Chapter Guide Resource
Investigating War Crimes
This webinar shares methodologies for investigating war and conflict, and provide a briefing on the laws that govern what, in popular usage, are called “war crimes.”
Topic
Methodology
142
posts
GIJC23 Methodology
Don’t Get Sidetracked: Tips for Planning and Staying Focused on an Investigation
To avoid getting lost while reporting a story, reporters and editors need to take dedicated steps to plan their investigations, from the hypothesis to the publishing stage.
GIJC23 Methodology
Tips for Better Collaborations: Smaller Newsrooms, More Vetting, and Less Ego
Collaboration has emerged as the killer app for investigative journalism in the past decade, and a panel of editors at GIJC23 shared key insights into how watchdog partnerships can thrive.
Resource Video
GIJC23 – FOIA/RTI Investigations
More than half of the world’s countries have laws that require officials to supply public documents on request. These laws offer valuable windows for reporters, even for those outside of a country’s borders. But there are almost always tricks to targeting and expediting these disclosures, and this panel brings deep experience in how to do […]
Resource Video
GIJC23 – Working with Hackers
Uyghur abuse and internment in China. Luxury properties in Austria owned by Belarus’s oil minister. Criminal exploitation of London’s company services industry. These investigations were all possible because of hacked data dumps. As a journalist, how do you negotiate with hackers or hacktivists? What questions do you ask? What are the ethical considerations? What are […]
Resource Video
GIJC23 – Visual Investigations: Reporting Techniques
Once considered merely a form of fact-checking, forensic visual investigation has rapidly become a critical method of journalistic inquiry, thanks to new technologies, innovative skills, and the global ubiquity of social media imagery. In the chaos of dramatic public events, forensic visual reporting teams can now often answer the question: Who did exactly what, and […]
Resource Video
GIJC23 – Plane and Ship Tracking
A raft of new tools are helping journalists track shipping and aircraft around the world. The numerous ways to track ships and planes open a whole new range of stories for journalists to investigate, from following billionaires’ private planes to uncovering the details of refugee boats capsizing. ———————– The Global Investigative Journalism Network is an […]
Resource Video
GIJC23 – Investigating Food & Agriculture
There are numerous investigative topics to explore between the farmer’s field and the grocery store – and, indeed, the plate – and several recent projects have exposed abuses in the production, distribution, and access to food. This expert panel offers deep experience in issues from fisheries and pesticides to food security and biodiversity — with journalists based in Tunisia, the UK, the US, and Southeast Asia.
Resource Video
GIJC23 – Tracking Political Extremism
We are in the midst of a decade-long global backlash against democracy and human rights. A new extremism has taken hold, characterized by radical right-wing groups and ultranationalist political movements. These groups are not only growing but are becoming more organized. International ties among them are also growing — digitally, ideologically, financially — but their networks are poorly understood and investigative journalism in this area is lacking.
Resource Video
GIJC23 – Crowd Driven Journalism: Using Communities to Investigate
One of the great spin-offs of the digital age is that journalists can tap into crowds and communities in ways unimaginable only a few years ago. Local communities are reporting impactful stories, providing tips and resources, and bolstering the finances of watchdog media around the world. Here are journalists from remarkably diverse environments — Malaysia, […]
Resource Video
GIJC23 – Rewriting History: Investigations that Change Our Understanding of the Past
The best historians and investigative journalists share a great deal: they go after primary sources, they follow the trails of money and accountability, and they put events in a broader context that the public can understand. Often those events look shockingly different just 20 or 30 years later, based on documents, data, and interviews.
Resource Video
GIJC23 – Investigating Social Media: Telegram, Twitter, & WhatsApp
This workshop might just emerge as the one that changes your life as a watchdog journalist. Misinformation and disinformation on “closed” social media networks — such as WhatsApp and Telegram – have already had devastating consequences for democratic processes in places like India, Nigeria, Russia, and Brazil.
Data Journalism Getting Started in Investigative Journalism GIJC23 Investigative Techniques Methodology Reporting Tools & Tips
GIJC23 – Finding Stories in Documents: Text Analysis for Investigative Reporting
This session will address how to convert unstructured data (documents) into structured data that can be filtered, summarized, and visualized.
Getting Started in Investigative Journalism Methodology
Tips For Backgrounding Unknown Subjects in Time-Critical Situations
Investigative projects are often likened to marathons. But, every now and then, watchdog reporters need to sprint. In a recent IRE23 conference session, experts shared tips on how to unearth background facts about little-known people on short notice.
Methodology
8 Ways Journalists Can Access Academic Research for Free
A lot of academic research exists behind paywalls. The Journalist’s Resource outlines eight ways reporters can get free access to high-quality scholarship.
Methodology
How Armando.info Uncovered Hundreds of Venezuelan Officials’ Secret Assets in Florida
When a team at Armando.info set out to find individuals linked to the Venezuelan government who might have secret investments — and even residency permits — in the United States, they never imagined the scale of what they would find once they started following the money.
Methodology
Tips for Investigating Algorithm Harm — and Avoiding AI Hype
In a panel discussion at the IRE23 Conference, experts shared tips on how reporters can identify and investigate algorithmic harm and AI bias, and hold the human masters of these systems accountable.
Investigative Techniques Methodology
When to Greenlight an Investigative Pitch — or End the Project?
Committing to a long-term investigation — also known as “greenlighting” — does not always involve a specific moment of decision. At IRE23, GIJN spoke with five veteran investigative editors to ask them what information they need before giving a project the the go-ahead.
Methodology News & Analysis Reporting Tools & Tips
Tips for Gamifying Your Next Investigation
Gaming and the news have a history, for decades they have been used to increase engagement and reach younger audiences. Here are some tips for getting started with gamification in your next investigation.
Methodology Reporting Tools & Tips
7 Tips for Reporting on the Local Impacts of International Trade
Clark Merrefield, from The Journalist’s Resource, shares seven tips on how local journalists can better investigate global trade and its impact on their communities.
Methodology Reporting Tools & Tips
Tips for Investigating Suspicious Real Estate Deals in France — and Around the World
The vast majority of people who own properties are not engaged in any misconduct or possible criminal behavior. But land deals or real estate purchases made with inexplicable funding sources can be a telltale sign of corruption.
Methodology News & Analysis
Tips for Using Satellite Imagery in Forensic Investigations, from Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab
When the Myanmar military started conducting airstrikes on its citizens, researchers at Amnesty International began a forensic investigation into the supply chain, using satellite imagery to find out how aviation fuel was getting into the country, and who was supplying it.
Methodology Reporting Tools & Tips
What’s in a Name? Investigating People Across Borders
It’s increasingly common for criminals to operate across borders. So investigative reporters also need to know how to identify and investigate people whose names use different alphabets, are formed by unfamiliar conventions, or carry unexpected cultural signals. Read these tips from the OCCRP on best practices for investigating names from outside the English-speaking world.
Methodology News & Analysis
How Investigative Journalists Are Using Substack Newsletters
To get a better sense of the investigative journalism landscape on Substack, GIJN spoke with watchdog reporters who use the platform to publish original investigations and who are not part of a larger news or media organization.
Methodology Reporting Tools & Tips
Tips to Amplify Investigative Impact
Impact experts say there are several ways to help direct the attention of change-makers — as well as other media — to your key findings, and even nudge them to action.
Methodology Reporting Tools & Tips
10 Simple Data Errors That Can Ruin an Investigation
At the 2023 NICAR conference, GIJN talked with several data journalism experts and learned 10 simple data journalism errors to avoid that could ruin your investigation.
Guide Resource
Asset Disclosure
Required disclosures by public officials about their income and assets can be invaluable to investigative journalists. And information about wealth and its sources can play a vital role in uncovering corruption. Official filings are often the starting point for classic follow-the-money stories. However, disclosure laws have gaps, so the public records don’t always reveal the […]
Methodology Reporting Tools & Tips
New Reporting Tools to Archive Videos, Find QAnon Networks, and Track Targets via Online Reviews
These new reporting tools and apps, which recently debuted at two Bellingcat Hackathons, can help journalists easily archive videos, locate satellite imagery, and track people via online reviews.