News

NarcoData Project Reveals Four Decades of Organized Crime in Mexico

For the first time, the world has a clear picture of organized crime and drug trafficking in Mexico, thanks to a new journalism project called NarcoData.

Using government data obtained through Freedom of Information requests, NarcoData provides citizens with an interactive platform that maps the history of Mexico's powerful cartels across four decades.

ICFJ Knight Roundup: Hacks/Hackers Africa on the Front Line of Global Refugee Crisis

Each week as part of the Knight International Media Innovators blog, the ICFJ Knight team will round up stories focused on how their fellows are making an impact in the field. Hacks/Hackers looks to help the refugee crisis, a "Twitter for Journalists" webinar and more from the Knight Fellows in this week's roundup.

Q&A with Nic Dawes: Helping India’s Hindustan Times Adapt to the Digital Age

From web analytics software to social media monitoring tools, digital tools are transforming newsrooms globally.

Embracing a digital-first workflow "gives you more time to reflect and work you through the evolution of a story on multiple platforms," says Nic Dawes, chief editorial and content officer at the Hindustan Times in India.

How Journalists Can Use Facebook’s Signal and Other Social 'Radars' for News Sourcing

Back in the day, the savviest journalists used police radio scanners to track beats like city and crime. In 2015, we have upgraded to paid, free, even custom-built "radars" that use search, social or open data to generate insights into a) audience interest and response around news events by category, location, device, etc, b) social traction around topics covered by competitors and c) relevant sources or user-generated content around an event or theme.

Most of these are beginning to inform editorial planning throughout the day, alongside leading wires and publishers' own analytics.

How Pakistani Journalists Can Overcome the Challenges of Data Journalism

Data journalism seems to be a scary concept for journalists in Pakistan. They tend to believe it involves learning how to write code, designing graphics using complex software and crunching numbers using hefty, mathematical formulas. There also is a general belief that there is little or no data available.

In fact, journalists do use data in stories about crime, health, business and education, among other areas.

Why the Best Data Tools Engage Journalists While Educating Them

"If you build it, they will come" is the classic line uttered by the character played by Kevin Costner in the 1989 hit movie "Field of Dreams." It tells the story of an Iowa farmer who keeps hearing voices telling him to plough up his corn fields and build a baseball stadium in the middle of nowhere.

He believes that if he does so, the Chicago White Sox team will come to his arena to play. So he does, and they do.

But sadly the Hollywood fantasy-drama with a perfect outcome is worlds apart from the real-life world of tech where things don't neatly follow a script to end on a happy note.

How Newsrooms Can Avoid Government Surveillance

It's bad news for journalists when a government official delivers this chilling message: "I know what you are going to publish tomorrow." Yet, these words are common in many countries where governments are spying on newsrooms and individual journalists.

While independent media are subject to the proclivity of some governments to spy and tap their communications, it is also true that some media organizations don't protect their information from cyber-espionage and technical attacks.

Media organizations are becoming more aware of the need to protect their digital assets, such as databases,

In the Digital Age, Colombian Journalists Face New Threat of Cyber Attacks

Colombia used to be the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, with dozens killed and threatened during four decades of armed conflict among government, rebel and paramilitary forces.

These days, journalists face threats of a different kind. Cyber attacks are now considered the most important threat to Colombian journalists, who are fully entering the digital era.

Words of Wisdom After Building Data Journalism Teams in Latin America

Doing data journalism in Latin America is a major challenge. Newsrooms in this part of the world have taken longer than imagined to implement interactive teams for a number of reasons, including cultural habits, limited technical capabilities, lack of vision and inadequate ecosystems. Media executives are only now beginning to understand the new roles appearing in newsrooms.

Two years ago, I founded Hackslabs, the first data journalism accelerator in Latin America.

New Mobile App "Push" Helps Media Organizations Get Their Work Out

It's hard to get people to read your work. That's been the thorn in the side of editors and publishers since Martin Luther figured out that taking a hammer to the church door would get his point across. It hasn't gotten much easier.

This is doubly true if you’re a small organization. The options out there are limited to a small range of social media sites and your own website. The drawbacks on these options are well-known, wide-ranging and infuriating.