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.
Based on an interview with Wayback Machine’s director, Mark Graham, ProPublica’s Craig Silverman shares more essential tips on using it, including how to bulk archive pages, compare changes, and see when elements of a page were archived.
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.
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.
The methods and tools that governments employ to censor and control the internet, and the tools and ways to get around censorship, are a constantly shifting battleground. But there is a set of evergreen best practices and helpful software that are useful.
Featuring tools and resources for protecting your reporting — and your sources — from surveillance and other online attacks.
DocumentCloud now includes many more cutting-edge functions — which include extracting personal identification information embedded in large files, importing data from programs like Google Drive, transcribing YouTube audio, and even peering through weak blackout redactions.
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.
This chapter covers misinformation and disinformation and tools to counter them, as well as case studies.
The National Press Club recently hosted a panel of cybersecurity and digital experts to discuss the latest in government internet shutdowns and online censorship — and how journalists can work around these challenges.
Converting text documents like PDFs to spreadsheets is tedious and expensive work. To see how well AI tool ChatGPT can extract data from PDFs, data journalist Brandon Roberts wrote a Python script to convert two document sets to spreadsheets.
Social media platforms are among the most difficult sites to scrape for data across the internet. A recent session at NICAR23 unveiled several dynamic new tools — including Junkipedia, a possible CrowdTangle replacement — that can perform a wealth of social media monitoring tasks, from tracking down who is behind harmful ads to identifying conspiracy groups or influencers spreading disinformation.
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.
In this reporting guide we’ve included some of the various definitions of disability, important resources, and key issues for journalists to investigate.
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.
There are different tools reporters can use to make video and audio files searchable, they should be an essential part of any investigative journalist’s toolkit.
Investigative journalists have long used information about airplanes to uncover corruption, follow wars, track government officials, and point out the levels of greenhouse gases emitted. GIJN has now revised and updated its reporting guide to planespotting and tracking flights around the world.
A recent Reuters Institute webinar dug into a highly embarrassing, retracted investigation by India’s The Wire and also laid out best practices for investigative newsrooms to avoid both deliberate and unintentional source errors.
Academic research is a crucial tool for investigating societal problems and holding the powerful accountable. Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Neil Bedi, criminologist Rachel Lovell, and Denise-Marie Ordway of The Journalist’s Resource share practical advice on using academic research in investigative journalism.
Is measuring reach, attention, and engagement the same as measuring the impact of your journalism? The model and technology are not yet there to measure the real impact of a story on behavior and policy.
Organized crime is a global phenomenon. But Africa, with its deep-seated corruption and “resource curse,” is particularly hard hit.
From investigating elections around the world to tracking the fallout from the war in Ukraine to digging into organized crime in the Golden Triangle, here are the best guides and tipsheets from GIJN Resource Center’s in 2022.
What is an application programming interface (API) and how can it help reporters gather information online? Data journalist Paul Bradshaw explains how to use this tool in your next investigation.
GIJN’s new guide to investigating organized crime in Asia’s Golden Triangle, with this introductory chapter offering historical context about the region and a preview of subsequent chapters.
GIJN’s new guide to investigating organized crime in Asia’s Golden Triangle, with this chapter covering how drug trafficking works in the region, the major players involved, and resources for background information.
GIJN’s guide to investigating organized crime in Asia’s Golden Triangle. This chapter focuses on human trafficking in the regio
Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares discusses his favorite reporting methods and tools for investigating police misconduct and abuse of power in Rio de Janeiro.
A growing number of journalists and media organizations have established a presence on Mastodon. GIJN’s social media editor Holly Pate answers some common questions about the platform.
