How to get scoops from local councils
Since 2011, all councils have been required to publish expenditure on items over £500. At the CIJ Summer School this year, Paul Francis and Ted Jeory explained how to turn this information into a...
View Article5 tips on mining and using big data for journalists
Matt Fowler is a freelance application developer and programmer who helps journalists understand and use big data. At the CIJ Summer School this year he gave some top tips in the field, which we have...
View ArticleUnderstanding company accounts: How to get the most of Companies House
At the CIJ Summer School this year Robert Miller, Martin Tomkinson and Raj Bairoliya explained how to access company accounts and how to get the most of Companies House. In the UK, all limited...
View ArticleOrganising investigations: a guide to story-based inquiry
This year at the CIJ Summer School, Adjunct Professor, Mark Lee Hunter, explained how using hypotheses can frame and sell your story. A hypothesis is what the investigator wants to prove or disprove....
View ArticleCourt reporting – a guide from the investigative journalism summer school
Paul Cheston is the last specialist court reporter for newspapers in the UK. Court reporting may be a dying trade, but Cheston feels that this leaves gaps in the market for investigators to fill. This...
View ArticleMapping bus stops in your local area
Recently I helped Pupul Chatterjee map bus stops in Birmingham for the BrumTransport. I thought I’d share the process here as it demonstrates a number of techniques in filtering data that isn’t...
View ArticleHow to find out what data an organisation holds – use the Data Protection...
Here’s a useful tip if you’re thinking of requesting information from an organisation – or just looking for ideas: check the Data Protection Register first. All organisations who collect data must...
View ArticleSpying on activists and spinning journalists – a review of Secret Manoeuvres...
Widening state surveillance of the web and stories about corporate phone hacking have made journalists increasingly concerned about the security of their communications. In this context Eveline...
View ArticleFormer HMI Health editor named best new journalist of the year at British...
Former Help Me Investigate Health editor Tom Warren has been named best new journalist of the year at British Journalism Awards. Tom, who joined the Bureau of Investigative Journalism last year, won...
View ArticleHelp Me Investigate is on ice (but I’ll still help you investigate)
I’m putting Help Me Investigate, my collaborative investigation project, on ice. This year has seen the launch of a number of impressive crowdfunded and crowdsourced projects on platforms including...
View ArticleThe Iraq Inquiry documents on DocumentCloud
I’ve uploaded all 2.6million words of the Chilcot Report (also known as the Iraq Inquiry) to the document analysis service DocumentCloud. The documents can be found on the site here. You’ll need a...
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