GIJC2013

Research: “Challenges in Linking New Players in Investigative Journalism in Colombia” (Spanish)

By |

Investigative journalism in Colombia as a specific area of work is being consolidated. By linking the analysis of big data to investigative journalism, different professions have been linked to journalism. As this consolidation is starting in Colombia, it is important to research the way in which the various professions are being linked to investigative journalism. To identify this linkage of new actors involved in investigative journalism in Colombia, we distinguish between two levels: the level of practice and the level of analysis. In terms of practice, the level of computational forms of journalism, the work and the demands are characterized by the use of specific technologies. In terms of analysis, the level of construction of hypotheses that direct the understanding of information, the construction forms of investigative journalism responses were characterized. Methodologically, this was achieved with a historiographical reconstruction of investigative journalism in Colombia. There were two discussion groups formed by six journalists and new actors, whose work is related to investigative journalism. We interviewed two directors of national media to inquire about their perceptions of the benefits of linking new roles to investigative journalism. Two journalist-programmers and two hackers were also interviewed. Thus, an overview on linking new players to investigative journalism in Colombia was built.

GIJC2013

Research: “Covering Oil: Big Data, New tools and Journalism”

By |

There is a great deal of scope for journalists to do investigative reporting on the extractive sector. The last few years have seen a general trend towards transparency in the sector so there is now far more data available than ever before, including data produced by members of the EITI and companies affected by the Dodd Frank Act. Such reporting is necessary if the media is to fulfill the role of the watchdog, particularly needed in this complex and often opaque industry.
Assisting journalists with covering the extractives are a host of new tools that enable journalists and bloggers to obtain and verify information, draw on citizen networks, work with NGOs and civil society organizations and crunch big data sets.

This paper will look at some of the new initiatives and websites, highlight some of the successes and failures in covering the sector and map out possible areas of coverage. We will consider how technology can help journalists overcome some of the standard barriers to exposure reporting. Technology, of course, is not a cure-all but can help counter the geographical barriers, resource constraints, pressure from government and advertisers and lack of knowledge and sources that have in the past impeded exposure journalism on the extractives. New technologies can both increase the effectiveness of coverage and the ability to disseminate information once it has been gathered. This paper will also briefly touch on the role international non-governmental organizations play in disseminating information and the impact of donor-funded networks.

GIJC2013

Research: “Help Them to Speak: The Psychology of the Reluctant, Vulnerable Witness or Whistle-blower and What Influences Them to Speak Out”

By |

This paper draws on appraisal-based theories of cognitive psychology to explain the role of emotion in the decision-making process of reluctant, vulnerable witnesses to wrongdoing who were persuaded to blow the whistle on matters of substantial public interest. It concludes that an emotional transformation is a prerequisite to the decision to speak, and that this transformation is informed by a series of evaluations the potential whistle-blower makes of the proposed action, in accordance with their deeply-held attitudes about the relevance and likelihood of the proposed action, their own coping ability, and its significance in terms of their moral and other values. Through careful and responsible interaction during the decision-making process, journalists and others can change a witness’s deeply-held attitudes about relevance, likelihood, coping and significance. This can lead to a change in the emotion associated with the proposed action, which in turn can motivate the witness to speak out.

GIJC2013

Research: “Aiming for the Stars: Teaching Investigative Journalism”

By |

This paper outlines an approach to teaching investigative journalism that produces publishable stories within an approximately four –month period. It is based on a five-step method that has been developed over the past few years on a journalism programme for graduate students. With refinements, the method is getting an increasing proportion of students to complete a successful investigation. From about 10 per cent initially, to now over half of students are now producing publishable investigative features within the four-month teaching period. The method provides a good learning platform for many aspects of the investigative process, and appears especially successful at motivating students to develop perseverance, but has some limitations in the type of stories produced.

GIJC2013

Research: “Watchdogging Haiti’s Reconstruction from the Grassroots”

By |

Haiti’s 2010 earthquake and the billions of “reconstruction” dollars that followed offered humanitarian agencies and international businesses access to multiple opportunities for profit. Haitian and foreign commercial news media could not – or would not – watchdog the billions of dollars and hundreds of projects. Could Haitian “alternative” and community media fill the gap?

Two small media institutions – an online “alternative” news agency and a community radio training group, coordinated by a veteran international journalist – launched the Haiti Grassroots Watch partnership to give it a shot. Steered by the tenets of the early Western journalism and influenced by investigative journalism practices from Africa as well as the U.S., but also guided by Latin American “comunicación popular” theory and by Paolo Freire’s contributions on dialogic teaching and learning, the collaboration also builds on lessons learned from U.S. “networked journalism,” and from the investigative units and “new news labs” at U.S. universities. The result is a multimedia and multi-language collaboration, grounded in progressive community radio stations whose members have unique access and perspective, and based largely on the work of idealistic journalism students, who – like medical students – learn as they contribute.

The evolving experiment includes a university course, training sessions at community radios, as well as screenings in rural communities and poor neighborhoods where audiences engage in a kind of low-tech “crowd-sourcing” for story ideas. Capacity building is part of every step and content creation – text, audio and video – is uniquely informed by its participatory processes, by its grassroots origins and by the oversight of professors. Can the Haiti Grassroots Watch model be replicated at universities in other countries on the receiving end the billions of dollars in humanitarian and development aid doled out each year? This paper examines the project’s conceptual and theoretical underpinnings, its successes, and its challenges, and will hope to inspire similar efforts in the “global South.”