How do you take a complex, months-long investigation and reach fast-scrolling readers without losing credibility? Craft promotional material that fits each social media platform’s audience and voice.
A Pulitzer Center fellow and CNN senior reporter followed the development of the nascent deep-sea mining industry and how it’s intertwined with defense priorities in the US and China.
In this GIJN Academy masterclass video, Thin Lei Win, a lead reporter at Lighthouse Reports, shares four key lessons for investigating hunger, agricultural supply chains, and the global food system.
New members include two exiled newsrooms; three outlets with a major focus on the environment and climate change; and several organizations that dig into organized crime and human rights violations.
The latest book from The New Yorker staff writer delves into the life of 19-year-old Zac Brettler, who led a secret double life in London before plunging to his death from an apartment balcony into the River Thames in 2019.
Over the past decade, the nonprofit Tokyo Investigative Newsroom has published numerous longform exposés on issues ranging from gender, health, politics, and the environment.
When RightsCon 2026 in Zambia was abruptly cancelled, the story at its companion World Press Freedom Day conference shifted from panel coverage to a real-time lesson in access and government power.
How an investigative documentary revealed that the German women’s group Lukreta is part of a Europe-wide far-right network with links all the way to the European Parliament.
Also highlighting China’s squid fishing fleet off Argentina, how redistricting is shaping America’s midterms, and why 2.1 billion people still lack safe drinking water.
Adaptation is not a substitute for mitigation. Cutting emissions remains indispensable to preventing the worst outcomes of climate change.
Hear from Christo Grozev on hunting spies and András Pethő on investigating in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, plus accounts from the team that produced award-winning work as the Syrian dictatorship crumbled.
How do you make a trillion dollars feel real to someone who has never seen that much money? Vineet Khare and Mayank Bhatt faced that very challenge for their data-driven investigation into AI investment.
The African Centre for Media Excellence fills a critical gap between journalism schools and newsrooms, but earlier this year Ugandan authorities ordered it to shut down and it’s now fighting for its survival.
Ten outstanding data-driven journalism projects were chosen from among the 31 finalists – 26 individual projects and five portfolios — by a diverse prize committee of 17 judges.
Our roundup of the best in recent data journalism also highlights US-Israeli attacks on Iran using radar satellite imagery, and how residents in a Ukrainian housing block survived winter after losing power.
In this latest GIJN Toolbox, we highlight three new powerful but easy-to-use investigative tools that have been specifically developed with the needs of data and investigative journalists in mind.
In its 25th edition, the Reporters Without Borders assessment notes a “widespread decline” in the global state of media freedom — but notes a few encouraging signs of optimism.
The open source desktop geographic information system software QGIS can be a powerful tool for investigative journalists. This resource takes you from the basics to advanced data mapping.
This resource contains links to open data portals in dozens of countries, including sites on company registries, government procurement data, sources for information on people and vehicles, and much more.
There is a central tension facing investigative journalists: the “AI and tech paradox.” Explore our report on the most urgent technology-related challenges facing investigative journalism today.
Experts offer practical tips and tools for covering attacks on civilians on the battlefield and interviewing non-combatant survivors of armed conflict.
This guide offers journalists a new detection tool and seven advanced techniques for spotting probable AI-generated content.
Featuring advice on fact checking, digital security tips, interview techniques, and guidelines for editors.
Back by popular demand, this full-day session with investigative trainer Henk van Ess teaches how to use AI for source discovery and data analysis, stop hallucinations, and prompt more effectively.
This intensive workshop transforms a motivated journalist into their newsroom’s go-to digital security resource, combining threat modeling, hands-on tool practice, and a train-the-trainer approach.
This asynchronous course is designed for journalists who want to deepen their understanding of climate issues and offers advanced techniques to uncover the climate story through an investigative lens.
This course, built around collecting both qualitative and quantitative data, digital research, and information extraction, will enable participants to strengthen their investigations and diversify their sources.
Empower the World’s Watchdog Journalists
Greece-based GIJN member Solomon and three of its journalists face legal action from a deputy mayor in the Greek port city of Piraeus, following their investigation into a real estate development project. Dimitris Arapis, responsible for urban planning and construction in Piraeus, has filed a lawsuit, injunction request, and criminal complaint, including a demand to take down the investigation. The investigation examined a large development that includes hundreds of apartments, offices, shops, and commercial spaces in a former industrial area in Piraeus, as well as possible potential conflict of interest issues related to Arapis’ public role and private work for the developer.
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) has opened a call for independent journalists based in Kosovo and Montenegro to apply for grants to support investigations into corruption and accountability issues. Journalists can get grants of up to US$1,500, as well as mentoring and technical and editorial support. The program, which supports journalists investigating issues related to governance, misuse of public resources, and institutional accountability, is led by the Society Against Corruption in Montenegro and Kosovo, a regional anti-corruption initiative and grant program implemented by BIRN and Civic Alliance (CA). The deadline for applications is June 7, 2026.
German investigative newsroom CORRECTIV has announced its 2026 Exile Journalist-in-Residence Program, which supports journalists forced into exile by persecution related to their work. The program “provides what many lose in exile: a professional newsroom, trusted colleagues, technical infrastructure, and public visibility within a safe environment,” states CORRECTIV. The six-month residency in Berlin — from July to December 2026 — will be offered to two journalists, who will work alongside exiled and investigative journalists and pursue their own projects, and have access to workspaces, studios, publishing platforms, and public-facing formats.
Source: Fund for Investigative Journalism
Applications are open for the Fund for Investigative Journalism’s Alicia Patterson Fellowship 2027, which runs for six (paying US$20,000) or 12 months (paying US$40,000) for in-depth written reporting. Proposals are due October 1 every year, with decisions made in January. The Fellowships are designed to support significant, in-depth written reporting on subjects of public interest. Projects must be for print or online publications (in text format) and must be US-focused — fellows aren’t required to live in the US, but the reporting project must be focused on the US and for publication in US-based outlets.
Applications are open for the Sir Harry Evans Global Fellowship, a nine-month fellowship with Durham University in the UK and Reuters, and a prestigious opportunity for an early-career journalist to produce an investigative project. The Fellow gets mentorship from Reuters editors and access to Durham University’s research resources, and will work on the project from inside a Reuters newsroom in London, New York, Sydney, or Toronto. The Fellowship comes with a monthly salary of around £4,444 per month (US$6,040 ), plus a living stipend and travel expenses. Applicants should have between 2-5 years’ professional journalism experience. Deadline: July 10, 2026.
Source: Global Forum for Media Development
The Global Investigative Journalism Network, along with more than 100 other press, civil society, and human rights organizations, signed a statement of solidarity with the Global Forum of Media Development, condemning the Zambian government over its abrupt cancellation of RightsCon 2026. As GFMD notes, the Zambian Ministry of Technology and Science's last-minute decision to bow to foreign pressure and scuttle the event is just the latest attack on the cause of equality, transparency, and accountability. "These developments take place in an already challenging context of shrinking liberties and funding for journalism, digital rights, and free expression communities worldwide," GFMD wrote in its statement.
The Russian state media and internet agency, Roskomnadzor, has sent formal demands to Apple and Google for the removal of the app for IStories — an independent investigative new site that has published reporting on political corruption and the realities of the war in Ukraine. Roskomnadzor accused the outlet of “spreading fakes” and destabilizing the country. IStories launched the app — designed to circumvent widespread website blocking in Russia — in February 2026. The outlet posted on social media to tell its audience to download the app before the tech companies could potentially comply with the removal orders.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the Tunisian authorities’ crackdown on the independent press, including a suspension and funds being withheld from investigative news site and GIJN member Inkyfada. On May 11, 2026, the Tunis Court of First Instance will examine a request to dissolve Al Khatt, the association that runs Inkyfada. “The dissolution proceedings brought against Inkyfada is an act of institutional censorship,” said Oussama Bouagila, director of RSF North Africa, calling for the procedure to be dropped. Al Khatt, which has managed the investigative platform since 2014, has been subject to mounting pressure since 2023.
The 2026 I.F.Stone Medal, an award administered by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University that recognizes journalistic independence and honors the life of investigative journalist I.F. Stone, has been awarded to Alfredo Corchado, executive editor of the Puente News Collaborative. The award recognizes Corchado's work directing Puente’s innovative approach to reporting along both sides of the US-Mexico border. Puente News Collaborative is a bilingual journalism nonprofit based in El Paso, Texas. It connects independent journalists to newsrooms in the US and Mexico, and its network includes more than two dozen publishing partners.
Source: Freelance Investigative Reporters & Editors
Freelance Investigative Reporters & Editors (FIRE) is offering US$25,000 Greenlight Grants to support investigative reporting that uncovers information in the public interest, done exclusively by freelance investigative journalists who are not formally attached to any newsroom, news site, or outlet. FIRE Greenlight Grants are designed to reward “best practices in the engagement of freelance reporters,” and co-awarded publishers or broadcasters receive 20% of the grant. To be eligible for the FIRE Greenlight Grants, an outlet must promise in writing to cover defamation-related legal expenses as long as the applicant reports responsibly.
The award-winning South African investigative journalist says he spent years ‘in the wilderness’ digging into spreadsheets and paperwork to find his niche.
Anna Behrend is a self-taught data journalist who has found in data-driven reporting and visualization a way to combine her academic background in science with her creative interests.
Based in the Mexican border region of Chihuahua, a state where organized crime exerts a strong presence, means working “under constant threat,” but Gallegos refuses to be silenced.
One of India’s most renowned investigative reporters, Sarin has reported and edited stories digging into security, corruption, and money laundering.
How do you make a trillion dollars feel real to someone who has never seen that much money? Vineet Khare and Mayank Bhatt faced that very challenge for their data-driven investigation into AI investment.
Ten outstanding data-driven journalism projects were chosen from among the 31 finalists – 26 individual projects and five portfolios — by a diverse prize committee of 17 judges.
At the NICAR26 data journalism summit, a panel of veteran data reporters shared tips on how to amplify and contextualize data-driven public interest stories with ordinary people at the short end of policy.
LLMs are quietly reshaping data journalism workflows at The Hindu, helping reporters process vast document sets, write scripts and build interactive tools.
Over the past decade, the nonprofit Tokyo Investigative Newsroom has published numerous longform exposés on issues ranging from gender, health, politics, and the environment.
The African Centre for Media Excellence fills a critical gap between journalism schools and newsrooms, but earlier this year Ugandan authorities ordered it to shut down and it’s now fighting for its survival.
Founded in 2016, this news site was created to report on issues often ignored or suppressed in state-controlled media, including corruption, misuse of public resources, and human rights violations.
Since 2020, the exiled outlet’s investigations have led to approximately 90 sanction actions, proving how journalism can make a real impact on authoritarian regimes.
The 14th Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC25) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, assembled more than 1,500 journalists from over 135 countries and territories to hold workshops, share best practices, and build a community increasingly confronting funding crises, disinformation campaigns, digital surveillance, and authoritarian threats. This project is a compendium of GIJN’s coverage of the conference.
This regional spotlight series examines the world’s largest and most populous continent, which is also the host of the 2025 Global Investigative Journalism Conference. Asia serves as a unique laboratory in the global media landscape, but journalists here face multifaceted challenges, from censorship to physical threats, digital surveillance to financial pressures. Despite this, watchdog reporters […]
Our third regional spotlight series examines the challenges facing our members and other outlets in the Middle East and North Africa, such as war, backsliding democracies, self-censorship, exile, surveillance and imprisonment of journalists, and the hostile legal environment — and why this reality on the ground makes investigative journalism there all the more essential.
Our second regional spotlight series examines the successes and challenges facing our members in Africa and others reporting from the continent. These articles tell the stories of growing journalistic collaboration, courage, and innovation in the face of repression, legal intimidation, lack of access to information, and even physical threats.
Online scams have become borderless threats that evolve rapidly in scale, sophistication, and impact. From fraudsters using the Internet to steal to phishing networks that engage in social engineering and trick individuals, scams are often backed by organized criminal groups that exploit weak law enforcement, jurisdictional loopholes, and digital anonymity.
What innovative tools and techniques are shaping the future of data journalism? A special Lightning Round webinar with the 10 winners of the 2025 Sigma Awards, celebrating some of the world’s best data-driven investigations.
A webinar exploring how investigative journalists can document human rights abuses in war zones, with a focus on methods to ensure the information gathered can later be used by legal investigators or international courts.
