Since it was founded in 2010, Forensic Architecture has “hacked into the source code” of architecture to produce innovative and ground-breaking investigations that use 3D modelling, data mining, machine learning, and audio analysis. Working like a lab for the development of new tools, the outfit uses many of the forensic methods of investigation that have historically been the preserve of law enforcement to investigate social and political topics and injustices.
GIJN asked investigative journalists around the world to look ahead at what’s in store for 2020. Here are the trends, key forces, and challenges they expect will affect investigative and data journalism in the coming year, as well as the new skills and approaches we should be thinking about.
As part of the GIJN Editor’s Pick series for 2019, here are some of the best works of investigative journalism from the MENA region, as selected by GIJN’s Arabic Editor Majdolin Hasan.
In Russia, veteran human rights activist Leonid Agafonov and journalist Natalia Donskova have teamed up to create a series of investigative reports on life for women behind bars. The project covers taboo topics, spanning health issues like the treatment of cancer patients and childbirth in prison to sexual abuse and LGBT relationships.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from February 18 to 24 finds a fun @FinancialTimes quiz that tests your ability to read charts, the creation of a @DataVizSociety to foster engagement in the data visualization community and data viz designer @fedfragapane’s analysis of Human Rights Protection data from 1950 to 2014.
Supply chains are networks between companies and their suppliers that produce and distribute a specific product. They may include providers of raw material, firms that convert the material into products, storage facilities and distribution centers, and retailers who bring the ultimate product to consumers. The products are as varied as the marketplace: clothing, electronics, vehicles, food, medicine. Probing the origins of commodities and products is a rich field for reporters. Investigations have revealed forced labor, environmental crimes, corruption and human rights abuses.
Syria is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. But that didn’t stop three Syrian reporters from launching the first investigative journalism organization in the country. They spoke with GIJN Arabic editor Majdoleen Hasan about their work.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from June 4 to 10 finds an awesome curated list of resources for visualizing music by @Willian_justen, a deep dive into unsolved murders across America by @washingtonpost and @CarbonBrief mapping of the past, present and future of global coal power plants.
Full Migration Guide here. Journalism about migration has come under close scrutiny and not infrequent criticism, largely for shallowness, prejudice and exaggeration. The Ethical Journalism Network (EJN), a London-based NGO that follows media coverage of migration, has created migration reporting guidelines. The five-point guidelines urge:
Facts not bias
Know the law
Show humanity
Speak for all
Challenge hate
Journalism about migration, unfortunately, often falls short of these goals, according to several recent studies. “Censorship, particularly self-censorship,” begins a list of infirmities written by Aidan White, a journalist who founded EJN, and Ann Singleton, senior research fellow at the University of Bristol and senior advisor to International Organization of Migration’s Global Migration and Data Analysis Centre (IOM).
A Berlin-based group of researchers has launched the world’s first publicly accessible database of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. Aimed mainly at human rights organizations, it could also help investigative reporters in some potentially surprising ways. A GIJN original.
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