For this week’s Friday 5, where GIJN rounds up key reads around the world, we found stories about freelancers commissioned to write for a massive Russian-backed disinformation campaign, how to (not) get your pitch read by an editor, and a guide for reporting on US elections.
With fact checking organizations having already debunked thousands of falsehoods about COVID-19, investigative reporters are turning their focus to the people and the money behind deliberate disinformation surrounding the pandemic. In a series of interviews with GIJN, seven journalists shared the inside story on how they exposed the forces behind the lies, as well as key tips on the tools and techniques that aided their investigations.
The popularity of TikTok has surged during the pandemic, and one particular “data investigation” clip has gone viral. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from April 20 to 26 found TikTok user Rebecca fact-checking a woman’s claim about the COVID-19 quarantine and her grey hair roots, the Coronavirus Fact-Checking Alliance visualizing the thousands of fact checks they have produced during the pandemic, The New York Times analyzing United States President Donald Trump’s messages about the country’s coronavirus response, and FiveThirtyEight examining how concerned Americans are about the coronavirus compared to the economy.
From the “cybercrime” charges against Glenn Greenwald in Brazil to the ICIJ-powered Luanda Leaks and a 25-minute video tutorial on OSINT, here are some of GIJN’s favorite reads in English this week.
GIJN’s ever-growing Resource Center added many new or substantially revamped guides this year, including packages on climate change, land ownership, women journalists, data journalism, tracking planes, and working with whistleblowers.
Last week Twitter and Facebook suspended some accounts which originated in China and acted in a “coordinated fashion” with intent to disrupt the recent protests in Hong Kong. We asked Sophia Xu, a China-based social media specialist, to help us better understand the trends in Chinese social media, as well as how to counter fake news and disinformation in the country.
When ProPublica Illinois realized that readers had lots of questions about what goes on behind the scenes in their newsroom, its editors invited them to submit questions. They then created a regular series in which reporters take turns answering questions ranging from how anonymous sources are vetted to why journalists compete and sometimes collaborate.
After an incorrect report spread on WhatsApp, a mob lynched two men in Acatlán de Osorio, Mexico. Fact-checkers came in and tried to uncover the truth of what happened. Here’s their story.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from March 18 to 24 finds a collection of beautiful news graphics by Megan Jaegerman curated by statistician @EdwardTufte, @tagesanzeiger’s quiz testing readers’ level of populist leanings, a new collaborative fact-checking effort by the name of @FactcheckEU, and @briromer’s interesting piece on maps that break strict geography rules.
Many in the journalistic profession fear Artificial Intelligence will leave them without a job. But AI could become the savior of the trade, making it possible to better cover the increasingly complex, globalized and information-rich world we live in. Open Society Foundations’ María Teresa Ronderos writes about the ways some of the world’s newsrooms are using it now.
