The ICIJ Story
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists was founded in 1997 by American journalist Charles ‘Chuck’ Lewis. It was launched as a project of the Center for Public Integrity. Under that stewardship, ICIJ investigated issues that didn’t stop at national frontiers, including cross-border crime, corruption and holding the powerful to account.
These investigations exposed smuggling by multinational tobacco companies and by organized crime syndicates; the dealings of private military cartels, asbestos companies, and climate change lobbyists; and broke new ground by publicizing details of Iraq and Afghanistan war contracts. Our more recent investigations on the global offshore economy, including the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, have sparked resignations, arrests and policy changes in dozens of countries.
To extend its reach and impact even further, ICIJ spun off from the Center and became a fully independent news organization in early 2017.
In July 2017, ICIJ was granted 501(c)(3) nonprofit status by U.S. tax authorities.
True to ICIJ’s collaborative style of working, the organization is governed by three committees: a traditional board of directors with a fiduciary role; a journalism advisory committee made up of experienced investigative reporters; and the ICIJ Network Committee, which serves the membership of ICIJ’s global network.
ICIJ’s board:
- Rhona Murphy (chair)
- Alexander Papachristou
- Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab Wilhelm
- Tom Steinberg
- Dapo Olorunyomi
- Birgit Rieck
- Tony Norman
Journalism Advisory Committee:
- Bill Kovach
- Chuck Lewis
- Rosental Calmon Alves
- Gwen Lister
- Goenawan Mohamad
- Brant Houston
Our Network Committee
A working body of ICIJ members who represent the ICIJ members, setting principles and best practices, priorities and activities, liaising with the board and giving advice to ICIJ’s leadership team on adding or excusing members.
- Co-chair Minna Knus-Galán (Finland)
- Co-chair Bill Birnbauer (Australia)
- Co-chair Frédéric Zalac (Canada)
- Fredrik Laurin (Sweden)
- Ritu Sarin (India)
- Francisca Skoknic (Chile)
- Emmanuel Dogbevi (Ghana)
- Yongjin Kim (South Korea)
- Alia Ibrahim (Lebanon)
ICIJ’s global member network is 280 investigative journalists strong. We have members in more than 100 countries and territories who work collaboratively on cross-border investigative projects.
Read the ICIJ Network Committee Charter (PDF, May 2022)

SOLITARY VOICES
Three years after ICIJ’s ‘Solitary Voices,’ isolation still commonplace in US prisons and detention centers
May 25, 2022

IMPACT
UK, US and Germany say Xinjiang Police Files offer ‘shocking’ new evidence of China’s human rights abuses
May 24, 2022

XINJIANG POLICE FILES
The faces of China’s detention camps in Xinjiang
May 24, 2022

Data journalism
ICIJ is hiring a new Neo4j Connected Data Fellow
May 18, 2022

FINANCIAL SECRECY
US lands top spot as world’s biggest enabler of financial secrecy in new index
May 17, 2022

RUSSIA
New US sanctions target trust companies and corporate service providers for the first time
May 12, 2022
