News

Hacks/Hackers Brings "A Different Voice" to African Newsrooms

Grassroots journalism organization Hacks/Hackers helps bridge the gap between news media and rapidly advancing technologies.

Knight International Journalism Fellow Justin Arenstein is a driving force behind the organization’s presence and growth in Africa.

Journalists Can Now Use OpenData Latinoamérica to Find, Share Reliable Data

We can’t do data journalism without reliable data. Accurate source data is just as important to data journalism as a reliable human source is to a reporter’s interview. We need a central repository where you can share the data that you have already proved to be reliable. Our answer to this need: OpenData Latinoamérica, which we are leading as ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellows.

How Journalists in High-Risk Situations Can Encrypt Their Documents

In high-risk situations, it is essential that journalists develop skills to protect their information. This is especially important for those who obtain sensitive or confidential data. The data stored by investigative journalists often show evidence of corruption by public officials or matters related to organized crime. For this reason, those who seek to attack journalists usually go after their computers or their mobile devices such as phones or tablets.

HackDash Helps Global Media Innovators Organize Teams and Projects

The concept behind HackDash is simple yet powerful: a web platform that brings people and ideas together and allows anyone to know the state of a project.

Site on Latin America’s Rich and Powerful Gives Users its Content

Poderopedia is a platform that reveals the relationships among elites in a country or region, especially in places where power is concentrated in the hands of a few people.

After winning the Knight News Challenge in 2011, we launched Poderopedia in Chile last fall.

Journalists, Technologists Gather to Launch Hacks/Hackers Chapter in Rosario, Argentina

Journalists mingled with technologists, programmers and designers to establish Latin America's newest chapter of Hacks/Hackers, which promotes collaboration on news media projects. More than 60 people attended the inaugural meeting of Hacks/Hackers Rosario, the second group to be formed in Argentina. Among the speakers were ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellow Mariano Blejman, who talked about projects launched at Hacks/Hackers Buenos Aires, the country's first chapter.

Engaging Citizens in Governance With Open Data

Citizens, writes development expert Jay Naidoo in The Guardian, always know better than the government or the market what works for them. “So why don't state officials and policymakers take us, the citizens, into their confidence?” he asks. “Can we begin to see citizens as the greatest ally for good governance? And if so, how do we pursue a partnership between government and citizens?”

“Part of the answer lies in open data,” Naidoo writes.

ICFJ’s Knight Projects, Partners Are Finalists for Data Journalism Awards

A platform that monitors the fragile Amazon region; a site that illuminates connections among the powerful; and an investigation into corrupt spending practices by Argentina’s Senate are among the outstanding projects of ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellows and their partners named finalists for 2013 Data Journalism Awards.

Five projects from ICFJ Knight Fellows and their partners were shortlisted for the awards, which are the only international prizes exclusively for the growing field of data-driven journalism.

How Health Coverage Went From Second-Rate to Top-Tier in Mozambique

When Mercedes Sayagues arrived in Mozambique three years ago to begin work as a Knight International Journalism Fellow, health news was consigned to the back pages, health stories were based on news releases, and health assignments went to the least experienced reporters.

Open Data’s Role in the Peaceful Transition of Power in Kenya

“Kenya’s new president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has been inaugurated in a peaceful transition of power after fears that a close election result and contested court case might lead to violence,” writes Alex Plough of Thomson Reuters AlertNet.

“One group in particular will feel they played a part; a small team of software developers and activists called Code4Kenya. Their web application, GotToVote!, helped Kenyans to register at polling booths, send peace messages and report electoral fraud.