Reed F. Richardson

Investigative Journalism in Asia: Resistance, Transformation, and Solidarity Amidst Mounting Press Challenges 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.

Today, @gijn.org launches our latest regional editorial takeover, focusing on Asia.
In our kick-off story, you'll learn about how investigative journalism is surviving and innovating on the largest continent, despite a growing series of authoritarian and commercial threats to press freedom.

Data Centers’ Impact on Utility Prices, UK’s Far-Right Online, Fatal Consequences of USAID Cuts, Drone Strikes on Kyiv Our round-up of the best in recent data journalism also features stories about fuel smuggling in Mexico, poverty in Nigeria, and typhoons in Hong Kong.

Latest #DataJournalism Top 10 from @gijn.org highlights a great Bloomberg deep dive into how US data centers' power demands are jacking up nearby electricity prices, how the UK's summer 2024 riots were fueled by far-right online vitriol, and the demonstrably fatal consequences of Trump's USAID cuts.

Today, Oct.2nd, is the anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder by Saudi agents.

Hegseth really is a perfect example of frustrated-Major syndrome. Someone who only values performative toughness and bombast—and who has no real grasp of what actual strong leadership looks like.
And I did personally work/serve with Pete Chiarelli, and he is/was a consummate officer & American.

„One technique that sounds obvious but is often undervalued in Western newsrooms is historical context and scope. Too often, reporters cover an event with little or no historical analysis that explains just why an event has happened.“

Exclusive | Boeing Clears Key Hurdle From 737 MAX Crashes The aerospace giant is regaining some authority from regulators to perform final safety checks on jets.

🚨 "Boeing is regaining authority from the Federal Aviation Administration to perform final safety checks on its 737 MAX."

Rather than increase agency capacity to conduct independent inspections and improve aviation safety, Trump's FAA will allow Boeing to certify the safety of its own planes.

‘I’m Not Interested in Giving Readers Easy Answers’: Tracing Current Indigenous Inequities to Systemic Injustices Tristan Ahtone is an award-winning journalist that has demonstrated the power of using historical archives to expose systemic injustices imposed on Indigenous communities.

As editor-at-large for @grist.org, Indigenous journalist Tristan Ahtone has undertaken some of the most innovative investigations of late, using historical archives to expose the long-term systemic impact of US gov't land grabbing and subjugation policies.
Learn from him at #GIJC25 in November.

Visual evidence upends Israel’s official story for deadly attack on Gaza hospital Israeli troops say they targeted a Hamas camera in an August strike, but a Reuters investigation found the device belonged to one of the news agency’s journalists. An Israeli official now says troops fired without required approval. The five journalists who died in the strike are among 200 killed by Israel that it has yet to fully explain.

The Israeli military had said they targeted a Hamas camera in an August strike, but the device actually belonged to @reuters.com An Israeli military official now says troops fired without required approval. Five journalists died in the attack. www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Sinclair Broadcast Group drops Boris Epshteyn's "must-run" segments

Pretty rich hearing Sinclair soberly intone about the need for "accurate" programming, when it employed Boris Epshteyn for years and mandated that all affiliates run his routinely false and obviously distorted pro-Trump propaganda segments.

The Pentagon, the Press and the Fight to Control National Security Coverage

What the Trump administration is trying to do to the national security reporters covering the Pentagon is nothing short of gov't censorship through prior restraint, pure and simple.

The restrictions proposed are an absolute non-starter and betray the very foundation of a free & independent press.

Seeking the Truth, in the Midst of a Country in Crisis: Haiti’s AyiboPost Being a journalist in Haiti means not only witnessing daily violence but also being a potential target, one news outlet remains a home for those who refuse to stop reporting.

Outside of totalitarian regimes, there may be no tougher place in the world for investigative journalism than Haiti.
But @ayibopost.bsky.social remains resilient despite gang violence, physical threats, & a chaotic information environment.
Today, @gijn.org profiles this site & its courageous team.

GIJC25 Program Launches — Two Nobel Laureates and African War Crimes Expert Are Featured Speakers Journalism pioneer Maria Ressa, famed economist Joseph Stiglitz, and UN Rwanda Tribunal prosecutor Charles Adeogun-Phillips headline the top experts on the conference's program.

Today is finally the day: @gijn.org is releasing the program for #GIJC25, which features more than 320 speakers from 100 countries on 150-plus panels

The other big news: #GIJC25 will be headlined by two Nobel laureates as well as a world-renowned legal expert on prosecuting war crimes.

Fearless, *independent* journalism is necessary now more than ever.

Hoping that billionaires will be the saviors of the media is merely asking for a temporary reprieve, until they choose to sacrifice press freedom for something else they care more about.

Afghanistan’s Deadly Earthquakes, West Bank Settler Violence, Mississippi’s Prison Homicides, Chile’s Data Center Boom Our round-up of the best in recent data journalism also features stories on Russia’s military equipment losses, Pacific deep-sea mining, and Paralympic swimming.

Today's #DataJournalism Top 10 at @gijn.org features a deep dive into deadly seismic activity in Afghanistan, how Israel is allowing settler violence in the West Bank to replicate its strategy in Gaza, the Trump admin's Wild West policy toward deep-sea mining, and Chile's data center building boom.

Investigating a Scandal in the Publishing World: Q & A with Chloe Hadjimatheou “The Salt Path” was a bestselling memoir that was turned into a hot ticket film starring Gillian Anderson. But after a tipoff, this reporter wondered if everything was quite as it seemed.

Today, @gijn.org speaks with investigative reporter @chloehadj.bsky.social, whose latest exposé + longform podcast explored the truth behind the best-selling book "The Salt Path" — and how the author's story of financial hardship and her husband's medical diagnosis don't line up with the facts.

www.bellingcat.com A Guide To Monitoring Conflict Amidst a Sea of Misinformation - bellingcat

In a world full of misinformation, how do you monitor conflicts in hard-to-reach zones?

@bellingcat.com's new guide walks through open-source tools & methods for verifying what’s really happening.

🔍 Read more:

‘Journalism in Exile Has Been Somewhat Romanticized’: The Challenges of Being Forced to Investigate from Afar Joseph Poliszuk — co-founder of Venezuela's Armando.info — has spent years investigating illegal mining and drug trafficking. He speaks to GIJN ahead of his appearance at GIJC25 in Malaysia.

Joseph Poliszuk, a #GIJC25 speaker, is a veteran investigator that has spent years in exile uncovering official corruption & drug trafficking in his native Venezuela. And while covering authoritarian states in any form is vital, he tells @gijn.org that there's no substitute for real press freedom.

A+ work on the art for this column, on how private equity models are now an example of life imitating absurdist art mocking capitalism.

Connecting Brazil’s Financial Market to Environmental Violations: The Hidden Impacts of Agribusiness on Indigenous Lands Investment funds issued to finance Brazil's agribusiness sector bundle various bonds — some of them labeled “green” — but are tied to socio-environmental violations or potential land grabbing.

From our friends at @pulitzercenter.org: today's @gijn.org #datajournalism story looks into a follow-the-money investigation tracing Brazilian investment funds back to environmental violations & illegal use of Indigenous lands.
Don't miss the blueprint for replicating this investigation elsewhere.

Screenshot of Guardian investigation discussion ICE contract with private company GEO Group granting the company a waiver on health standards for detainees and a note attempting to hide this fact from the public.

Shocking @theguardian.com exposé on the main transit hub of Trump's ICE deportation system.
Story reveals numerous medical emergencies, stays of detainees beyond the statutory three-day limit, and a secret waiver allowing the contractor to avoid health standards.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Why Two Kenyan Journalists Launched a Startup to Change Global Health Storytelling Verah Okeyo and Anne Mawathe were frustrated with newsroom constraints and envisioned producing deeply reported stories that communities, policymakers, and global audiences could not ignore.

💫 NEW! Verah Okeyo and Anne Mawathe were frustrated with newsroom constraints and envisioned producing deeply reported stories that communities, policymakers, and global audiences could not ignore.

So they launched this start-up: twp.ai/9PVGsA

📝 Originally by @reutersinstitute.bsky.social.

gijn.org ‘Every Reporter has an AI Story to Tell’: Tips from an Award-Winning Journalist on the Risks of AI

"Every Reporter has an AI Story to Tell"

@karenhao.bsky.social – one of the world's leading voices on the impacts and potential harms of artificial intelligence – speaks to GIJN ahead of her appearance at #GIJC25 in Malaysia.

How ProPublica Exposed a Flawed AI Tool “Munching” Hundreds of Veteran Contracts The reporting team used leaked documents and an interview with the AI tool's developer to reveal numerous mistakes behind into the Trump administration's cost-cutting measures of veterans' care.

Today @gijn.org, we go behind the scenes of @propublica.org's exposé of the flawed AI tool that DOGE used to wantonly "munch" hundreds of VA contracts. Time and again, the algorithm assumed a completely inaccurate understanding of how these cuts would directly impact patient care and vets' services.

Where Plane Crash Survivors Sit, African Labor Fueling AI Hype, DOGE Guts US Health Agency, Syria’s Most Feared Prison GIJN's latest round-up of the best in data journalism also features stories on Xi Jinping's military purge, workplace harassment in Mexico's hospitals, and climate change-fueled flooding in Pakistan.

In @gijn.org's latest #DataJournalism Top 10 column, we showcase a deep Reuters analysis on airplane crash survivors, how DOGE has gutted the US HHS Department, the hidden African labor force being exploited to train LLMs and fuel AI hype, and the ominous purge of China's top generals by Xi Jinping.

Tips for Researching Massive Water Consumption by Data Centers Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee offer insights into sources and techniques for investigating water usage by major tech companies' data centers.

Massive data centers are proliferating around the world — driven by the explosive increase in AI usage — but the extensive real-world cooling needs for these gigantic server farms is often hard to track & measure.
Today, @gijn.org shares some researchers' tips for investigating Big Tech's thirst.

The press (and, increasingly, the public) has come to recognize the need for caution when it comes to understanding the true impact of breaking news events like mass shootings. That same set of caveats should also be very visibly applied to the reporting on the initial monthly jobs reports as well.

Totally agree. And as Henk notes in his guide, one of the best methods for starting an investigation is just looking at the context of a suspect image and asking: "Does what I'm seeing or hearing really make sense?"

Reporter’s Guide to Detecting AI-Generated Content This guide offers journalists a new detection tool and seven advanced techniques for spotting probable AI-generated content.

In a world where the public is under a daily deluge of politically calculated deepfakes & AI-generated misinformation, master online investigator @henkvaness.bsky.social has created a critically needed new tool to detect fake images.

Learn more in @gijn.org's latest resource guide for journalists

Deadly Mediterranean Migration, Putin’s Military Gains, Spain’s Enduring Wildfires, Gambling on Premier League Kits Our round-up of the best in recent data journalism also features stories from Japan, Nigeria, Gaza, and Namibia.

In @gijn.org's latest Top 10 in #DataJournalism column, we look at the ongoing deadly nature of Mediterranean migration, how Putin is going all-in on Russia as a military-petro state to try to win the war, and Spain's climate change-fueled wildfires lasting longer now.
gijn.org/stories/puti...

Innovative Journalism Legends Announced as Notable Speakers at GIJC25 The program lineup of more than 300 speakers will include the best in the business: award winners, data gurus, innovative editors, and experts on urgent investigative topics.

Today @gijn.org is releasing our first batch of notable speakers who will be sharing their expertise at #GIJC25. This conference, our first ever in Asia, will also include a record number of session speakers from the continent.

And many more big names and keynote speakers will drop soon!