I am back from Philadelphia, where I attended my first annual conference of Investigative Reporters and Editors, the world’s largest and oldest association of investigative journalists. The conference featured plenty of research resources and other useful online tools. Here’s a roundup featuring some of the highlights.
Here’s your chance to support the global spread of investigative journalism. We need your help to sponsor dozens of journalists from developing and transitioning countries to come to the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Norway this October 8-11.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the Top Ten links for May 29-June 4: Free Software and Tools for Investigative Journalists (@DDJ_Tools); Debunking ddj Myths (@jsource); The Art & Science of ddj, German Rent Index (@zeitonline), Swiss Election Dataviz (@srfdata) and more.
In the fall of 2003 the story made its way to journalists at La Nación, the leading national newspaper in the Central American republic of Costa Rica. The reporters at the paper’s investigative unit pricked up their ears as soon as the disgruntled real estate agent spoke the name of her exasperating client: Eliseo Vargas, the man in charge of the country’s vaunted national health-care agency. “We didn’t really know what she had,” recalls reporter Ernesto Rivera.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the Top Ten links for May 22-29: Atlas of Germany’s far right (@rechtesland), same-sex marriage (@insightnewslab), Code for Africa Fellowships (@ICFJ), World Bank resettlements (@ICIJorg), open data conference (@opendatacon), and more.
How do reporters know when their sources are telling the truth? In the collapse of Rolling Stone’s November story on campus rape, a gullible reporter relied far too heavily on the unchallenged word of an alleged victim. Heinrich Böhmke, an adviser to the African Network of Centers for Investigative Reporting, takes a look back at the case and warns that journalists should learn from the law and apply a tough standard even when sources are convincing, confident, and have consistent stories.
We’re back with another selection of web resources and reports that might be of interest to journalists around the world. On the list this week: new reports from the International Labour Organization, Congressional Research Service, and UK House of Commons; and tools to search domain ownership, load tweets into a spreadsheet, and search open data. Good hunting!
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the Top Ten links for May 14-22: document mining for journos (@pudo), R & rvest web scraping (@Computerworld), arms exports (@srfdata), Spain elections (@elmundoes), German hospitals (@ARDde), a “magical Piano app,” and more.
I have been involved in politics and policy-making for over 50 years, and as you can imagine I hold strong feelings about reporters and the media. They’re not what you might think, however. Far from considering journalists to be irritating pains in the neck — though I’ve known a few who qualified — I believe them to be indispensable to our democracy.
Burma is one of the world’s champions of media censorship. The Committee to Protect Journalists recently ranked my country as No. 9, while listing Eritrea and North Korea as the most censored countries worldwide. Should I be proud of this? Ironically, yes. Burma, also known as Myanmar, was ranked No. 2 in 2006 when I started working as a journalist, so this ranking is an improvement.
For the second time, organizers of MezhyhiryaFest are going to bring together more than 300 journalists and public activists on June 6-7, establishing a tradition of celebrating the Journalist’s Day in the former billion-dollar estate of runaway President Viktor Yanukovych, who continues to hide out from murder and corruption charges in Russia.
Over the past few years we have seen the huge potential of data and document mining in investigative journalism. Tech savvy networks of journalists such as the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) have teamed together for astounding cross-border investigations. OCCRP has even incubated its own tools, such as VIS, Investigative Dashboard and Overview. But we need to do better. There is enormous duplication and missed opportunity in investigative journalism software.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the Top Ten links for May 8-14: Seven reasons to use dot graphs (@maartenzam), 5 truths about the UK election (@SPIEGELONLINE), ICIJ’s #luxleaks (@cabralens), history of men’s tennis (@duc_qn), U-shaped challenges (Data Colada) and more.
Journalism start-ups from throughout Europe gathered at DataHarvest 2015 in Brussels on May 8, for a roundtable discussion on possible cooperation and collective needs. With journalism increasingly seeking new business models and investigations coming out of non-traditional media outlets, there is much to gain by fledgling publishing platforms, investigative centers and non-profit organizations in sharing knowledge and strategies.
As the glittering PEN awards ceremony came to a close on Tuesday, a set of cartoons flashed onto the screen. At the end of the night, postcards were handed out to members of the audience bearing the same cartoons. The pictures all told aspects of the story of a journalist from Azerbaijan. Khadija Ismayilova had just been presented with PEN’s Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write award – in absentia, since she was unable to attend the ceremony herself.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the Top Ten links for May 1-8: Easy-to-use historical maps (@wired); Lobbyradar (@ZDF); @GENdjawards shortlist gradients+news graphics (@EdwardTufte); network analysis tutorial (@cguibourg); Saudi death penalty (@jeune_afrique), and more.
DataHarvest, the European Investigative Journalism Conference, opened Friday, May 7, in Brussels with more than 300 participants coming from across Europe, and some from outside, as well. There was special emphasis on sharing methods and techniques — as well as failures — at the conference. The keynote speech came from Marina Walker Guevara, deputy director of GIJN member International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Guevara stressed how ICIJ chooses people to be part of its projects, including its award-winning series on offshore tax scams.
Everyone must be free to seek, receive and impart knowledge and information on all media, online and offline. Quality journalism enables citizens to make informed decisions about their society’s development. It also works to expose injustice, corruption, and the abuse of power. For this, journalism must be able to thrive, in an enabling environment in which they can work independently and without undue interference and in conditions of safety.
The ninth Global Investigative Journalism Conference, to be held this October 8-11 in Lillehammer, Norway will feature again an academic research track, highlighting trends, challenges, teaching methodologies, and best practices in investigative journalism. Here is the call for papers that is going out to journalism professors worldwide.
Search engines are an intrinsic part of the array of commonly used “open source” research tools. Together with social media, domain name look-ups and more traditional solutions such as newspapers, effective web searching will help you find vital information. Many people find that search engines often bring up disappointing results from dubious sources. A few tricks, however, can ensure that you corner the pages you are looking for, from sites you can trust. The same goes for searching social networks and other sources to locate people.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the Top Ten links for Apr 25- May 3: How quickly America changes its mind (@business); Latin America HackLabs winners (@HacksLabsData); Tmap in a nutshell; crazy Berlin real estate (@morgenpost) and more.
As we mark this year’s World Press Freedom Day, the memory of the attack at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris hangs in the air. So, too, do the shootings in Copenhagen, where a cartoonist was again among the targets. So far 2015 has not been much of a friend to freedom of expression. I’m afraid that I do not have good news: across the full length of our continent, media freedom is now under threat.
Every year, 3 May is a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession. It is World Press Freedom Day. Over 100 national celebrations take place each year to commemorate this Day.
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is a GIJN member based in America’s heartland, in a Midwest state best known for its dairy farms, cheese, and Green Bay Packers football team. From its offices at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism, WCIJ since 2009 has distinguished itself with an impressive record of digging into criminal justice, the environment, and state government that has won a basket full of awards. Through its partnerships, the Center’s stories have reached millions, but its innovative team is now working to expand that reach by collaborating with artists on investigative stories. We’re pleased to present the latest from WCIJ’s Investigative Reporting + Art project.
The annual report on freedom of the press by Freedom House is out, and the results are grim: Freedom of the Press 2015 finds that harsh laws and violence have driven press freedom to its lowest level in over a decade. “Conditions for the media deteriorated sharply in 2014 to reach their lowest point in more than 10 years, as journalists around the world encountered more restrictions from governments, militants, criminals, and media owners,” states the report.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting? Here are the Top Ten links for Apr 18-26: data viz resources (@visualisingdata), Europe refugees (@zeitonline), French school names (@EugenieBastie), Perugia Fest highlights (#digilab), Le Monde fack-checks (@lemondefr), Global South ddj (SciDev.net).
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting about? Here are the Top Ten links for April 10-16: must-read books for #ddj beginners, data tools for covering elections, resources for working with open data, mapping the Internet in Europe, and an upcoming bootcamp in Pakistan.
