimidate Premium Times from independent inquiry.”
