Case Studies
Lessons Learned from Exposing Child Sex Trafficking Online
A reporting team provides the backstory of the Guardian’s years-long investigation into the world of online child sex trafficking.
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Case Studies
223 posts
Case Studies
How Journalistic Teamwork Uncovered Years of Regulatory Failure in Texas
The authors give a behind-the-scenes look at their investigation into a massive chemical fire in Houston in March 2019.
Case Studies
Google News Initiative Grants in Africa and the Middle East Yield Mixed Results
A study found many Google News Initiative projects in Middle East and Africa struggle to become more than makeshift versions of the original idea.
Case Studies
Can AI Chatbots Be Used for Geolocation?
Bellingcat fellow Dennis Kovtun tests the online geolocation capabilities of two popular AI chatbots — Microsoft’s Bing AI and Google’s Bard — and finds both have some serious drawbacks.
Case Studies News & Analysis
Journalism Under Siege: Five Survival Tips from Editors in India and Hungary
Two editors from India and Hungary, respectively, Ritu Kapur and Peter Erdelyi, offer survival tips based on how their outlets have managed to stay afloat in the face of press freedom challenges in backsliding democracies.
Case Studies Member Profiles
Thriving on Change: El Surtidor’s Groundbreaking Multi-Platform, Visual Journalism
GIJN member El Surtidor is a Paraguayan news organization created in 2015 that prioritizes innovation and multi-platform, visual journalism.
Case Studies Investigative Techniques
Tips for Getting New or Reluctant Sources to Talk
For every human source who assists investigative journalists, there are dozens of officials, victims, and potential whistleblowers with vital information whom reporters never engage.
Case Studies
How a BBC Investigation Exposed the Impact of Gas Flaring on Iraqi Communities
In “Under Poisoned Skies,” an award-winning investigation from BBC News Arabic, reporters headed to southern Iraq to explore the impact of gas flaring on the environment and public health.
Case Studies Member Profiles
The Environmental Investigative Forum Taking Cross-Border Collaboration to the Next Level
The group has built an international network of more than 100 trained investigative journalists and environmental experts probing the activities impacting the natural world.
Case Studies News & Analysis
Case Studies: Investigating Where Garbage Goes Around the World
GIJN looks at three different reports from Europe and Latin America that track where our garbage goes around the world and investigate the implications for people and the environment that waste can present.
Case Studies Reporting Tools & Tips
How Tai Nalon Creates New Tools to Investigate and Fact-Check Brazilian Politics
For GIJN’s My Favorite Tools series we spoke with Brazilian journalist Tai Nalon, executive director and co-founder of the fact-checking website Aos Fatos, who now leads an award-winning reporting team of nearly 20 people.
Case Studies
How Women Are Driving a Golden Age of Data Journalism in Kenya
Eunice Magwambo, Purity Mukami, and Juliet Atellah discuss their work and challenges facing data journalists in their home country of Kenya.
Case Studies
How an Award-Winning Investigation Exposed a State Welfare Scandal
In our latest “How They Did It” series, GIJN profiles investigative reporter Anna Wolfe’s recent exposé on corruption inside the Mississippi state welfare office, which was honored with the 2023 Goldsmith Prize.
Case Studies News & Analysis
Refugee Pushbacks, Uyghur Mistreatment, and Sports Corruption: Europe’s Cross-Border Investigative Journalism Winners
Investigations on topics as diverse as corruption in sports, illegal “pushbacks” of refugees, and the mass internment of Uyghurs in China were recognized at the IJ4EU Impact Awards, the annual prize of the Investigative Journalism for Europe fund.
Case Studies Member Profiles
Danwatch: How a Danish Investigative Site Exerts Global Reach
GIJN member Danwatch was launched in 2007 by civic groups in Denmark with a focus on both research and journalism. Danwatch has since grown to have one of the largest specialized investigative journalism teams in Denmark, with 13 reporters, one of them based in South America.
Case Studies
Tracking Far-Right Suspects Across Continents: A 10-Year Hunt for Spanish Fugitives
As Spain transitioned to democracy, a series of attacks were carried out by the far-right. In some cases, the culprits were never found. To provide some measure of accountability, two journalists from El País have worked for a decade tracking down fugitives in cases forgotten or closed by the authorities.
Case Studies News & Analysis
Travel Woes: The Challenges Investigative Reporters Face When Crossing Borders
In an era where corruption, financial crime, and illicit trade routinely span the globe, so too must the investigations that uncover them. But one of the least discussed and often unexpected obstacles in that pursuit involves the difficulties investigative journalists can face when traveling and physically crossing borders.
Case Studies News & Analysis
How They Did It: Tracking Phosphate Smuggling From Syria Into Europe
SIRAJ founder Mohammad Bassiki collaborated with OCCRP and Lighthouse Reports to investigate the illicit smuggling of sanctioned Syrian phosphates into Europe.
Case Studies News & Analysis
One Year of War: How Watchdog Journalists Have Dug Into Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
In the 12 months since Russia invaded Ukraine, investigative journalists have navigated enormous information challenges and personal risks to expose everything from war crimes and sanctions busting to hidden oligarch loot and Russian “filtration” camps.
Case Studies News & Analysis
How a Wiretapping Scandal Reinforced the Need for Independent Media in Greece
The Greek wiretapping story has become an international scandal. But for months, the only outlets covering the story were small independent ones like Reporters United, whose dogged reporting has shaken up the country’s media landscape.
Case Studies Methodology News & Analysis
Q & A with OCCRP’s Czech Reporter Pavla Holcová
Pavla Holcová is an investigative journalist and founder of the Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism, an independent outlet that does cross-border investigations on organized crime and its impact on the Czech Republic (Czechia) and Slovakia.
Case Studies News & Analysis
How African Independent Media Are Overcoming Growth Challenges
All news companies face challenges when it comes to retaining audiences and building revenue. But African independent media sites may find an even steeper hill to climb and must look for fresh solutions. During the final installment of INMA’s 2022 Africa Webinar series, two experts from the continent shared their advice.
Case Studies Methodology
Is It Ever OK for Journalists to Lie to Get a Story?
In a new book on undercover reporting, Australian journalism professors Andrea Carson and Denis Muller examine whether deception is ever an acceptable method for journalists to use.
Case Studies
#NotebookGate: How Nigeria’s Dataphyte Exposed Corruption in Government Contracts
How investigative journalist Olanrewaju Oyedeji, from Nigeria’s Dataphyte, exposed corruption in government notebook contracts by analyzing data from the state’s online procurement portal.
Case Studies Press Freedom
Uğur Mumcu: The Foundation Continuing the Legacy of an Assassinated Turkish Investigative Reporter
The Uğur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation — a GIJN member since 2018 — plays a unique role in Turkey. Decades after its creation, it is still training investigative journalists in the country’s increasingly polarized media environment.
Resource
2022’s Best Investigative Stories in Portuguese
GIJN’s Portuguese editor, Ana Beatriz Assam, offers her editor’s picks for the best investigative journalism in Portuguese in 2022 — featuring stories from Brazil, Portugal, and Mozambique.
Case Studies News & Analysis
2022’s Best Investigative Stories from the Arab World
Being an investigative journalist in the Middle East and North Africa was immensely challenging in 2022, thanks to the dramatic decline in press freedom in places once considered safer for journalists such as North Africa, the lack of human and financial resources, and the inability to access data and public information in most Arab countries.
Case Studies
2022’s Best Investigative Stories from Southeast Asia
GIJN’s Indonesian editor, Kholikul Alim, offers his editor’s picks for the best investigative journalism from Southeast Asia in 2022.