Peter Gosselin at ProPublica has a very different investigative beat: Americans 60 years and older. More specifically: age discrimination and the treatment of older workers. Read how he recently exposed such practices at IBM by leveraging on crowdsourcing.
Fraudulent, plagiarized or otherwise shoddy research is an increasing problem across all scientific disciplines — particularly in China — and can catch like wildfire. Australian Professor Jennifer Byrne and her French colleague Cyril Labbé, as well as projects like Retraction Watch, are fighting back.
Journalist Gangadhar Patil’s impressive idea of supporting independent journalists, helping with their edits and then matching them with mainstream publications has taken off in India — and landed its journalists in publications like CNN International, The Asia Times and The New Indian Express.
There’s a new funding strategy in the works, built around the idea that quite a few reporters have loyal followings and their readers just might be willing to chip in a few bucks to keep them in the news business. But as more organizations turn to reader support for revenue — whether framed as memberships or as subscriptions — they might face stiff competition for their individual crowdfunding model.
Since its creation five years ago, Agência Pública has promoted a revolution not only in Brazil, but around Latin America. It is one of the main drivers of a regional scene that brings together digital native-media founded and led by journalists.
The Bell illustrates a growing trend in which Russian journalists and media managers are finding ways of building news organizations that are not financially dependent on rich businessmen vulnerable to Kremlin pressure.
Berlin-based daily Tageszeitung (Taz for short) is a reader-supported newspaper where a 500 euro membership doesn’t even get you a free subscription. Yet more than 17,000 people have joined the Taz news cooperative in Germany on exactly those terms.
When monks in Myanmar threatened to kill Min Min for his reporting on Buddhist nationalism, they had hoped to scare him into silence. Instead, the experience inspired him to start his own news organization.
Launched in October 2010, Chequeado was among the first digital fact-checking projects in the world. Today it is considered one of the global leaders with continuously innovative formats, channels and approaches.
Doing good journalism in the Middle East and North African region is no easy feat. But since 2014, the journalists at Tunisia’s Inkyfada have been doing crucial investigative stories, supported by compelling visual storytelling and interactive reading experiences.
Often referred to as the only independent radio station in Russia, Echo Moskvy has been subjected to state pressure for some time, but 2017 was particularly bad. One radio host was almost killed, two journalists went into in exile and several more were detained in the course of their work.
In 2007, Jordan became the first country in the Middle East to enact freedom of information laws — and Musab Al-Shawabkeh is the award-winning journalist who has been taking full advantage of it.
While traditional news outlets are migrating to digital platforms, Peru’s Ojo Público is taking the opposite path to reach its goal. It’s utilizing print to grow beyond its digital audience and appeal to people who read physical newspapers, as well as those who like special editions, providing a complementary product to their online publication.
Ten media houses and five civil society organizations have come together to form IndonesiaLeaks, a digital platform for whistleblowers. The secure online platform is crucial in Indonesia due to the lack of whistleblower protection schemes. Those who take risks leaking information on offenses happening in their institutions are often prosecuted and intimidated.
Anuška Delić is not someone who goes unnoticed. Opinionated, brazen and bold, her tenacity and relentlessness has made her the foremost investigative reporter in Slovenia and among the most influential in Europe. This week, she’s made the POLITICO 28 Class of 2018, “the list of doers, disrupters and dreamers who will transform European life, politics and ideas.”
A new kind of journalism school is turning subject-matter specialists into investigative reporters. The University of Toronto has now trained 17 doctors and health professionals along with 58 other specialists to work as journalists, some of whom have quickly become award-winning reporters.
With trust and interest in journalism declining among millennials around the globe, Taiwan’s Reporter is taking a gamble. Its mission: to re-engage the younger generation with in-depth journalism. Will it work?
Yong Jin Kim started up the first investigative unit at the Korean Broadcasting System, the biggest media group in South Korea. In 2013, frustrated by the constant need to fight the muzzles put on investigative journalism in mainstream news media, Kim co-founded the Korea Center for Investigative Journalism.
Maria Ressa is a former CNN war correspondent, but none of her experiences in the field prepared her for the destructive campaign of gendered online harassment that’s been directed at her since the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016.
During the height of the “Red Scare,” the FBI built an elaborate case alleging America’s favorite newsman was a Communist. MuckRock sifted through 700 pages of Bureau documents that tracked Murrow’s acquaintances, movements and alleged involvement with Communist-front organizations.
The dependence of Mexican media on official advertising, reductions in newsrooms and the search by media outlets to “fill spaces,” meant that investigative journalism is increasingly forgotten, and the little that is done is failing to create the impact it should. In order to rectify this, reporters Alexandra Xanic, Daniel Lizárraga, Ignacio Rodríguez Reyna and Marcela Turati set up Quinto Elemento Lab – to work with and mentor investigative journalists through the progress of investigations.
For Ojo Público, the search for new narratives and formats to tell a story is constant. The Peruvian investigative outlet believes in experimenting and betting on new formats to reach new audiences. With this mindset and commitment to innovation, the team has produced stories in an interactive comic format, created an award-winning database and is looking to develop news games this year.
When faced with data journalism, journalists often say “Oh, I can’t do that, it’s too complicated” [or] “I hated math in school, I really can’t take the time to learn how to do this”. However, data expert Helena Bengtsson stresses that data journalism is not that hard, and insists that every journalist should have basic knowledge of how to sort and filter a spreadsheet, and do simple calculations.
Newsrooms in Asia have traditionally worked alone, guarding their sources and tip-offs fiercely and keeping their stories and investigations in-house. However, after attending GIJN’s Asian Investigative Journalism Conferences and participating in the global Panama Papers investigation, Indonesia’s top newsweekly and leading investigative outlet Tempo have been inspired to pursue their own cross-border collaborations.
Last month, an international group of investigative journalists launched the Tax Disclosure Project – a global initiative requesting politicians in 20 countries to publicly disclose their tax returns. The project, coordinated by Finance Uncovered, aims to ensure transparency, accountability and an avoidance of wrongdoing and potential conflicts of interest among lawmakers. In this piece, Finance Uncovered co-director Nick Mathiason shares with GIJN the process of setting up this cross-border collaboration.
When he was laid off from Folha de S. Paulo in 2014, political reporter and columnist Fernando Rodrigues did not stop his behind-the-scenes coverage of power in Brasilia. He continued to write for his blog, which he had kept for 14 years, and to participate in a radio show. Shortly thereafter, he launched his own company, an innovative startup that has been growing, making profits and hiring journalists.
The boom of internet technology and social media networks have allowed journalists to access information which had previously been out of reach. Apps, sites and devices let ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances become reporters. However, internet research expert Paul Myers cautions that investigative journalists need to be incredibly sensitive when running stories and never expose innocent people to attack and ridicule.
FOIA is the solar-powered flashlight of the journalism world — it offers direct access to primary source material which sometimes leads to a big scoop. MuckRock executive editor JPat Brown shares the compelling, and sometimes hilarious, stories that results from MuckRock’s FOIA requests.
