Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://archive.gijn.org/series/covid19/page/2/)
“Superspreading events” have emerged as major drivers of the COVID-19 pandemic. While available data on these events is limited, new information — including an interactive database of 1,500 events — offers reporters the means to map the patterns of past coronavirus outbreaks, and to evaluate the risks of planned gatherings.
Investigative reporters around the world are tightening their digital safety habits, out of concern that emergency pandemic laws, new spy technologies, and the lockdown itself have exposed journalists to even greater threats of surveillance and harassment. A dozen reporters and experts interviewed by GIJN agreed that sound digital hygiene was no longer optional for journalists in the COVID-19 world — and offered 10 security tips, including threat modelling, encrypted document transfer, and virtual burner phones.
To help reporters make sense of what’s known and yet to be learned about COVID-19 vaccines, Journalist’s Resource asked for insights from several people with expertise studying or reporting on vaccines.
After six months of the global crisis, investigative journalists find themselves reporting on a precarious and demoralized world, which has seen millions of jobs and more than 775,000 lives lost. In a GIJN webinar titled “Where do we go from here?”, a panel of senior journalists from Bosnia, India, Uganda, and the United States shared tips on the topics now ripe for investigation, as well as areas to improve on.
There is widespread concern that corruption will affect the use of international funds being rushed out in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. GIJN has created a guide to using World Bank documents online to track the use of the Bank’s projects in more than 100 countries.
When a team of student journalists realized that thousands of New Yorkers had died due to COVID-19 but had been left out of the obituary pages, they teamed up to create Missing Them, an ambitious collaborative journalism project working to memorialize everyone that died due to COVID-19 in one of the hardest-hit cities in America.
With the help of two former students, Brazilian data journalist Marcelo Soares collected data showing that deaths from COVID-19 in Brazil’s cities were far higher than authorities claimed. Check out how he did it.
In interviews with GIJN, six leading photojournalists from around the world described six very different approaches for dealing with the safety, access, and technical challenges of shooting the pandemic. From using bulletproof vests and embedding strategies to projected images and screenshots of Zoom meetings, these photographers detailed some of the creative thinking needed to document a world in lockdown.
With fact checking organizations having already debunked thousands of falsehoods about COVID-19, investigative reporters are turning their focus to the people and the money behind deliberate disinformation surrounding the pandemic. In a series of interviews with GIJN, seven journalists shared the inside story on how they exposed the forces behind the lies, as well as key tips on the tools and techniques that aided their investigations.
Freelancing as an investigative journalist is challenging in the best of times, and more so during a pandemic. GIJN’s latest guide offers broad guidance on pitching, financial support, and networking for freelancers as the COVID-19 crisis continues. Be sure to catch our free webinar — Freelance Investigative Journalism During the Time of COVID — on Thursday July 9 at 9:00 EST as part of GIJN’s Investigating the Pandemic series.