From the research desk

New app shines light on foreign influencers database

Kuwait has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying on behalf of Guantanamo detainees – it’s a story that would have been tough to find if not for a new version of a long-standing database.
Secrets of the Masters

The “human touch”: the key to digging up court records

IREAt an IRE conference in San Antonio in June, Leo Sisti explained how he negotiates access to judicial records to break stories for his Italian newsmagazine, L’Espresso. Here is an edited version of his talk.
Tools

How to unearth public records: a global guide

In much of the world, Freedom of Information laws exist on paper but are often ignored in practice. Here are some tips on how to break through and get the public records you need.

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Secrets of the Masters

'I'm still waiting for my first car chase'

Stefaans Brummer's reporting helped put South Africa's national police chief in jail for corruption. He tells reporters to embrace the numbers and the nitty-gritty details and not to hold their breaths for high speed car chases.

Secrets of the Masters

'Everyone can be an investigative journalist. Everyone!'

Inga Springe describes the challenges of creating the first investigative journalism center in the Baltics, as well as her groundbreaking investigations into organized crime and economic inequality.

Secrets of the Masters

'Capture the popular imagination'

Sheila Coronel describes how she uncovered a trail of money, mistresses and mansions that helped bring down a former president of the Philippines, and shares her vision for fostering investigative journalism among her students.
Secrets of the Masters

‘I have never felt disadvantaged being a woman reporter’

Ritu Sarin describes her investigations of secret payments, hidden bank accounts and bugs planted in the Prime Minister's office - and explains why her gender never held her back as she rose to become a top editor in India.
Tools

Beginner’s guide to improving online security

Amid growing revelations of hacking and internet surveillance, improving online security is necessary for journalists and others who work with sensitive information. Here are our tips for how to get started.
Secrets of the masters

'Capture the popular imagination'

Sheila Coronel describes how she uncovered a trail of money, mistresses and mansions that helped bring down a former president of the Philippines, and shares her vision for fostering investigative journalism among her students.

Relatives of China’s top leaders own secretive offshore companies

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WASHINGTON, DC (January 21) – Close relatives of China’s top leaders have owned secretive companies in offshore tax havens usually associated with hidden wealth, a leaked cache of documents reveals. An investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a project of the Center for Public Integrity, cracks open the extensive links of some of China’s most powerful men and women to the world of offshore finance.
Our latest work

China's elite linked to secret offshore entities

xi jinpingICIJ has today published the latest part of the largest investigative reporting project in its 15-year history – revealing that close relatives of China’s top leaders have held secretive entities in offshore tax havens usually associated with hidden wealth.

Growing appetite for change in food aid program

A spending agreement working its way through the U.S. Congress includes a small but notable step toward reforming America's subsidy-heavy food aid program.

ICIJ Members

Remembering Alfredo Quijano

ICIJ's Alfredo Quijano, who chronicled crime and corruption on the US-Mexico border, died of a stroke last weekend. He is remembered by his colleague Alfredo Corchado.

Europe

The billion dollar mining experiment

Europe's biggest nickel mining company, Talvivaara, coaxed billions of euros from investors with rosy promises about an unproven mining technique. Then the new method failed to work as planned.

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Offshore finance

Unlocking the secrets of the Cook Islands

The author of ICIJ and the New York Times' joint investigation of the Cook Islands describes the hidden world of the Cooks' offshore economy, a "lawsuit-proof" paradise where the wealthy stash their assets.

Secrets of the masters

'I'm still waiting for my first car chase'

Stefaans Brummer's reporting helped put South Africa's national police chief in jail for corruption. He tells reporters to embrace the numbers and the nitty-gritty details and not to hold their breaths for high speed car chases.

Environment

Report names most toxic places on the planet

A new report identified ten of the world's most polluted sites, and found that the greatest hazards to human health are increasingly coming from small-scale production rather than multinational companies.

Offshore Leaks data revealed

Learn how to use the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database

how we built the offshore leaks databaseA new video tutorial explains everything you need to know about how to use ICIJ's Offshore Leaks Database. Follow these steps to search more than 100,000 secret entities by country, keyword or by accessing the raw data directly.
FOI tips

How to unearth public records: a global guide

In much of the world, Freedom of Information laws exist on paper but are often ignored in practice. Here are some tips on how to break through and get the public records you need.

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Investigative firepower

ICIJ announces new Research Editor

Margot WilliamsMargot Williams will take on the role of setting up and operating a research desk and data library that will be a go-to resource for ICIJ reporters and our institutional members worldwide.
Work with us

Become ICIJ's first Investigative Journalism Fellow

washington dcAustralian journalists can apply now to spend 10 months with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in 2014, honing your cross-border investigative reporting skills.
Show your support

Help ICIJ lift the veil on offshore secrecy

G8 leaders agree to share tax informationPutting together a project with the depth and breadth of Offshore Leaks is a huge logistical challenge. Now we need to finish telling this story.

Australian businessman makes major investment in international investigative journalism

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WASHINGTON, DC (July 2) – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a project of the Center for Public Integrity, today announced the largest grant from an individual in its 15-year history. Sydney philanthropist and businessman Graeme Wood, founder of the online publication The Global Mail, has pledged $1.5 million to ICIJ over the next three years to bolster its cross-border investigative reporting capacity.

ICIJ “Offshore Leaks” Database Receives 2 Million Page Views in First 24 Hours

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WASHINGTON, DC (June 16) – The Offshore Leaks Database received 2 million page views in its first day of operation, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) announced today. Reporters, researchers and citizens from Europe and around the world flocked to the site, a massive interactive database that cracks open the historically impenetrable world of offshore tax havens.

ICIJ Releases 'Offshore Leaks' Database To Public

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WASHINGTON, DC (June 14) –The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a project of the Center for Public Integrity, today releases an interactive database that cracks open the historically impenetrable world of offshore tax havens.
Offshore Leaks data revealed

ICIJ database cracks open secret world

icij offshore leaks databaseOur web app allows the public to search more than 100,000 secret companies, trusts and funds created in offshore locales such as the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands and Singapore.

Major announcement on offshore tax havens investigation forthcoming

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The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a project of the Center for Public Integrity, will hold a telephone press conference on Saturday June 15 to make a major announcement concerning its “Offshore Leaks” investigation into the secretive world of offshore tax havens.
Inside ICIJ

How ICIJ chose our offshore reporting partners

offshoreleaksAt ICIJ we collaborate on “deep dive” stories that cross borders, then release our findings to media partners without cost. Here's how we choose which reporters to work with, and the organizations to publish the finished work.

ICIJ Lifts Veil on Offshore World

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WASHINGTON, DC, April 3, 2012 – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a project of the Center for Public Integrity, released today its first of many reports from a 15-month investigation that cracks open the historically impenetrable world of offshore tax havens. Drawing from a leaked trove of 2.5 million digital files, ICIJ led what may be the largest cross border journalism collaboration in history.
Tips

How To Fact-Check Social Media

how to fact-check social mediaYou're right on deadline and need to verify that claim flying around on social networks. Henk van Ess explains how the internet can help you to debunk the internet -- in real time.
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Europe

Lessons From a Fledgling Investigative Reporting Center

IRPIThe first nonprofit investigative reporting center has just been set up in Italy. Long-time ICIJ member Leo Sisti explains how it all came about and what lessons might be there for reporters in other countries.
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The future of muckraking

Why Investigative Reporting Is On Life Support

why investigative reporting is on life supportNonprofit muckraking organizations are mushrooming, but most of these have budgets less than $50,000 and five or fewer people on staff.
Data journalism

How We Did It: Cracking the Codes

cracking the codesFred Schulte, Joe Eaton, David Donald and Gordon Witkin of the Center for Public Integrity have won 2012’s Philip Meyer Award, recognizing journalism done using social science research methods. Here the Center's data editor, ICIJ's David Donald, explains the computer-assisted analysis behind the story.
Secrets of the Masters

'Never Forget You Have Only One Boss: the Truth'

Thomas MaierFind subjects where you can break new ground. Record key interviews on video or audio. And remember that a lot of your own faults can be overcome by sheer reporting effort. Stellar tips for investigative reporting from award-winning author and journalist Thomas Maier.
Data journalism

How To Cultivate a 'Data State of Mind'

data state of mindMar Cabra is one of ICIJ's data journalism gurus and is at the forefront of investigative journalism and journalism education in Spain. Here she discusses data journalism: its role in investigative reporting and the essential tools and skills for this field.
Secrets of the masters

'Be Prepared To Be Disliked'

David LeighThe Guardian's investigations editor lists the essential skills to get a journalism job, and the most important lesson he's learned over the years.
Skin and Bone

Medical Journal Warns on Human Tissue Trade

The Lancet warns about the dangers of “profiteering” in the $1 billion international trade on human tissue and the lack of sufficient regulation worldwide – echoing the findings of ICIJ's investigation.
Investigative journalism

Reporting from Danger Zones

Snubbed at a cocktail party versus jail or death: US journalists have it easy compared to many of their colleagues around the globe.
Secrets of the Masters

'Be sure this way of life is something you are keen on, because it will eat up your time'

Michael BiltonThe riches contained in this questionnaire with multi-award-winning investigative journalist Michael Bilton rival the wealth of his decades-long output at the London Sunday Times and as a documentary film-maker. Read on to learn details about his research methodology, and why a significant investment of time is the most critical component of each investigative report.
EU study

How To Fight Fraud in Europe

EUCan investigative journalism be instrumental in the detection of and fight against corruption and fraud with EU funds, and if so, how?
Data journalism

Get Started in CAR with these Excel Tutorials

excelDipping your toe into Computer-Assisted Reporting? We know most newsrooms don't offer training in this area, so we have put together some video tutorials demonstrating relatively simple Excel functions to help you wrangle spreadsheet data and find meaning in your numbers.
Reporting

How To Track Looted Wealth

IREThe ICIJ’s Sheila Coronel shares how to investigate illicit money trails ahead of her Tracking Corruption Internationally presentation at the 2012 IRE conference.
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Reporting

Revealing the Secret World of Private Companies

You’d think that getting the names of the shareholders of a company would be fairly easy. Such information should be routinely available. Not if you’re talking about private companies, which have managed to elude public scrutiny even in an era of increasing transparency.
Why do we practice journalism?

An Investigative Reporting Manifesto

Carlos Dada investigates corruption in one of the deadliest regions of the world for independent journalists: Central America. In his Anna Politkovskaya Award acceptance speech he questions the role of the journalist and why we practice in such risky environments.
Secrets of the Masters

Be careful of the “master narrative”

Maud BeelmanMaud Beelman, founding director of ICIJ and now deputy managing editor for investigations and enterprise at The Dallas Morning News, has a strategic four-part checklist which helps her prioritize which stories to go after. She shares them here, as well as the most important lessons learned over the years, and how to make the most of the limited time and resources you are given.
Secrets of the Masters

'There are no bad sources, only incompetent reporters'

Rui AraujoNever go up against defenseless people. Never lie to your sources. Use the "two-step" approach when questioning. Investigative reporting techniques and journalism's moral code according to Portugal's "troublemaker" Rui Araujo.
Looting the Seas

Convention Offers Fresh Hope For Jack Mackerel

jack mackerelJack mackerel, decimated by years of free-for-all overfishing in the southern Pacific, now stands a strong chance of recovery with new legally binding measures to protect it.
Great work

The Jungle Highway

amazon highwayReporters for a new cross-border journalism group, Connectas, traveled 700 kilometers along the new highway cutting through the Amazon to document its impact. Here’s an excerpt of the series from ICIJ member and Connectas founder Carlos Eduardo Huertas.
Impact

How Investigative Journalism Produces Results

There were several important developments in recent days linked to our exposure of the international trade in human tissues. Here's how investigative reporters can work together to produce better journalism and effect change.
We're expanding

ICIJ Welcomes Four New Members

They are four independent investigative journalists in three continents, all women, doing the painstaking, unglamorous and often dangerous work of following the paper trails, finding the patterns and asking the questions others ignore.
Social media

Social Media and Investigative Journalism

twitterIn this extract from the new book The Social Media (R)evolution: Asian Perspectives on New Media, ICIJ member Syed Nazakat outlines different ways investigative reporters are harnessing social media around the globe.
Secrets of the Masters

Be inventive and patient

Alexenia Dimitrova.Bulgarian investigative journalist and author Alexenia Dimitrova reveals how she uses Freedom of Information laws in several countries to uncover hidden secrets of the Cold War, how the imprisonment of her father spurred her on, and the rewards of patience.
A muckraker to learn from

The Question Investigative Reporters Fail to Ask

Morton MintzHow Morton Mintz produced three decades’ worth of Page One stories for the Washington Post the hard way -- by mining documents and testimonies.
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Comment

Why I'm Still a Tissue Donor

When ICIJ began discussing how to write a story about the untraceable and opaque trade in human tissues, our intent was not to propel readers to toss out their donor cards.
Skin and Bone

Japan has almost no regulations on human tissue

Spinal implantThere are no limits on doctors importing from abroad medical materials made from human tissue for treatment of patients. There are also no laws in Japan for controlling use of human tissue, such as skin and bones.
Reporter's notebook

How We Found Oscar's Story

ICIJ member Ana Arana talks about the reporting process behind the six-month investigation about a Guatemalan tragedy published by ProPublica, Fundacion MEPI and This American Life.

Secrets of the Masters

It pays to look beyond so-called ‘experts’ in the field

Jenny NordbergNew York-based Jenny Nordberg discusses how she applies knowledge of human behavior to her interviews, the thrill of finding disturbing things just under the surface, the pretentiousness of the term ‘investigative journalist’, and how global networks like the ICIJ help expose "juicy" stories.
Exploiting the statute of limitations

Criminal Justice, Italian-Style

Leo Sisti’s new book delves into the mysteries of Italian criminal trials and finds that 23 years after the new code of criminal procedure was enforced, the result has been disastrous.
Lessons from a hack

How To Be a Great Investigative Journalist

The first thing to keep in mind about investigative journalism is that it’s not glamorous. (We can blame television with its “undercover” reporters and “hidden cameras” for this mistaken image.) It’s actually hard, and often boring work.
Reporting

Tips for investigating the mining industry

La Oroya lead smelter in Peru.Investigative journalists Sarah Shipley Hiles and Marina Walker Guevara wrote one of the earliest exposés of mining giant Renco Group’s deceptive practices in the town of La Oroya, Peru, in 2005.
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ICIJ Members

Interviews With Two ICIJ Greats

Investigating Power is a new online multimedia project from ICIJ founder Chuck Lewis, reporting on and interviewing some of America’s best journalists about the craft of investigative journalism - including ICIJ's very own Bill Kovach and Florence Graves.
ICIJ Member Stories

Finding the victims of surveillance

Behind the groundbreaking expose by Swedish ICIJ members Sven Bergman, Joachim Dyfvermark and Fredrik Laurin on the cooperation between Swedish-Finnish telecommunications company Teliasonera and oppressive regimes in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Investigative tools

5 tips for investigating the mining industry

With controversial mining company Renco Group again in the news, here are a few tips on investigating the mining industry I shared at the recent annual conference of the Colombian journalism group Consejo de Redacción in Bogotá.
Tools

How to Background a Person Using Lexis

ICIJ reporter Kate Willson demonstrates how to background a person using public records on Nexis. Find state or local court records, criminal history, voter registration, property owned, divorce proceedings, neighbors, and more.

Secrets of the Masters

‘Be annoying, and don’t give up’

Bill Birnbauer.Bill Birnbauer, Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Monash University in Australia, shares the methodology and techniques which have served him best as an investigative journalist.

What are the most important tools of the trade that you, as an instructor, pass on?

The most important tool for investigative reporters is their attitude. They should:

Conference highlights

Back to the future at #nicar12

Going to the IRE-NICAR conference is like traveling to the future for me. Not only because I advance my skills in computer-assisted reporting, but also because I always learn things that I would have never dreamed even existed.

Data journalism

Against All Spanish Odds

‘Spain is different’ has been the tourism slogan for the Southwestern European country for years, since dictator Francisco Franco’s regime used it in the 60’s. I’d argue Spain is different for something else too: its lack of transparency.

Mar Cabra at NICAR 2012

Mar Cabra presenting at NICAR 2012. Photo: Ben Welsh

Free-for-All in Southern Pacific Decimates Fish Stocks

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WASHINGTON, DC, January 25, 2012 – Asian, European and Latin American fleets have devastated fish stocks in the southern Pacific, once among the world’s richest waters, a new investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found.

We're expanding

International Consortium Adds 41 Investigative Journalists

The Center's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has added 41 new members to its roster, expanding the network’s reach to 158 news professionals working on an array of media platforms in 61 countries. ICIJ is a global network of reporters who collaborate on in-depth, cross-border stories and is a project of the Center for Public Integrity.

International Consortium Adds 41 Investigative Journalists

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The Center's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has added 41 new members to its roster, expanding the network’s reach to 158 news professionals working on an array of media platforms in 61 countries. ICIJ is a global network of reporters who collaborate on in-depth, cross-border stories and is a project of the Center for Public Integrity.

ICIJ unveils Daniel Pearl Awards finalists

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The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists announced the finalists for the 2011 Daniel Pearl Awards for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting.

Ryle to lead international investigative consortium

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The Center for Public Integrity, one of the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit investigative news organizations, has named Gerard Ryle, director of the Center's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

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