News

The latest news from the International Center for Journalists.

June
28
2016

Univision Broadens Its Focus to Reach Spanish Speakers Around the Globe

Univision has been the most important Spanish-language media company in the U.S. Now its digital news arm is taking aim at the 500 million Spanish speakers around the world.

Borja Echevarria, its digital editor-in-chief, says his team is at the beginning of an initiative aimed at Spanish speakers in Latin America and globally.

"We are covering topics that might occur in Bolivia but that could be related to something that occurs in Colombia or in Peru," he said. "We are not trying to attack highly local topics, at least not in this first stage.

June
23
2016

Journalists, Technologists Demo Open Source News Tools at IRE Conference

At the Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) conference this past weekend, journalists, news developers and technologists gathered in New Orleans for four days of sessions on investigative journalism in all its forms.

Amid this atmosphere of shared learning, exchange of ideas and collaboration, the ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellowships program hosted another Steal My Tool event and luncheon during the conference.

Ahead of the event, IJNet and ICFJ Knight compiled 10 free, open source investiga

June
21
2016

How Pakistan's Express Tribune Experimented with 360° Video

This month, we made the leap into 360° video, shooting the first such news video in Pakistan. As an ICFJ Knight Fellow, I worked in collaboration with The Express Tribune in Karachi to produce this groundbreaking video.

Much has already been said about virtual reality and 360° video in the news industry.

June
20
2016

12 Must-Read Cybersecurity Tips for Newsrooms Across the Globe

New digital newsrooms that rely almost entirely on the internet to work need to bulletproof not only their stories, but also their entire information system, including how information is stored, processed or exchanged via electronic means.

Technological attacks against websites, editorial servers and investigative journalists' personal accounts are on the rise.

June
17
2016

Five Essential Research Tips for Journalists Using Google

In the age of digital journalism, advanced online search techniques are becoming requisite skills for successful careers in journalism. With hundreds of millions of sites indexed, Google is undoubtedly the most powerful search engine, but it’s easy to miss out on a lot of that power if we don't know the best techniques for asking questions. Although Google will almost always have answers, the goal is to find the relevant ones.

Fortunately, there are a number of search techniques that journalists (and researchers in general) can use to dramatically improve search results.

June
17
2016

Tanzanian Journalists Connect to Audiences With WhatsApp

In August of last year, Orton Kiishweko, a reporter with Tanzania’s Daily News, stumbled upon a story making the rounds on WhatsApp, the mobile messaging app.

“I read from a WhatsApp group that some Muslim Tanzanian clerics had been kidnapped by rebels in Eastern Congo and were demanding ransom,” Kiishweko recalls.

A bit of Googling corroborated the initial reports. But details were sketchy.

June
16
2016

ICFJ Knight Fellows Showcase 10 Free Open Source Investigative Tools for Journalists

The ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellows create a culture of news innovation and experimentation worldwide to deepen coverage, expand news delivery and engage citizens in the editorial process.

June
14
2016

Data Journalism Academy Alum Defends Uses of Spreadsheets in Journalism

Dear fellow journalists,

I write to you with concern, as it has come to my attention that many, if not most of you dread working with spreadsheets.

I understand this fear. Journalists tend to come from arts or politics backgrounds, and so have never needed to interact with a computerized accounting tool.

Working on a spreadsheet might seem daunting, but how is this different from word processing? Back in the days before PCs, words were not processed but crafted.

June
6
2016

ICFJ Knight Roundup: Fellows, ANCIR Staff to Highlight Tools at IRE Conference

_As part of the Knight International Media Innovators blog, the ICFJ Knight team will round up stories focused on how their fellows are making an impact in the field.

May
26
2016

Inside The Hindustan Times' Reinvention From Print to Digital

Over the past year, the Hindustan Times, one of India's most venerated print media outlets, has transformed itself into a model for innovative digital storytelling in the country by bringing together journalists, technologists and product strategists in its newsroom.

HT has shifted its culture away from "an environment that's mostly concerned with getting tomorrow's newspaper out," said Chief Content Officer Nic Dawes.