What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from November 26 to December 2 finds @VRCCrimCam mapping London’s medieval murder hotspots, @geckoboard illustrating common data fallacies to avoid, @ddjournalism teases the beta launch of the Data Journalism Handbook 2.0, and @GoogleNewsInit displays its data journalism courses.
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.
GIJN has created a four-part package of resources on migration, including a virtual library with dozens of major reports on the causes of migration, reporting guidelines, a list of journalism awards on migration and recent award-winning investigations.
With an estimated 257 million migrants in the world, migration has emerged as one of the most contentious national and international issues. GIJN has gathered resources on this topic, including:
Useful sources of factual information
Reporting guidelines and media criticism
Information on journalism prizes (and the winners) concerning migration
Examples of recent and varied stories
See also GIJN’s resource page on human trafficking. And a GIJN guide to reporting on human trafficking in the Arab Gulf states.
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 and directs 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).
Full Migration Guide here. There’s a growing number of international and national journalism contests on migration, including a new US one with a whopping $100,000 prize. The work of recent winners provides a rich source of inspirational stories on the topic. The George Polk Immigration Reporting Award is sponsored by Long Island University. Entrants do not have to be American, but all entries must be in English.
Full Migration Guide here. Below is small sampling of stories related to migration from early 2018 and late 2017. Besides doing stories documenting migrants’ harrowing journeys, journalists have found many other significant angles. “A Dream Displaced,” by Andrea Castillo, Brittny Mejia and Joe Mozingo in The Los Angeles Times, examines the life of immigrant boy living in an LA suburb in the age of President Donald Trump. “Half a Million and Counting: Venezuelan Exodus Puts New Strains on Colombian Border Town,” by Bram Ebus for IRIN, describes the town of Cúcuta.
Forced labor, human trafficking and undocumented migration are prevalent across the globe. In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, specific and shared characteristics of labor and migration laws and practices facilitate forced labor and human trafficking. Definitions
Forced Labor. All work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty or coercion, and for which the said person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. The threat of penalty may include arrest or jail, refusal to pay wages, forbidding a worker from traveling freely, confiscating worker’s identity documents and withholding part of a worker’s salary as part of the repayment of a loan.
Experts on forced labor, human trafficking and irregular migrant labor often focus on a specific country or specific migration corridor in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It is strongly recommended to seek experts from both origin and destination countries as they can provide different insights into the various phases of the migration process. International Labour Organization
Organization reports cover a range of topics related to trafficking and forced labor, and their authors can be contacted for further commentary. The ILO’s regional headquarters are based in Beirut and its current projects include the Regional Fair Migration Project in the Middle East.
Data on human trafficking, forced labor and irreegular migration is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Incidents are reported regularly, but this information tends to be scattered across media outlets, government reports and the publications of civil society organizations. For journalists willing to put in the hours, rich data can be mined from archived local media reports, which are available online. Both media in origin and destination countries regularly report on the numbers of undocumented workers deported from a country, or incidents involving trafficked workers.
INVESTIGATIVE RESOURCES IN YOUR INBOX
Our fortnightly bulletin brings you the latest from GIJN, useful tips, tools and the best investigative stories around the world.
