Global Network News — October 2012

COLPIN CONFERENCE MARKS WORLD-CLASS REPORTING FROM LATIN AMERICA

Despite heavy-handed governments, violent crime cartels, and economic challenges, investigative reporting is alive and well across Latin America. Underscoring the achievements of journalists in the region was the fourth Latin American Investigative Journalism Conference (Conferencia Latinoamerica de Periodismo de Investigacion, or COLPIN), held last week in Bogota, Colombia. The enthusiastic conference  brought together 200 of Latin America’s most enterprising journalists from 15 countries. Among the highlights was the awarding of the annual COLPIN prize, which went to three winners from Brazil and Peru, as well as 13 honorable mentions, selected from 209 nominated stories. Sponsored by Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), Transparency International, and Semana magazine, the conference showcased how rapidly the region’s journalists have embraced investigative work over the past decade. The conference ended with a rousing call by IPYS, Abraji, and GIJN to attend COLPIN13 next year, which will be held in conjunction with the Global Investigative Journalism Conference and Abraji’s national congress – in Rio de Janiero.

NEW MEMBERS EXTEND GIJN TO 35 COUNTRIES

The GIJN warmly welcomes six new member organizations, extending the global network to 74 groups in 35 countries. Join us in welcoming:

• 100Reporters (USA), a cross-border network of veteran correspondents and citizen journalists focused on corruption
• Connectas (Colombia), a Bogota-based project that does cross-border reporting on key development issues in the Americas.
• Crimean Center for Investigative Journalism (Ukraine), a reporting and training center that covers Crimea, Ukraine, and Belarus
• Fundación Ciudadana Civio (Spain), that nation’s only nonprofit that produces investigative and data-driven stories
• Investigative Journalism Workshop, Wits University (South Africa), conducts teaching and research, administers awards and grants, and organizes Africa’s major conference on investigative reporting.
• Regional Press Development Institute (Ukraine), a Kiev-based nonprofit that provides legal assistance, training, conferences, and networking.

Interested in joining GIJN? Membership is free and open to nonprofit organizations that actively support, promote, or engage in investigative journalism. Interested applicants should contact us at hello@gijn.org.. Individuals are welcome to participate in the GIJN’s Global Listserv and conferences and join us on the GIJN Facebook and Twittercommunities.

LANDMARK REPORT ON INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM’S ROLE IN DETERRING FRAUD

On October 8, GIJN members Pascal Decroos Fund for Investigative Journalism and VVOJ, the Dutch-Flemish Association of Investigative Journalists, released the results of a landmark study for the European Parliament, Deterrence of Fraud with EU Funds through Investigative Journalism. The two groups led a team of European journalists on the five-and-a-half-month-long project. The nearly 300-page study makes a powerful case for the contribution of investigative reporting “to greater transparency on this issue, tracking irregularities, fraud and corruption, and uncovering misspending on different levels and scales in the EU member states and the EU institutions.”

JOIN US IN JOHANNESBURG, ANTWERP, CAIRO, AND RIO DE JANEIRO

Following in COLPIN’s impressive Latin footsteps are a trio of important regional conferences in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East for the global investigative journalism community. In Johannesburg starting October 29, the Forum for African Investigative Journalists (FAIR) joins again with Wits University’s Journalism Program to sponsor the Power Reporting Conference, sub-Saharan Africa’s premier investigative reporting conference. On Nov. 16-17, the Dutch-Flemish Association of Investigative Journalists (VVOJ) celebrates its tenth anniversary by hosting the European Investigative Journalism Conference in Antwerp, Belgium. A week later in Cairo, on November 23-25, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) pulls together journalists from across the Middle East and North Africa to its fifth annual conference. And don’t forget the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Rio next October — contact your local GIJN member organization about fellowships and travel grants. For a full list of events, check out the calendar on GIJN.org.

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STORIES OF NOTE COLPIN Award Winners Series on financial dealings of President’s Chief of Staff Antonio Palocci, Folha de Sao Paulo (Brazil) “Condemned Children,” Zero Hora (Brazil) “Black Fishing,” IDL Reporteros (Peru) More Investigations The Secret World of Private Companies, Watchdog Watcher Snakebites and Poisoned Statistics, Tehelka(India) Incubator shortage in Egypt hospitals kills 100,000 infants a year, Al Watan (Egypt) Capitol Assets: The Personal Finances of Lawmakers and Their Work on Capitol Hill, Washington Post(USA) Fields of Terror, Journeymen TV (Netherlands) The American Saga of Pavlo Lazarenko, Pravda (Ukraine) Azerbaijan’s Czech Enclave, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project   CALENDAR   October 29-31: Power Reporting–African Investigative Journalism Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa   November 6-7: Future Media Lab: Creative Funding for Creative Media, Ghent, Belgium   November 7-10: International Anti-Corruption Conference, Brasilia, Brazil   November 16-17: European Investigative Journalism Conference, Antwerp, Belgium   November 23-25: Annual Conference for Arab Investigative Journalists, Cairo, Egypt   February 28-March 3, 2013: IRE/NICAR Computer-Assisted Reporting Conference, Louisville, USA   May 9-11: European Data Harvest Festival, Brussels, Belgium  June 20-23, 2013: IRE Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas, USA  October 14-17, 2013: Global Investigative Journalism Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil