The GIJN report “Investigative Impact: The Role of Investigative Journalism in Fostering Change – and How to Measure It,” is being released today at #GIJC17 in Johannesburg. Here is an excerpt from the report.
And we’re off! This evening in Johannesburg at the University of the Witwatersrand, we’ll be kicking off four days of unadulterated investigative journalism. For those of you who couldn’t make it to Joburg, here’s how to follow us from home, as well as highlights of #GIJC17.
Changing the way accountability stories are written takes research, preparation, listening and even a bit of psychology. In an excerpt from from a recent American Press Institute report, here are some recommendations from experts about persuasion and communications — as well as examples from news organizations that are using non-narrative, data and visual elements to make the best of journalism better for audiences.
As news publishers, it’s tempting to think of our analytics like the weather: they just happen to us. But it doesn’t have to be that way. By tracking our readers’ behavior and understanding what makes them act a certain way or click on a certain page, we can better understand how to recreate or manipulate their behavior the next time around. The following is a comprehensive list of tools to give you incredible insight into your readership.
The proliferation of nonprofit newsrooms is one of the more promising developments in an industry wracked by a crumbling financial base and sweeping technological change. Since 2000, dozens of nonprofit media groups have sprouted, not only across America but worldwide. Many are deeply committed to investigative and accountability journalism, working to fill a void left by a mainstream media that either can’t or won’t do its job as social watchdogs. In April, the Knight Foundation published the third installment in a series of reports since 2011 tracking the progress of nonprofit news sites as they strive for a sustainable financial base. There are lessons here for media nonprofits worldwide.
At the Google Investigathon on Nov.12, GIJN premiered its latest project, Investigative Impact: How Investigative Journalism Fights Corruption, Promotes Accountability, and Fosters Transparency around the World. GIJN director David Kaplan and board chair Brant Houston showcased the project before nearly 100 people at the New York event, demonstrating through video, graphics, data, and a new website the extraordinary global impact of investigative reporting. The project includes case studies of high-impact reports, video interviews with journalists in 20 countries, infographics, and a resource library.
There’s been much talk lately about the possibilities offered by new technologies in opening up restrictive regimes and democratizing the production of journalism. Are we living in a Golden Age of Global Muckraking?
Digitization is one of the primary driving forces behind recent changes in journalism, including news values, professional ethics, workflows, working conditions, and newsroom management. The Mapping Digital Media study shows that digital media have not only changed journalism practices in developed countries but have also significantly shaped the way journalists work in emerging markets. Digital media bring opportunities, risks, and challenges to journalism. While digitization facilitates news gathering and dissemination, it does not necessarily foster better journalism. Plagiarism, lack of verification, and other unethical journalistic practices have increased alarmingly in many countries.
Digitization has been one of the main drivers behind the changing nature of journalism as it affected news values, professional ethics, workflows, working conditions and newsroom management. On the positive side, it tremendously improved access to information and dissemination channels, but is this ever-more-connected world a better place for independent journalism? The digital switch-over has produced an unprecedented crisis in the supply of public interest journalism— in journalism that is independent, contextual, accountable, and relevant to citizenship.
Global Muckraking is the first anthology of journalism from developing countries that goes back to the 19th century and includes 46 pieces of iconic reporting, each of which is introduced by a journalist, scholar, historian or activist who explains why the piece was important and what kind of impact it had (or didn’t) after it was published.
