Launched at #GIJC17, African Muckraking: 75 Years of Investigative Journalism from Africa is a collection of investigative and campaigning journalism written by Africans about Africa. This collection of 41 pieces of African journalism includes passionate and committed writing on labour abuses, police brutality, women’s rights, the struggle for democracy and independence on the continent. Here’s an excerpt from the book.
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.
The Institute for Press and Society and Transparency International for Latin America and the Caribbean awarded the Latin American Prize for Investigative Journalism to the Salvadoran newspaper El Faro for its work “Why Do 90% of Child Rapes Go Unpunished?”
Every four days, a journalist is killed somewhere in the world. This data comes from UNESCO, which estimates that between 2006 and 2016, 930 journalists were killed worldwide. On Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists released their 10th annual Global Impunity Index, just before the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists on November 2.
Investigative journalism in Jamaica — and across the Caribbean — has never truly thrived. But a recent training project aimed at tackling the issue by empowering ordinary citizens to hold authorities to account.
Recent shifts in Japan’s legislation have threatened the country’s history of free expression and undermined Japan’s democratic principles. But there are signs of hope. In September, two crucial supporters of investigative journalism in the country were honored by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
In the midst of a slew of emerging newsroom titles, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas is offering a free, four-week online product management for journalists course from October 16. Professor Cindy Royal talked to GIJN about the essential role many newsrooms didn’t even know they’d been missing.
Adela Navarro is the director of the weekly news magazine, Zeta, one of the only outlets in Mexico to regularly report on drug trafficking, corruption and organized crime. Over her 27-year career she has seen colleagues killed for their reporting, and lives and works under constant threat. She writes about the crucial role investigative journalists play in Mexico.
At the 12th Congress of Investigative Journalism in São Paulo this summer, journalists tackled the issue of fake news and safety for journalists in Latin America.
While precarious employment, low pay and trumped up defamation lawsuits means Italian journalists are under increasing financial pressure, it’s the constant threat from mafia and organized crime that is putting reporters at risk and making in-depth reporting that much more difficult.
In the wake of Hurricane Maria’s devastating impact on Puerto Rico, amid shortages of food, water and electricity, international and local media have set up shop in the island’s Convention Center, creating a de facto newsroom where officials give press conferences and citizens look for resources. Among those leading the way are journalists from GIJN member Centro de Periodismo Investigativo.
At a time when press freedom is deteriorating in many states participating in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, having a voice to raise journalist cases and hold governments to account is vital. In a recent interview, the organization’s new Freedom of the Media representative Harlem Désir discusses his plans and explains why he is prioritizing journalist safety, fighting impunity and combating violent extremism online.
Mongolia held its first international investigative reporting conference earlier this month, drawing over 100 attendees from 10 countries, including trainers from Germany, Japan and the United States. The event recognized the enterprising work being done by local journalists while launching Central Asia’s first nonprofit investigative newsroom, the Mongolian Centre for Investigative Journalism.
Last week a court in Paris held a hearing in a defamation lawsuit against French broadcast journalists Elise Lucet and Laurent Richard over their 2015 investigative report for the France-2 television show “Cash Investigations” in which Azerbaijan is referred to as a “dictatorship.” Richard will be speaking at #GIJC17 in Johannesburg in November.
In the run-up to #GIJC17 in Johannesburg in November, we are publishing a series of articles on the state of journalism in Africa to give conference-goers perspective on the continent. In this piece, researcher Jonathan Rozen shows how internet shutdowns in Ethiopia, the Republic of Congo and Cameroon are impacting journalists.
Venezuela is currently in the midst of an economic, political and constitutional crisis. Amid widespread rationing, tensions between President Nicolás Maduro and members of the opposition continue to escalate. Ewald Scharfenberg, cofounder of GIJN member organization Armando.info, talks about the role investigative journalism plays in Venezuelan politics. Scharfenberg will be speaking at #GIJC17 in November in Johannesburg.
As we prepare to gather in Johannesburg for #GIJC17, it’s worth noting the many challenges African journalists face. From South Africa to Somalia, July was a particularly ominous month for free expression on the continent.
While legal notices can result in civil or criminal defamation cases, journalists in India say companies are using them as part of a tactic known as Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP, in an effort to intimidate or censor them. Indian journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta spoke to Aayush Soni about the increasingly popular intimidation tactic.
Fifteen years ago, Abraji — the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism — was first formed. As they celebrate an impressive anniversary, Abraji is launching the ambitious Tim Lopes Project to help protect journalists under fire across Brazil.
Twelve extraordinary investigative projects from around the world are finalists in the seventh Global Shining Light Award, a prize that honors investigative journalism in developing or transitioning countries, done under threat, duress or under dire conditions. Winners will be announced at #GIJC17 in November in Johannesburg.
University of California, Berkeley hosted the first-ever summit for the growing workforce of college students being trained worldwide to review and verify digital content that could help human rights lawyers prosecute war criminals.
In the midst of increasing threats to press freedom, the journalism community in Japan met in June for a two-day international symposium at Sophia University and Waseda University to discuss investigative journalism.
With over 136 sessions and 270 speakers and trainers, Germany’s annual Netzwerk Recherche conference covered everything from data journalism and computer-assisted reporting to debates about “fake news,” press freedom and the credibility crisis of media.
In an explosive report, Citizen Lab and their Mexican civil society partners identified more than 75 text messages sent to the phones of 12 individuals, most of whom are journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders in an effort to monitor the target’s devices. They say the findings are a flagrant and disturbing example of the abuse of commercial spyware.
Last month, Javier Valdez Cárdenas became the sixth member of the Mexican press to be killed in a two month period. It’s time to let the Mexican government know the international journalism community is watching: #ourvoiceisourstrength and #nuestravozesnuestrafuerza.
Journalists can no longer afford to ignore the growing threats of targeted surveillance and digital attacks, writes Citizen Lab’s Ron Deibert in the recently released book “Journalism After Snowden: The Future of the Free Press in the Surveillance State.”
At the recent European Investigative Journalism and Dataharvest conference, Nicholas Diakopoulos spoke about the emergence of algorithmic accountability reporting, and how it applies the core journalistic functions of watchdogging and investigative reporting to algorithms.
The April gathering in Ouagadougou marked the start of operational activities of the Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa, an investigative hub where journalists can access grants, resources, mentoring and form cross-border collaborations.
