Simon Munzert

What stands out: the transparency around methods (videos, images, timestamps), the careful reconstruction of events, and the seamless flyover which makes the unit's actions so tangible.

A deeply rigorous piece of data-driven investigative journalism @bellingcat.com. It tracks the movements and demolitions by a single military unit in Gaza, weaving together social-media geolocation, satellite imagery and open-source verification.

“We’ve Become Addicted to Explosions” The IDF Unit Responsible for Demolishing Homes Across Gaza - bellingcat Bellingcat investigates the demolitions carried out by the IDF in Gaza.

🎅7️⃣ “We’ve Become Addicted to Explosions” The IDF Unit Responsible for Demolishing Homes Across Gaza, by @mabl2k.bsky.social, A. Mossou, @michaelsheldon.bsky.social, N. Pereverzina, L. Swinnen, @godin.bsky.social, @msramalho.bsky.social, E. Weizman, and A. Kiernan www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/04...

🚨📆🤓 One more week to apply for our Data4Good Festival @hertieschool.bsky.social! Now in its third year, we’re bringing a fresh set of datasets for this round’s hackathon challenge. If you teach undergrads who might want to join us in Berlin in January, please help us spread the word.

Serie: Deutschlandkarte ZEITmagazin ONLINE - Mode & Design, Wochenmarkt, Leben

The data and visualization folks @zeit.de are map-ionistas. Their (sadly discontinued) "Deutschlandkarte" was great data journalism before the term even became a thing www.zeit.de/serie/deutsc...

Schneefall und Klimawandel: Früher war mehr Weiß Weiße Weihnachten waren einmal, denn es schneit in Deutschland immer weniger. Wie viele Schneetage Ihre Region im Winter verloren hat, zeigt unsere Karte.

🎅6️⃣ Früher war mehr Weiß, by @cvallentin.bsky.social and @juliustroeger.bsky.social www.zeit.de/wissen/2022-...

Hands Reaching Up From Hell, Wat Rong Khun Temple, by Chalermchai Kositpipat, 1997

Do You Think You Can Tell How a Neighborhood Voted Just by Looking Around? (Published 2021) An interactive, street-level tour of America’s full political landscape.

🎅5️⃣ Do You Think You Can Tell How a Neighborhood Voted Just by Looking Around? By Emily Badger, Josh Katz, Kevin Quealy, and Rumsey Taylor from @upshot.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

It’s also a reminder of what online data journalism can achieve: experiencing rather than just reading about data is just so effective - in particular if it quietly pushes you to rethink how much you can really infer from what you see.

What We Learned From 15 Million Guesses About a Neighborhood’s Politics (Published 2021) Can sidewalks, pickup trucks and American flags offer clues? Revisiting readers’ perceptions of politics, density and place.

Challenge your visual stereotypes with this one. Voting behavior meets geography meets a quiz – three things close to my heart. After doing the quiz, check out their write-up www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Do You Think You Can Tell How a Neighborhood Voted Just by Looking Around? (Published 2021) An interactive, street-level tour of America’s full political landscape.

🎅5️⃣ Do You Think You Can Tell How a Neighborhood Voted Just by Looking Around? By Emily Badger, Josh Katz, Kevin Quealy, and Rumsey Taylor from @upshot.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

🎅4️⃣ 1 Pixel Wealth, by Matt Korostoff eattherichtextformat.github.io/1-pixel-weal...

It’s as much art as it is data communication (and has in fact inspired art projects, e.g. kochxbos.com/english). There are similarly powerful creations by Matt — worth exploring if you care about how design can shift our understanding of scale and inequality: www.airandsteel.xyz/posts/on-mko...

Not a data-journalism piece per se, but one of the most creative and effective visualizations I’ve seen for conveying the sheer scale of wealth at the very top. It gives you an immediate, almost physical intuition for what “obscene richness” means in practice.

🎅4️⃣ 1 Pixel Wealth, by Matt Korostoff eattherichtextformat.github.io/1-pixel-weal...

So trug die AfD den Hass in die Parlamente 340.000 Absätze, 15.831.486 Wörter. Unsere Analyse aller Reden der AfD in deutschen Landtagen zeigt: Über „Remigration“ spricht sie nicht nur auf Geheimtreffen. Seit zehn Jahren bereitet die AfD dem F...

🎅3️⃣ So trug die AfD den Hass in die Parlamente, by Eric Beltermann, Nina Breher, Hendrik Lehmann, Markus Günther, and Lennart Tröbs @tagesspiegel.de interaktiv.tagesspiegel.de/lab/von-mess...

The fentanyl funnel: How narcos sneak deadly chemicals through the U.S Drug traffickers transport fentanyl-making chemicals from China to Mexico through the United States. To pull this off, they employ what’s called the “master carton” smuggling scheme.

🎅2️⃣ The fentanyl funnel: How narcos sneak deadly chemicals through the U.S., by Daisy Chung, Laura Gottesdiener, Drazen Jorgic and Kristina Cooke www.reuters.com/investigates...

Also: This is data journalism as civic guard: exposing how public discourse has been shifted over years — not hidden scandals, but normal parliamentary speeches, parsed systematically. Anyone concerned about democracy should read this.

(A German piece this time; I'll be back with English content, I promise) This interactive story has it all. A massive, scientifically curated text database, hand-picked data points (here: unmasking quotes of AfD politicians), raw data access, and great visuals.

So trug die AfD den Hass in die Parlamente 340.000 Absätze, 15.831.486 Wörter. Unsere Analyse aller Reden der AfD in deutschen Landtagen zeigt: Über „Remigration“ spricht sie nicht nur auf Geheimtreffen. Seit zehn Jahren bereitet die AfD dem F...

🎅3️⃣ So trug die AfD den Hass in die Parlamente, by Eric Beltermann, Nina Breher, Hendrik Lehmann, Markus Günther, and Lennart Tröbs @tagesspiegel.de interaktiv.tagesspiegel.de/lab/von-mess...

The data's not the star in this story - slick interactive storytelling is. A kids’ book aesthetic paired with a deadly story. Brutal, and super effective.

The fentanyl funnel: How narcos sneak deadly chemicals through the U.S Drug traffickers transport fentanyl-making chemicals from China to Mexico through the United States. To pull this off, they employ what’s called the “master carton” smuggling scheme.

🎅2️⃣ The fentanyl funnel: How narcos sneak deadly chemicals through the U.S., by Daisy Chung, Laura Gottesdiener, Drazen Jorgic and Kristina Cooke www.reuters.com/investigates...

2️⃣4️⃣🎁🎄 Doing something new for Advent this year: one great data journalism piece per day until Dec 24. I’m teaching a data journalism course @hertieschool.bsky.social next semester, so this is partly selfish homework. But maybe interesting for others too.

And if you haven't seen @puddingviz.bsky.social, do check it out. A great rabbit hole from a team that, as they put it, “makes awesome stories with data.”

Let’s start with a fun one... The Pudding’s piece on love songs is a delight. They take a simple measurement question and turn it into a wonderful interface for exploring how “love” appears in pop music over the decades.

Is the Love Song Dying? We categorized songs in the Billboard Top 10 to see if love songs are on the decline.

🎅1️⃣ Love Songs, by David Mora and Michelle Jia at The Pudding. pudding.cool/2024/11/love...

First piece drops... now.

If you have favorite pieces—ideally not behind a paywall—I’d love to see them. Anything where data work is done really well. Replies or DMs welcome.

2️⃣4️⃣🎁🎄 Doing something new for Advent this year: one great data journalism piece per day until Dec 24. I’m teaching a data journalism course @hertieschool.bsky.social next semester, so this is partly selfish homework. But maybe interesting for others too.

PhD ✅ in Berlin ✅ on media and behavioral economics ✅ working with @ariannaornaghi.bsky.social and Egon Tripodi ✅✅ I'd immediately apply but I’ve aged out - maybe you haven't?