Millions of people disappear every year, according to the International Commission on Missing People, and organized crime is involved in many of these cases. The violence associated with drug trafficking in particular, but also wildlife smuggling, resource theft, human trafficking, and other criminal rackets, plays a key role in many of the disappearances. Journalists act as both a deterrent to this kind of criminal conduct and as public-minded investigators, particularly where the rule of law has broken down.At its most sophisticated, organized crime is transnational, highly organized, and often systemic. It features in everyday life, infiltrating systems and groups that are essential to society. Disappearances are often a byproduct of this criminal activity.
Alberto Donadío ha sido llamado el padre del derecho a la información pública en Colombia y es uno de los pioneros del periodismo investigativo en América Latina. Paradójicamente, es también un personaje poco conocido.
Comenzó a investigar como un abogado y activista pro bono a finales de los años 60, documentando violaciones a los derechos de los ciudadanos y delitos ambientales. Luego sería contratado formalmente como uno de los “tres mosqueteros” que conformaron la unidad de investigación del periódico colombiano El Tiempo, la primera de este tipo en el país. Sus revelaciones fueron legendarias; mucho menos conocido fue el papel crucial de Donadío en muchas de ellas.
Después de dejar el periódico, Donadío dedicó su vida a investigar y a escribir libros. Ha publicado más de 10 sobre casi todos los escándalos financieros y de corrupción de los últimos 30 años, un perfil del ex dictador Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, sobre el papel oculto de Colombia en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, y sobre la guerra del país con el Perú.
Alberto Donadío is one of the pioneers of investigative journalism in Latin America, yet he remains a largely unknown figure. GIJN spoke to Colombian journalist Juan Serrano, who has written an award-winning book about the muckraker’s life and work.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from May 7 to 13 finds @adamrpearce brilliantly illustrating the problem and causes of backed up trains along the New York subway, @Textyorgua_Eng highlights the destruction of Ukraine’s landscape due to illegal amber mining and @duc_qn analyzes which university gives you the best bang for your buck.
Traditional war reporting, which mostly focused on revealing the brutality of the conflict in Colombia, is being replaced by new storytelling techniques using alternative narratives and creative digital tools. Here’s Proyecto Coca, Rutas del Conflicto and 4 Ríos.
(Tonsberg, Norway) From an international film festival in London to bustling conferences in Scandinavia and Latin America, investigative journalists turned out by the hundreds over the weekend in search of training and inspiration. The events, sponsored by GIJN member organizations in four countries, are part of an increasingly crowded calendar sparked by the growing global practice of investigative journalism.
In December 2012, Poderopedia was launched in Chile to map who is who in business and politics in the country, with the goals of promoting transparency and accountability, and revealing potential conflicts of interest among the most influential political, civic and business leaders, as well as companies and institutions. The platform is now a wealth of information about the powerful in Chile. At this writing, it contains info on 3,107 individuals, 1,398 companies and 812 institutions.
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