GIJC21 Sessions

You may know how to report an investigation, but do you know how to pitch your work in a funding proposal? In this session, you’ll learn to combine your project and mission into a compelling argument for why foundations, donors, and institutions should support your work. We’ll discuss how to write about your vision and mission, how to write about your work in ways that appeal to a funder’s passion (without compromising your own!), and how to develop deliverables and evaluation plans for the project you propose.

Learn how to use Google News lab tools in your investigative newsroom. This hands-on workshop will explore basic tools such as Google Public Data Explorer, Google Dataset Search, MapChecking.com for crowd size estimates, the Google Earth Measure tool, Google Earth Engine Timelapse, Google Earth Pro and Google Earth Studio.

Amid a plague of legal harassment of the press, it’s more important than ever to “bulletproof” your work. We’ve found two of the best experts to help: veteran journalist Nils Hanson, who for years ran Sweden’s top investigative TV program Mission Investigate, and attorney Alinda Vermeer, who runs Media Defence, which provides legal counsel to journalists around the world. Nils is author of a new GIJN guide to Fact-checking Your Story, while Alinda helped produce GIJN’s recent Journalist’s Guide to Avoiding Lawsuits and Other Legal Dangers (https://gijn.org/2021/09/01/a-journal…, now in seven languages.

One million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, according to a 2019 UN report. The trafficking of animals is contributing not only to their demise, but also to the spread of “zoonotic disease,” caused by germs that spread between animals and people. Stories often focus on ivory and the big cats, but the trade in lesser-known species deserves attention. Come hear trafficking experts from the Environmental Reporting Collective, National Geographic, and leading outlets in The Philippines and Uganda.

This workshop represents nothing short of a dream team on security in journalism. The safety of journalists, their sources, and the data they communicate is yet another victim of trimmed-down budgets and staffing in newsrooms around the world. Meanwhile, digital hacking threats are booming, vulnerable freelancers are increasingly used for dangerous assignments, and public smears against investigative reporters and their whistleblowers as “spies” or “foreign agents” are common. Innovative solutions — from secure data governance to safety protocols for editors – will be offered by leading experts in media security.

Tracking aircraft around the world — from autocrat shopping trips to warlord arms shipments — has never been easy. Here’s a game-changer. Washington-based nonprofit C4ADS has released Icarus Flights, a robust new system that promises to help journalists find and background nearly any flight or aircraft. The Icarus tool kit includes transponder data, aircraft ownership records, and analytical tools.

Social network analysis (SNA) is a powerful research method from the social sciences with many practical applications for journalists, especially when applied to social media data. This session will provide an overview of SNA tool NodeXL Pro, a plug-in for Microsoft Office Excel. No prior knowledge of social network analysis or Excel is required. Attendees will learn how to identify network data and conduct a social network analysis on any network dataset. All attendees are offered a free NodeXL Pro trial user license and the option to connect with a member of the NodeXL team for a 1-on-1 session after the workshop.

Our lightning rounds are popular, fast-paced presentations, one after another. Great Stories You Can Do focuses on hard-hitting investigative stories your colleagues have done — and that you can take home and do in your own country. We have a great selection of stories — from documenting rates of femicide and government purchases of spytech to exposing sex abuse in sports programs and abuse of pension funds.