Six journalism organizations from five countries are the newest members of the Global Investigative Journalism Network, the association of nonprofit groups working to spread investigative reporting around the world. They bring the GIJN’s membership to 90 groups in 40 countries.
All the new member groups are deeply engaged in reporting, and they showcase the depth and range of the scores of nonprofit investigative journalism groups that have arisen worldwide over the past decade. The new groups include the Centre for Investigative Journalism in Slovenia; the Washington, D.C.-based International Reporting Project; Fundación MEPI in Mexico; Northern Ireland’s The Muckraker; and two groups from the Caribbean: the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, based in Puerto Rico; and Haiti’s Ayiti Kale Je (that’s Creole for Haiti Grassroots Watch).
Here’s a closer look:
New Members
Centre for Investigative Journalism (CPNS), Slovenia 
Founded in 2011, the mission of the Centre for Investigative Journalism is the practice and promotion of investigative in Slovenia, a Balkan country of two million. The CPNS aims to boost the education and training of journalists, to publish investigative stories, and to support cross-border collaboration. The CPNS staff is best known for their groundbreaking trilogy — based on declassified records — of what happened to the vast trove of arms left by the breakup of Yugoslav military.
Since 1998, the International Reporting Project has awarded reporting fellowships to more than 430 U.S. journalists to travel to more than 100 countries. The IRP’s grants allow journalists to undertake the kind of work that has become increasingly rare in embattled newsrooms: in-depth, investigative reports on neglected stories in some of the toughest places in the world. In 2013, the IRP opened the fellowship program to non-U.S. media professionals. IRP on Facebook and Twitter.
Fundación MEPI, Mexico
Fundación MEPI is an award-winning investigative reporting outlet based in Mexico City that examines cross-border issues of national importance in Central America, Mexico, and the United States. The organization promotes freedom of the press and supports the development of the next generation of reporters in Mexico and Central America. Founded in 2010, the group says its mission “is to link stories between the United States, Mexico, and Central America and help explain transnational movements to readers across the globe.” Fundación MEPI on Facebook and Twitter.
The Muckraker, Northern Ireland (UK)
The Muckraker launched in December 2011 as a blog dedicated to holding politicians and public institutions to account. Since then, the site has grown and earned recognition, and describes itself now as “an alternative investigative news site and soon-to-be publisher of The Muckraker Report,” a quarterly magazine that will cover “NI scandal and dirt. Our mission is to hold people in power to account and expose the dark underbelly of Northern Ireland.” The Muckraker on Facebook and Twitter.
Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, Puerto Rico (US)
The Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPIPR) is a non-profit organization that promotes investigative journalism in Puerto Rico. Founded in 2007, it was the first non-profit group wholly dedicated to investigative journalism in the Caribbean. The CPIPR has done award-winning investigations, works for freedom of information in Puerto Rico, and trains young journalists. Also, the Center has an active legal program in which it uses the law to fight for documents and information access. CPIPR on Facebook and Twitter.
Haiti Grassroots Watch, Haiti
Haiti Grassroots Watch — or Ayiti Kale JeIt in Creole — is a multimedia, multilingual “reconstruction watch” partnership founded after the devastating January 2010 earthquake. The group produces text, audio and video in Haitian Creole, French, and English, and its audiences range from Haiti to across the Haitian diaspora in the Americas. It was founded by people at two alternative media and journalism institutions who realized there were no media in Haiti with the capacity or will to “watchdog” the reconstruction and billions of aid dollars that were to flood the country. Haiti Grassroots Watch on Facebook and Twitter.
Membership in the Global Investigative Journalism Network is open to nonprofit organizations that have as a primary mission the support of investigative journalism. The list of members includes nonprofit newsrooms, online publishers, academic centers, NGOs, and training institutes.
Interested in joining? Read about the GIJN’s history here, and contact us at secretariat(at)gijn(dot)org.
