Resource Guide
A Guide to Fact-Checking Investigative Stories
Bulletproofing your story demands much more than getting the facts right. It requires a meticulous approach from the start in order to pass quality control.
Bulletproofing your story demands much more than getting the facts right. It requires a meticulous approach from the start in order to pass quality control.
GIJN is publishing a new business tools guide focused on helping news outlets solve their administrative needs. Written by Talya Cooper and illustrated by Chafiq Faiz, the guide includes useful software and applications – many of which are free – for small newsrooms. Tools included cover administration, management, communication, file sharing, accounting, SEO, audience engagement, audiovisual, content management, subscriber management, design and data visualization, social media and email marketing, site security, and password management.
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.
It is difficult to fathom how far the novel virus might spread, and what the ultimate consequences will be. With all the uncertainties, journalists around the world are faced with the many challenges of covering the epidemic — including combating misinformation and health risks to reporters in the field — while not fueling panic.
Citizens can investigate, and they do — all over the world. Today we’re launching a new GIJN guide to help non-journalists investigate even more. It’s full of techniques used by investigative journalists that will be helpful to citizen investigators, too. These include searching the internet, finding out who owns corporations, investigating politicians, and much more.
GIJN’s Data Journalism Resource Center is now reorganized, revised, and expanded. To help guide users, there are now 15 sections, beginning with the best books and tip sheets, working through descriptions of the main tools, and ending with mapping and visualization tools.
How do freelancers carry out a yearlong investigation when they only get paid at the end? Investigative reporter Samantha Sunne has a tiered approach to keep you from spending precious time and resources.
Need to contact a journalist abroad for a story? Seeking a contact in a remote part of the world? Here are nonprofit organizations worldwide that work in support of investigative journalism, listed by region. It’s a diverse group that includes nonprofit newsrooms, online publishers, professional associations, NGOs, training institutes, and academic centers in nearly 50 countries.
In 2001 GIJN was born, as investigative journalists from around the globe met for the very first time to share ideas, tips, and best practices to strengthen their reporting in a world where journalism was increasingly under threat.
Today the threat has multiplied, and at GIJN we find ourselves under the same pressures as our member organizations. Most urgently: available funding for investigative journalism has been impacted as some longtime funders who supported journalism in the past are no longer doing so or have closed. Yet our work continues, more important than ever before.
GIJN serves as the global hub for the world’s investigative reporters. Our core mission is to support and strengthen investigative journalism—with special attention to those from repressive regimes and marginalized communities.
We are embarking on our first-ever campaign initiative to help us expand our revenue by the end of the year through individual donors. If you have ever joined one of our free webinars, used one of our free resources, learned a new skill thanks to a GIJN training, or simply believe that press freedom is essential to civil society, we ask you to show your support for GIJN’s work with a donation of your choosing. Called “Friends of GIJN,” this campaign includes a more personalized experience, starting in 2027, for individuals who answer the call to join with us during this unprecedented time.
Truth and democracy are under attack around the world. You can fight back by helping GIJN support investigative journalists with free access to the latest tools and techniques — so they can foster justice and hold accountable those who abuse the public trust.
With a staff based in 24 countries, GIJN works in a dozen languages each day, linking together the world’s most enterprising journalists, offering state-of-the-art training, webinars, tip sheets, and a Help Desk that responds to 2,000+ requests for assistance each year. More than 84% of GIJN’s operating budget goes directly to our program work.
Please make a gift today to support journalists on the front lines of the fight for accountability and human rights.