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.
The good people at the Journalism in the Americas Blog, who just hosted the always interesting International Symposium on Online Journalism, alerted us to a useful new video, “Data Journalism: An Explication.” Here are journalists doing their best to define data journalism.The video comes from Cindy Royal, an associate professor, and Dale Blasingame, a lecturer, in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University.
Some think of scholarly or academic journals and the articles they contain as boring, not easy to read, and not useful if you’re not an academic. While this might be the case for some articles, the belief that this is the case for all articles in all publications is wrong. Academic and scholarly publications can be of tremendous value to the journalist and researcher.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting about? The Top Ten links for April 3-9: doing ddj in Afghanistan; +40 data journalism projects in France, 100 cool historical map visualizations, a South Africa calculator for paying your domestic worker, cost of medicine worldwide, and more.
One of the most common things you hear people say when you tell them what you do for a living is “Oh, I hate fundraising! I could NEVER do that for living!” Nice. Yes, there are all kinds of fun responses we can think of. But what it tells us over and over again is that fundraising is widely perceived as something dirty, ethically challenged, or at least uncomfortable. People think that talking to someone about their own money is akin to talking to them about sex, politics, or religion. It’s not.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting about? Top Ten links for March 27 – Apr 5: journalists and coding, 30+ free data tools, #ddj for beginners, asbestos in Italy, political money in Germany, and more. This list is determined by NodeXL, a social media network mapping program. The full map is available at the bottom of this roundup.
The annual awards are out from Investigative Reporters and Editors, the world’s largest and oldest association of investigative journalists. Each year the organization honors “outstanding investigative work” with its highly regarded IRE Awards. The prizes are given in 16 categories that include small to large markets, broadcast and multimedia, books, FOI, students and more. A GIJN founding member, IRE began in 1975 and is based at the University of Missouri Journalism School.
The just announced 9th Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism is South Africa’s highest prize for investigative journalism. The award recognizes “outstanding examples of journalism, that reveal untold stories, hold the powerful to account and question those in public life.” GIJN is pleased to reprint below the awards speech by Wits University Journalism Professor Anton Harber, given March 27 in Johannesburg.
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting about? Investigating unusual trading patterns at a Chinese solar company (@FT), tracking the rising Right in France (@Rue89Strasbourg), looking back on a year of fighting Ebola (@MSF), and announcing @ICFJKnight fellowships. Read on!
What’s the data-driven journalism crowd tweeting about? Top Ten links for March 13-20 feature investigating water aid from El Confidencial, IndiaSpend’s manipulating data in India’s most populous state, explaining the Middle East in 40 maps from Vox; & Poynter’s interactive storytelling lessons.
