Data Journalism

Using Twitter to Find People at the Scene of a Breaking Story

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As news stories break, journalists find themselves wanting to speak to members of the public. They could have witnessed an incident or may have been affected by an event. Their views count and they enhance our reports with a human angle. There are many ways to locate ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, but we don’t always know how our approaches will be received, or indeed if our messages to them will be read at all. This is where Twitter comes into its own.

education

Covering the Extractives Industry: Big Data, New Tools, and Journalism

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The extractives sector (oil, gas, and mining) continues to be an important subject for journalists, particularly in developing countries. Revenues from oil, gas and mining contribute substantially to GDP and in many cases make up the bulk of government revenue. Indeed, among 29 nations that in 2011 were implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), 10 reported extractives revenues totaling over one-quarter of their respective government budgets (six of which were actually over 50%).

data journalism

Data Journalists from 20 Countries Gather for Cutting-Edge NICAR14

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A record 950 journalists, data experts, and students from 20 countries gathered last weekend for NICAR14, the annual data journalism conference organized by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). The five-day gathering, twice the size of last year’s conference, has tripled in size over the past five years.

Crimea

Masked Gunmen Seize Crimean Investigative Journalism Center

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As Russian troops streamed into Crimea, Ukraine, yesterday, masked gunmen broke into and seized the office of the Crimean Center for Investigative Journalism in the region’s capital, Simferopol. The group of about 30 men, dressed in military fatigues, targeted offices housing the Information and Press Center, a hub for independent media in the region, and the Crimean investigative center. After breaking a window and forcing their way through the front door, militia leader Konstantin Knyrik announced that the offices would now house representatives of “The Crimean Front,” because from “this building does not come true information.”

dart center

YanukovychLeaks Update: “The Project Is Becoming Bigger”

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The extraordinary story of how Ukrainian investigative reporters saved thousands of documents left by fleeing ex-president Viktor Yanokuvych has gone viral. YanukovychLeaks.org, the site thrown together by an impromptu team of journalists and hackers, has received more than 600,000 visitors since going live on Tuesday – and those documents have been viewed 3.8 million times. “That means people really do care about transparency. It is valued,” says Drew Sullivan of the nonprofit Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which is helping provide resources for the project.

Data Journalism

“The Walls Have Fallen” – Inside YanukovychLeaks Investigation

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This is a great time to be an investigative journalist in Ukraine. It is a moment of big disclosures. We had been reporting on the ultra-luxurious style of Yanukovych’s life and his corrupt ties for a long period, when this information was very well-guarded and kept as a big secret. It’s like one was trying to get into a closed, dark room for a long time. And then suddenly the walls have fallen.

Homepage Featured

YanukovychLeaks: How Ukraine Journalists Are Making History

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In the hours after Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev, reports started surfacing that there were documents floating in the reservoir on his palatial 350-acre estate outside the capital. The estate is well known to the media as an off-limits location; journalists, in fact, had never entered more than 300 yards past the front gate, and even at the height of Yanukovych’s openness and good relations, journalists had only been allowed to the front door to receive cakes on journalism day.