gijn.org Tips for Investigating New Oligarchs and Novel Corruption Ploys 

NEW! 💰 Who are the new oligarchs — and how do they hide their wealth?

This GIJN tipsheet shares tips and tools, based on a @ire.org #IRE25 panel, to investigate novel corruption schemes, from fake loans to luxury proxies.

🔎 https://twp.ai/9PUpKD

2025 Global Shining Light Award Finalists: Large Outlets Seven courageous investigative projects from large news outlets have been selected by GIJN as finalists for the 2025 Global Shining Light Awards.

The Global Shining Light Awards honor the best investigative reporting done under threat. I've chaired the awards jury for many years, but was particularly impressed with the quality & ambition of this year's finalists, especially when watchdog journalism is under siege. gijn.org/stories/2025...

Opinion | Our Dad, Leonard Bernstein, Would Want His Music Played at the Kennedy Center (Gift Article) Some have urged us to withdraw our father’s music from the Kennedy Center to protest Trump’s hostile takeover. We asked: What would Dad have done?

“It’s the artists of the world, the feelers and thinkers, who will ultimately save us; who can articulate, educate, defy, insist, sing and shout the big dreams.”

Alarm bells: Trump's first 100 days ramp up fear for the press, democracy - Committee to Protect Journalists Executive summary The first 100 days of the Trump administration have been marked by a flurry of executive actions that have created a chilling effect and have the potential to curtail media…

CPJ’s new report, “Alarm bells: Trump's first 100 days ramp up fear for the press, democracy” identifies three main challenges for #PressFreedom in the US:

❌Limiting access for some news organizations
❌Regulatory and legal attacks on media
❌Targeting journalists and newsrooms

Read more⤵️

Digital Authoritarianism and the Fight for Democracy

"Digital Authoritarianism and the Fight for Democracy"--May 7 at Columbia Journalism School, with @rondeibert.bsky.social @sheilacoronel.bsky.social and me. knightcolumbia.org/events/digit...

On the Arrest of an Autocrat:
Journalists, lawyers, clergy, and human rights activists persisted in the Philippines, even when hope for accountability seemed nonexistent. By Sheila Coronel. www.cjr.org/world/dutert...

On the Arrest of an Autocrat Journalists, lawyers, clergy, and human rights activists persisted in the Philippines, even when hope for accountability seemed nonexistent.

My take on the Duterte arrest: “It takes a nation to hold a president to account.”

“All who believe in these freedoms should steadfastly oppose the intimidation, harassment, and detention of individuals on the basis of their speech or their journalism.” — statement from @columjournreview.bsky.social

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in custody after ICC warrant issued, government says | CNN Former President Rodrigo Duterte was taken into custody on Tuesday after the Philippine government said it received an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest for alleged crimes agai...

The vigilante president was arrested in Manila today. He didn’t believe in due process but he’ll want it now. www.cnn.com/2025/03/10/a...

How I used generative AI to turn a powerful long-form story into an illustrated video Filipino journalist Jaemark Tordecilla explains how he experimented with this new technology to bring an investigative piece into another medium.

NEW on our website

A new piece by Filipino journalist @jaemark.co explains how he used generative AI to turn a powerful long-form story by @sheilacoronel.bsky.social into an illustrated video
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/how-i-u...

Fighting the Great Federal Website Purge Journalists, judges, and archivists are keeping government data online.

Fighting the great federal website purge. www.cjr.org/the_media_to... via @cjr

Are You Being Tailed? Tips for Reporters Concerned About Physical Surveillance Would a group of reporters who knew – for sure – that they were being followed be able to identify the operatives sent to track them?

Helpful.

Opinion | The Dark Roots of Donald Trump’s Obsession With Panama and Greenland He is tapping into a vision of a United States that is forever growing, forever moving outward.

Trump Dreams of a New American Empire www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/o...

The Making of Edgar Matobato - PCIJ.org IT IS A WONDER Edgar Matobato is still alive. A confessed assassin for the Davao Death Squad, he was the first to go public about the killings allegedly ordered by former President Rodrigo Duterte. Si...

I interviewed death squad assassin Edgardo Matobato in 2016. This is the story of how Catholic clergy, military mutineers and a former president helped keep him alive so he could tell his truth. pcij.org/2025/01/17/t...

G.O.P. Targets Researchers Who Study Disinformation Ahead of 2024 Election (Gift Article) A legal campaign against universities and think tanks seeks to undermine the fight against false claims about elections, vaccines and other hot political topics.

In the broader picture, this is a decision that's a substantial blow to reporters and researchers who have been working to keep platforms accountable for what they host.

Some of the best, most innovative research has been shut down over the last few years:

🎁 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/t...

100 Notable Books of 2024 Here are the year’s notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction, chosen by the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

So thrilled books by two Stabile alumnae @columbiajournalism.bsky.social — Emily Witt's memoir, Health and Safety: A Breakdown, and @atossaaraxia.bsky.social 's The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World—are on @nytimes.com list of the 100 Notable Books of 2024. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

In aid-starved Afghanistan, relief workers fight forgotten food crisis Humanitarian aid to the country is falling. One reason, diplomats say: The Taliban’s treatment of women. Non-profit groups are scrambling to feed the hungry.

Heart-breaking story on the hunger crisis in Afghanistan by Charlotte Greenfield, #cjsStabile @columbiajournalism.bsky.social. As a social worker there said, “Imagine Afghanistan as a body with no part unscathed, a body completely covered in wounds. We can only bandage some parts of it.”

71 of 82 Philippine governors belong to political families - PCIJ.org First of 2 parts Political dynasties continue to hold a tight grip on provinces in the Philippines.  By the count of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), at least 71 of the count...

What do you call a country where 8 of 10 legislators belong to political families, as do 71 of 82 provincial governors? An oligarchy. pcij.org/2024/12/08/g...