Blog Post

How Reporters Can Ask the Right Questions of Databases

Investigative journalists often look to numbers to back up or fuel their reports, but the data they need can't always be found in a tidy spreadsheet or gathered straight from a source.

"As a journalist obviously your main tool is talking to people; it’s being able to ask the right questions of the right people," said ICFJ Knight Fellow Friedrich Lindenberg in a recent webinar on digital tools for investigative reporting.

Revamped Version of Reporting Tool Citizen Desk Focuses on Real-Time Verification

Last year, Mozambique’s Verdade newspaper put out a call for citizen reports to supplement its in-house reporting on the country's general election.

Through a new, open source toolkit called Citizen Desk, Verdade received on-the-ground reports, astute observations and...a lot of junk (especially misplaced orders for more mobile minutes).

InfoAmazonia Project is Creating Tools to Test and Report on Water Quality

In Brazil, rapid urbanization appears to be contaminating the water supply. It's an important story, but often there isn't much hard evidence available for journalists to report.

That's why they're starting to collect their own evidence, says data journalist Gustavo Faleiros.

Tabeir Iraq aims to help journalists and bloggers stay safe

When I visited Iraq for the first time in October 2003, the country was one of the most dangerous places for journalists to work. Unfortunately, that reality has not changed. Since 2003, 102 journalists have been murdered in the country, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, and many more have been harmed or threatened.

As a reporter for the Mexican newspaper El Independiente, I spent two weeks in Iraq, covering the period when an international military coalition occupied the country.

News App "Yo Intervengo" Wants Colombians to Shine a Light on Corruption

On one of Bogotá, Colombia’s busiest thoroughfares, Calle 26, eight-and-a-half miles of dedicated bus lanes were set to be constructed between 2007 and 2009.

How to Convince Journalists that Digital Security is for Them

The workshop had ended, but the attendees stayed glued to their seats and their laptop computers. For a few more minutes, nobody wanted to leave the room.

Code for Africa Builds WaziMap to Make Public Data More User-Friendly for Journalists

Black smoke churned toward the sky in Nyanga, one of the oldest townships in Cape Town, after protestors set fire to buses there in early September.

Mapping Attacks on Journalists Can Point the Way to Better Security

For many reporters and photographers, it’s pretty common to get the following assignment from their editors: Go cover a street protest, get pictures and video, look out for clashes between police and demonstrators…and be careful.

If this sounds familiar, it’s probably because the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, have reminded us of the dangers of covering demonstrations on the streets, as reporters have been attacked or arrested during the protests sparked by the police shooting of an unarmed teen.

Hacks/Hackers Media Party: Census Reporter site makes it easier for reporters to use data

For many reporters, working with U.S. Census data is like going to the dentist — you know it’s important, but it often means a painful and prolonged visit to the dreaded U.S. government census website. But since the launch of Census Reporter, reporting on this data no longer has to feel like pulling teeth.

The display of Census facts is light-years away from the way the same information appears on the U.S. government website, where journalists can spend hours sifting through 1,500 tables of data.

Community engagement tips from Hacks/Hackers Buenos Aires Media Party

In a world connected by social media, journalists can no longer serve up the news with the attitude that “we are the experts, and we’re going to give it to you in the format that suits us, in the way that suits us,” said community-building specialist Jeanne Brooks.

Instead, she said, a news organization should engage its audience and create its news and information products--whether those are articles, apps or even a radio station--in response to audience needs.