The Global Center for Investigative Journalism, which has been created by long-time investigative journalist David Kaplan, will help coordinate Network activities such conference planning and the Web site and social media.

A memo of understanding outlines the work to be performed by the center. The arrangement will be reviewed in June to see whether it should be continued.

Five categories for Storify-use

Mallary Jean Tenore posted a really good overview at Poynter.org on November 21, 2011:

She said 5 types of stories that make a good Storify are:

Social movements: Like Occupy Wall Street.
Breaking News: Like the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
Internet Humor: Like this Danish for progress [link] as the new
brand for Aarhus.
Reaction stories: Clipping the important conversations together.
Weather: Disasters – video clip from victims and others.

In her overview Mallary Jean Tenore brings a lot of good tips on how to use Storify as one element together with other elements in a coverage. It’s also a good idea to follow Storify’s own overview of the best use of their tool.

I will add one more category: Investigative stories. And like her I will sub-divide the use in four types.

1 – Saving tweets for later restructuring

It’s a big problem that tweets disappear after a short period. If you use a hashtag to follow an event, tweets is only to be found for very
few days. Making a Storify with the important tweets from that event can be crucial for later potential for restructuring what actually happened.

2 – Making a first presentation of a problem
When covering an event sometimes the first hints to something more to cover is a bg topic of discussion at that event. We had two students, Anders Frost Brandstrup and Rasmus Hjorth Karkov, covering Denmark Open in badminton. They did this Storify (in Danish):

Chinese players accused for cheating
This is a fast way to mix tweets, Youtube-videos of discussed matches, interviews, and short overview. This means they during a really intensive work on the daily beat can do a fast collection of the material and present this. This is not the final investigative story, proving what happened, but a great starter.

3 – Uncovering false identities/tweets
A really important part of using social media is the question of reliability. Who can we trust out there? And who uses this fast system to spread false information. A new part of our job will then be to develop these methods, and to uncover the false identities.

A great example of a Storify on that has been done by the tweet-curator Andy Carvin from National Public Radio in US:

The  Gay Girl in Damascus that wasn’t

4 -Sharing methods
Participating in conferences on investigative journalism will give you a lot of tweets for that specific conference, using the conference-hashtag. That’s a great tool during the conference, but who has time to check it all out during the conference. And soon after all tweets are gone.

I would love to have a well-structured Storify of the important tools, links and advices from such a conference. For making this handout, I couldn’t find one from the latest conferences I have been to. But it will soon follow.

Other areas of use

These categories and examples show a clear starting point with obvious advantages of using Storify. But we will see all this develop rapidly. Try out the possibilities – whenever a story or topic has a great potential for being tweeted about or in other ways trigger the use of social media.

Look at Storify’s website to follow examples.

The new African News Innovation Challenge (ANIC) is designed to encourage experimentation in digital technologies and support the best innovations that strengthen African news organizations.

AMI chief executive Amadou Mahtar Ba first announced the fund at the 4th African Media Leaders Forum in Tunisia on November 10. This week, Ba confirmed that Omidyar Network, Google, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, and the U.S. Department of State have all pledged either funding or technical support for the initiative.

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers has also committed expert business mentorship and marketing support for ANIC winners.

“Traditional media are still growing in Africa, but media organizations know that they need to go digital and mobile to prepare for the future. Many, however, don’t have the resources to experiment or take risks, especially in this economic climate,” said Ba. “This competition is our way of saying: ‘We’re here to help. If you come up with an innovative idea to improve the African media landscape, we’ll help make it happen.’”

Winners in the annual contest will get seed grants ranging from $12,500 to a maximum of $100,000 for more ambitious projects. To build robust business models, the grantees will also receive technical advice and start-up support, as well as one-on-one mentoring from some of the world’s leading media experts.

“We’re trying to nurture a culture of innovation in African media,” said AMI’s digital strategist and ANIC project manager Justin Arenstein. “We want the winners to get their products to the market quickly, and we want to remove as much risk as possible. These pioneers will have access to experts that most media simply do not have.”

Arenstein is working with AMI as part of a Knight International Journalism Fellowship administered by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), with funds from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The contest will target solutions to technology challenges facing African media, including ways to strengthen data-based investigative journalism, audience engagement, mobile news distribution, data visualization, revenue streams and workflow systems.

“We’re casting the net as wide as possible,” said Arenstein. “As long as the solution is scalable and appropriate to local market conditions, we’re happy to consider it.”

The competition is modeled after Knight Foundation’s highly successful Knight News Challenge, which has seeded news media innovation across the globe over the past five years. “We will work closely with Knight Foundation to incorporate the best practices and technology for a digital news contest designed to solve problems and stimulate new thinking,” said Joyce Barnathan, president of the International Center for Journalists.

AMI will launch the contest website in December 2011. In the first phase, African journalists and publishers will be asked to identify the most pressing challenges facing the industry. Once these have been identified, AMI will issue a call for applications targeting these issues in February 2012.

Winners will be chosen through a rigorous two-phase judging process, consisting of public voting and a review of finalists by a panel of experts. The top contenders will receive a combination of cash and technical support.

Winners will then test their innovations in AMI member-newsrooms and showcase projects at international media gatherings.

The African innovation contest is part of AMI’s broader initiative to build digital entrepreneurship within traditional media. AMI is also supporting a new network of HacksHackers.com chapters across Africa that will bring technologists together with journalists to help pilot projects in digital media. The chapters will run workshops and help incubate ideas for the African News Innovation Challenge.

The African Media Initiative is the continent’s primary umbrella association of African media owners, top executives, and other industry stakeholders. AMI represents media across all traditional platforms plus newer digital formats. AMI’s mandate is to serve as a catalyst for strengthening African media, by building the tools, knowledge resources, and technical capacity for African media to overcome key constraints so that they can play an effective public interest role in society. This mandate includes assisting with the development of professional standards, financial sustainability, technological adaptability, and civic engagement. AMI seeks to achieve its mandate through partnerships, advocacy and strategic projects. For more information, visit www.africanmediainitiative.org.

The International Center for Journalists is a non-profit organization that advances quality journalism worldwide. Our programs combine the best professional standards with the latest digital innovations. We believe that independent, vigorous media are crucial in improving the human condition. For more information, visit www.icfj.org.

http://www.icfj.org/news/leading-african-media-organization-announces-1-million-fund-news-innovation

Over 250 Arab and international journalists, editors and media professors from 22 countries will discuss challenges facing investigative journalism, a rarity in the region’s new rooms for a variety of political, legal, social and religious taboos.

The three-day conference is organized by the Amman-based Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), the only media support network promoting investigative journalism in nine countries through training, coaching, pre-publication legal screening and funding investigation costs.

‘The contribution of investigative journalism to accountability, development, and democracy is now well recognized, and it has never been more important. These are the stories that matter – in-depth reports on the issues that affect our lives”, said David Kaplan, one of three keynote speakers at the conference.

“I’m privileged to join my colleagues at ARIJ, who are part of a growing, global movement of investigative reporters embracing the latest tools and techniques,” explained Kaplan, a leader in today’s global investigative journalism movement.

Kaplan will share his experience in promoting accountability and social justice by tracking crime and corruption, a global malady. The other key note speaker will assess the future of Arab media in a region undergoing political change since the toppling of the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents early 2011.

They are Yosri Fouda (Egypt), editor and presenter of Egypt’s leading current affairs talk show “Last Word” on OnTv and Ahmed Benchamsi (Morocco), visiting scholar at Stanford University and former publisher, founder and editor of Morocco’s two best-selling weeklies: TelQuel (French) and Nishan (Arabic).

The conference is sponsored by the Copenhagen-based International Media Support (IMS), The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and Foundations for Open Society (FOSI). Other sponsors include the embassies of the United States of America, Norway and the Netherlands, The Jordan Kuwait Bank, Aramex, the global transport and logistics services company and Zain, Jordan’s mobile telecommunications company.

Swedish Ambassador to Jordan, Charlotta Sparre, said that only countries that have a plural and free expression of opinions can truly be called democratic. “And investigative journalism with its questioning of established truths and exposure of wrong-doing, has a particularly important role in bringing about the core principle of a democracy: Accountability. [Or as someone has said: 'help to throw the rascals out']“.

Key trainers include award-winning journalists Tim Sebastian, chairman and presenter of the Doha Debates and former presenter of BBC’s “Hardtalk”, Dr. Mark Hunter, professor of media at INSEAD and author and editor of the ARIJ Manual for Investigative Journalists; “A Story-based Inquiry”, and Nils Hanson, chief editor of Swedish Television’s investigative team “Uppdrag Granskning”.

Other speakers include Britain’s author and journalist Heather Brooke and Rowan Bosworth-Davies, fraud and money-laundering expert and an accomplished author and broadcaster. Brooke exposed expense accounts of members of parliament that led to the forced resignation of the first House Speaker in 300 years.

The conference sessions will tackle Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR) tools, tracking information, digital source protection, crowd sourcing, using multimedia to tell the story, cross-border networking, questioning techniques, info-graphics, safety of investigative journalists, investigating nuclear power plants and uranium enrichment facilities, and closed militant groups.

The conference offers a rare opportunity for journalists who have worked through ARIJ in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Bahrain, Yemen and Tunisia, to share tools of their trade to inspire their Arab and Western colleagues.

Next year’s conference will be held in Tunisia, and the sixth will be held in Egypt in 2013.

http://arij.net/en/arab-investigative-journalists-discuss-their-role-changing-region

Who can enter

You must be an African National, working on the continent for African owned, or headquartered, media organisations. Your work must have appeared in printed publications or electronic media that is primarily targeted at and received by an African audience.

What the judges are looking for

Our panel of independent, highly respected and experienced judges are in pursuit of excellence. They will be looking for entries which:

• Tell the story in a balanced, comprehensive and objective manner
• Demonstrate journalistic integrity and resourcefulness
• Communicate the story in a way that makes the topic accessible and relevant to their audience
• Display well organised research and insight
• Was broadcast or published, in English, French or Portuguese only, between January and December 2011 with proof supplied

Entries must be received at the collection points by JANUARY 26th 2012, no exceptions will be made. Entries received after this date may be disqualified.

The Prizes

The journalists selected by our panel of judges will enjoy an all expenses paid finalists’ programme of networking activities and workshops, culminating in the Gala Awards Ceremony. Each finalist will receive a cash prize, with each category winner also receiving a laptop computer and printer.

The CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2012 Award winner will be selected from the category winners and will receive an additional cash prize and will have the opportunity to participate in the CNN Journalism Fellowship at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta.

How to enter

• You can only enter a maximum of 2 stories across all categories. Please carefully review your work of 2011 and enter your best story/stories in the most suitable category. You may enter a maximum of 2 stories, either both into a single category or 1 each into different categories. Please send your entry/entries in one envelope.
• Fill in all the details requested on the form (copies accepted), please print clearly and provide all requested information.
• Ensure you include a copy of your up-to-date Curriculum Vitae and any background information on your entry/entries, that you feel relevant.
• Send 2 copies of your work – Print journalists & cartoonists send the original article and a clean, legible photocopy of the entry; Online please send full URL details (No print outs will be accepted); TV & Radio – please send 2 disks/tapes (DVD/VHS or CD); Photojournalist – please send original photo(s) and CD containing your picture(s).
• Get your entry to the collection point nearest to you by January 26th 2012 latest. No extension will be made to this date.

CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards 2012 entry forms

• English Entry Form
• French Entry Form
• Portuguese Entry Form

More information: http://www.cnn.com/africanawards 

Source: http://fairreporters.net/2011/11/24/entries-open-for-cnn-multichoice-african-journalist-awards/

Reporters:
Mihai Munteanu-OCCRP
Roman Anin-Novaya Gazeta, Russia
Arta Giga-Nothing Personal, TV3 Latvia
Inga Springe-Re:Baltica; The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism, Latvia
Vlad Lavrov-Kyiv Post, Ukraine
Valerie Hopkins-OCCRP
Stevan Dojcinovic-CINS-The Serbian Center for Investigative Journalism
Graham Stack-freelance, Ukraine
Miranda Patrucic-CIN, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Editors:
Drew Sullivan, OCCRP
Rosemary Armao, OCCRP

Coordinator:
Paul Cristian Radu, OCCRP

See the project at http://www.reportingproject.net/proxy/

The conference offered five tracks: the international track, the workshop track, the data track, the local journalism track and the national journalism track. Several awards were given out at the celebration dinner Saturday.
(See all award-winners here: http://journalisten.dk/her-er-vinderne-af-fuj-priserne)

The conference also celebrated the international orientation of FUJ, www.fuj.dk, The Danish Association for investigative Journalism. This orientation began 10 years ago with the first Global Investigative Journalism Conference held in Copenhagen. It continued in 2003 with the second global conference and the formation of the Global Investigative Journalism Network and of Scoop – a network supporting investigative journalism.

The international projects co-founded by FUJ are www.i-scoop.org, www.arij.net and http://pair-africa.org/

Inga Springe, Director of the Baltic Investigative Reporting Center & Ints Silins of the U.S. Baltic Foundation

On August 9, 2011, a group of journalists from Lithuania, Estonia, and the United States announced the creation of the first-ever Baltic Investigative Reporting Center, a non-profit organization based in Riga, Latvia, designed to preserve the integrity of investigative journalism.  The announcement came as a breath of fresh air for those resigned to the fact that investigative journalism is an endangered discipline in the Baltics.

Inga Springe, who is director of the center in addition to working as a journalist and lecturer at the University of Latvia, discusses the institute’s development and ambitions with the EJO’s Latvian Editor, Liga Ozolina.

Q: Where did you get the idea for the creation of the Baltic Investigative Reporting Center?

The idea came from the United States, where investigative journalism is mainly held within similar nonprofit organizations. One year ago, through the Fulbright/Humphrey Fellowship Program, I was given the opportunity to improve my professional skills in the United States. By that time I had resigned from my job at one of the largest daily newspapers in Latvia, Diena. While I didn’t know what my future held, I knew I didn’t want to work at a weekly magazine or for a daily newspaper anymore.  At the same time I knew I couldn’t leave journalism completely.  I was in the U.S. when some former colleagues came up with the idea to establish a nonprofit media center in Latvia.  I decided to research the idea by attending conferences and reviewing the practices of The Washington Post and one of the oldest and largest non-profit investigative news organizations, The Center for Public Integrity, in order to gain a better understanding of developing trends in investigative journalism.

I also visited some of the most important non-profit media organizations in the U.S., among them ProPublica, which has twice been awarded the Pulitzer Prize. I was fortunate enough to meet Kristine Rizga, a Latvian journalist who lived in the United States for 10 years and worked for several non-profit media projects. She provided me with a great deal of support by helping to edit my writing while also offering emotional encouragement.  As I continued to meet more journalists considered to be experts in non-profit investigative journalism, I became immersed in the idea of creating a center.  I began to realize that in times like these, when journalistic news is decreasing in scope and frequency, such centers are integral in order to support the discipline.  So I said, “Let’s try it in Latvia!”

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