GIJC21 Sessions

Welcome to #GIJC21! We start with greetings from your co-hosts GIJN and JNI, some quick announcements and thank yous, and a look ahead to #GIJC22 in Sydney. Then we move on to our plenary session, featuring five extraordinary journalists: Sheila Coronel, Vinod Jose, Dapo Olorunyomi, Edwy Plenel, and Maria Teresa Ronderos.

November 2 is International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (#endimpunity – https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/…) and GIJC21 is joining with UNESCO and others to mark the occasion with this panel and a full track of sessions on safety and security. Journalists are under attack worldwide, with unprecedented levels of harassment, surveillance, legal threats, and physical abuse, as powerful people seek to silence the stories the press investigates. Impunity is near 90%, with most journalist murders going unsolved. But the media and its allies are fighting back — increasingly by investigating these attacks and keeping alive the work of silenced journalists. We’ve assembled extraordinary speakers on this, from Forbidden Stories’ groundbreaking work on Pegasus spyware and media attacks; Free Press Unlimited’s Safer World for the Truth Project; and journalists on the front lines in India, Russia, and Zimbabwe.

For journalism, climate change may ultimately be the story of the 21st century. We are witnessing record floods, droughts, hurricanes, heat waves, coastal erosion, and species decline. How can investigative journalists contribute to what we know and how humanity copes with this unprecedented challenge? How do we follow not only the money but the methane, map not only sea level rise but the embedded interests holding back reforms? Come hear journalists from Brazil, Indonesia, and Norway showcase what may be the most important story we ever dig into.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, journalists worldwide suddenly found themselves on the health beat, trying to make sense of competing claims, varied specialists, and a science that seems to change by the day. This session takes you from COVID-19 to drug development and approval, evaluating scientific studies, understanding conflicts of interest, and exposing fraud and malpractice. Rivera and Tinari are authors of the GIJN guide Investigating Health and Medicine, available in seven languages.

Podcasting has grown exponentially around the world — and investigative podcasts are among the most popular series. The format is well suited to the twists and turns of an investigation and podcasting brings new audiences to investigative stories. Yet the field is crowded and it takes skill to produce a good podcast. What does it take to get into this medium? How can you benefit from using effective audio and storytelling techniques? Join this panel of reporters and producers who have turned their investigations into impactful and award-winning podcasts in Taiwan, Slovenia, the Middle East, and North America.

Today’s globalized organized crime poses extraordinary challenges for journalists. Come hear three top experts on investigating criminal enterprises, from finances and disappearances to the black market in antiquities. All three speakers are contributors to GIJN’s new Reporter’s Guide to Investigating Organized Crime.

Spreadsheets are the building blocks of data journalism. In this session, we cover Excel/spreadsheet calculations that include averages, medians, percents, and ratios.